Suspension [Hardcover]

Richard E. Crabbe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2000

May 31, 1883, 3:55 p.m. Twenty thousand men, women, and children, their faces shining in the late afternoon sun, are strolling the Eighth Wonder of the World. The Brooklyn Bridge is open just a week, its promenade a magnet for the teeming masses of New York and Brooklyn. Anxious to escape the heat, overcrowding, and disease of the tenements, thousands stream onto the soaring span. To breathe free, high above the choking confines of the city is an experience like no other. An engineering marvel of transcending beauty, the bridge is simply breathtaking.

In precisely five minutes, it will fall.

Seven desperate men, former Confederate soldiers turned saboteurs, have labored for years to destroy the bridge. A symbol of hated Yankee supremacy, the bridge is the creation of Chief Engineer, Washington Roebling. They have stalked him down through the years, with hatred born of bitter loss. His actions at Gettysburg have earned him terrible retribution. It is his bridge, his life's work that will pay the price. The river will run red but for one man.

Sergeant Detective Tom Braddock is one step behind the conspirators. Working through a series of murderous dead-ends, Braddock has dogged the seven men from the cables of the bridge to the shadowy alleys of the Lower East Side and the back streets of Richmond, Virginia. With the help of an eager roundsman, new to the force, he has slowly drawn closer to the unthinkable truth, a truth that none can accept.

Braddock's adversaries are many. Enemies within the police department seek to draw him deeper into a cesspool of corruption from which there seems no escape. To lose that battle is to surrender all hope, for his hands are far from clean already. Braddock must prevail against the enemy within if the bridge is to be saved. It is the love of Mary, the captivating Madame of a mid-town brothel that helps him find the way. Their fates are bound together, as surely as they are bound to the bridge. But it is Mike, a boy of the tenements, who literally holds the key to all their futures.

Suspension is a riveting historical thriller filled with fascinating details of the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Crabbe debuts with a cunningly imagined historical fiction set in New York City in 1883. The richly atmospheric thriller tells the story of a scheme by a group of former Confederate soldiers to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge, which is under construction. The saboteurs, led by former Civil War Capt. Thaddeus Sangree, view the bridge as a symbol of the North's moral corruption and misguided desire for unity. Sangree's own secret motivation is personal: his brother, Franklin, was killed at Gettysburg, and Sangree holds former Union Col. Washington Roebling responsible for his brother's death. Roebling's father designed the Brooklyn Bridge and the younger Roebling is its chief engineer. The scheme has been meticulously planned for years, with saboteurs obtaining jobs working on the bridge so they can understand its weak points. However, when they kill a bridge mason who has caught on to their plan, the murder attracts the attention of bulldog police detective Tom Braddock. Braddock sniffs out the plot through a combination of dogged pursuit, investigative cunning and the brute force that was common practice in 19th-century law enforcement. The action covers a wide spectrum of 1880s New York life, drawing upon a large cast of believable characters, but it centers on the city's disease-infested tenements. Crabbe, who worked in the advertising industry for 20 years, falters occasionally in tone, vacillating between gritty period drama and modern, too clever dialogue. However, he has effectively re-created a time when America was attempting to heal old wounds while steadying itself for a great industrial thrust forward. (Nov.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

To a small group of Confederate veterans, the building of the Brooklyn Bridge is symbolic of everything they lost in the Civil WarDtheir rights, dreams, and way of life. Led by their fanatical captain, this vengeful group plans to destroy the bridge in the spring of 1883. The discovery of a body behind a tavern near the bridge sets Detective Tom Braddock on an investigation, leading him to their plot. Braddock is not your average corrupt police officer. Oh, he knows how to play the dirty game of advancement that runs rampant in the force, but he yearns for a more ethical life. His simultaneous battles to get out of the racket and track down the conspirators nearly cost him his life. First novelist Crabbe is a thoughtful writer who provides wonderful detail, and his suspenseful, well-researched historical will have Caleb Carr fans asking for more. Comparisons to The Alienist are well earned. Strongly recommended for all public libraries.DKaren T. Bilton, Cedar Mill Community Lib., Portland, OR
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 436 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (November 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312203713
• ISBN-13: 978-0312203719
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,562,070 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spectacular...A First Class Debut!, March 31, 2001

By 

Christine "loves to read" (Setauket, NY, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Suspension (Hardcover)

In the Spring of 1883 Colonel Washington Roebling, with the help of his wife Emily, sets out to complete the world's largest suspension bridge that would span across the vast expanse of New York's East River. What Roebling does not know is that a rogue group of former Confederate soldiers hold him personally responsible for a horrible incident that happened years ago on the battlefields of Gettysburg, and have labored for years to destroy his bridge. When one of Roebling's workers is found dead in a dingy alley, a maverick detective named Tom Braddock is assigned to the case. Tom is a good cop with a heart of gold, but his past is not exactly stellar. Not only does he have to deal with the pressures of leading an unsolved murder investigation, but he must also contend with the saboteurs who are closer than ever to implementing their plans, officials within his own department who want to bury him in a life of corruption, and Mike, the dead man`s son who literally holds the key to solving this case. If Tom can manage to stay alive, he might be able to save the bridge, and possibly build a life with Mary, a beautiful, but unusual woman who keeps him both happy and sane.

From the riveting opening "nightmare" sequence to the final pages of mass hysteria that take place during the bridge's first opening days, Richard Crabbe does a tremendous job of transporting you into 19th century New York with a ghastly tale of murder and the building of the Brooklyn Bridge as his backdrop.

This is a top notch historical thriller that involves terrorism, police corruption, and bone-chilling suspense. It also includes a few surprises for Civil War buffs and those of us who never really appreciated the beauty of the Brooklyn Bridge. Caleb Carr fans will eat this one up and savor every morsel.

Masterfully done.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Imaginative and enjoyable, March 25, 2001

By 

Lynn Adler - See all my reviews

This review is from: Suspension (Hardcover)

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel that combines historical fact and fiction about the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. Mr. Crabbe weaves a highly imaginative and plausible plot. There are actually two plots: one about the search for a murderer and saboteurs of the bridge, the other surrounding police corruption in 1880's New York City. The story is well-crafted and researched, including the technical details of bridge building, as well as the look of late 19th century New York and Brooklyn, and even post Civil War Richmond, Virginia. Although quite lengthy, the novel never becomes dull. There is a large cast of colorful characters from police captains and cops to street urchins, ex-Confederate Army soldiers and Kung Fu masters, who keep the story moving and keep the reader guessing what is going to happen right up to the very end.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Monumental!, December 7, 2000

By 

J Kosanke (Red Bank, New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Suspension (Hardcover)

I've never walked across the Brooklyn Bridge before .. but now I will find the time. I always thought I had a special appreciation for the achievement that this bridge represents ... but now I see it in a very different light. I never gave much thought to life in 19th century New York City .. but now I do.

This book changed the way I see these things and that's only one reason to recommend it. It is a compelling story and riveting mystery that brings the people and times to life.