Customer Reviews

Thunder City (Detroit Crime Series #7)

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David Mamet recently published an elegy to Patrick O'Brian in The New York Times. In it he said that only the genre writers are writing interesting English, creating characters that we eagerly wish to know and becoming part of our everyday lives. Loren Estleman is one of the best of the genre writers. His Amos Walker mysteries carry the torch of Chandler and MacDonald. His westerns carry the torch of L'Amour. But, unlike any of the others currently writing, he has also invented a new fictional genre. It is one in which the main character is a place, with a supporting cast that weaves in and out of its history. "Thunder City" is the seventh (and last) of the City of Detroit series, which seeks to define the character of Twentieth Century Detroit, one of the most gritty, down-to-earth, hard-working, corrupt, in-your-face, dangerous and exciting cities in America. I know. I grew up there. This series is recommended reading for anyone interested in genre fiction, but it is essential reading for anyone who feels connected to Detroit. You will recognize the culture, the locations, the history, the trivia, the conflicts, the voices, the attitude. It is a one-of-a-kind fictional endeavor that will someday compare with the formative novels of established genres. Not to be missed. You need them all: "Whiskey River," "Motown," "Edsel," "Stress," "King of the Corner," "Jitterbug" and "Thunder City." I suppose Loren Estleman will finally get his "best seller" due when he turns eighty, like Patrick O'Brian. Life just works out that way sometimes. But maybe, just maybe, there is a David Mamet somewhere who will speak out sooner this time around. Then maybe, just maybe, Loren Estleman will continue this marvelous series about the City of Detroit.

Loren D. Estelman's Thunder City portrays a city of new beginnings and organized crime. Detroit is becoming a hotbed of automobile manufacturers and con men. Harlan Crownover emerges from the pack willing to jump into the automobile business and finance the mechanical genius Henry Ford. Harlan's father Abner, the wealthiest man in Detroit and many other powerful men fell that the automobile will ruin everything that they have worked so hard for. In his quest for financial backing, Harlan comes across Jim Dolan, the city's street railway commissioner who immediately turns him down. Next the relentless Crownover turns to the Sicilian Prince, Sal Borneo, a mafia boss who loves the idea of having young Harlan backed into a corner. Now the pressure rests on Ford to make an efficient, affordable vehicle. Could he overcome the pressure of Detroit's political scene? Or will he be crushed in his third attempt at the automobile industry?

Loren Estleman's historical novel is a great look into the history of Detroit and the birth of the auto industry. It also delves into the first stages of organized crime, and Prohibition. While a good read, it is often difficult to follow and contains many unnecessary details that slow the progression of the story. At times the novel can be very suspenseful and riveting; but at other times, it can be very dull and uneventful. Estleman begins most chapters by setting the scenes with many lengthy, drawn out observations that eradicate the story's pace. For this reason I would recommend Thunder City to history lovers but not to those in search of an exciting quick read.

Harlan Crownover pleads with his father Abner to provide him with money to invest in Henry Ford's automobile business. Abner, who made a fortune with his patented suspension system for coaches, rejects the idea of investing in any enterprise headed by a failure like Ford.

Harlan turns to politician Big Jim Dolan for a loan, but receives the same treatment afforded him by his father. Harlan next turns to Mafioso boss Sal Borneo who is Jim's business associate. Soon everyone seems to be turning on everyone else and even family ties are not a sure shot from treachery. Worse yet, Ford appears ready to use Abner's suspension system to solve the only major problem inhibiting him from mass producing his vehicles.

Loren D. Estleman's latest Detroit novel, THUNDER CITY, is an incredible work of historical fiction that makes the turning point era of changing to automobiles seem like yesterday. The story line is filled with action and authentic items from real life. The characters are exciting and their harmony and conflicts make for more interesting reading. However, this tale is clearly that of Detroit, which seems to do a classy JIITERBUG under the direction of that Grand Prix writer Mr. Estleman.

Harriet Klausner

In the early 1900s Detroit was home to the emerging automobile industry. Few were sure whether the noisy, unreliable mechanical carriages were simply a fad, or whether they were something more profound. Fortunately, much like Silicon Valley in the 1980s, there was a critical mass of young confident, competitive technologists that believed that they would transform the world. And in a single decade they did so.

Thunder City is a fascinating historical novel. The plot is well-crafted and I found it difficult to set it aside even for short periods. One chapter quickly leads to another.

Within a few pages I was captivated by Loren Estleman's portrait of James Aloysius Dolan, Big Jimmy Dolan, the most powerful political boss in Detroit. Other equally fascinating characterizations follow: Abner Crownover (the famous manufacturer of carriages), the aggressive, twice failed Henry Ford, the explosive Dodge brothers, and the self-made Sal Borneo, a visionary Italian mobster.

This diverse cast is held together by Harlan Crownover, a lesser son of the respected Abner Crownover, as he attempts to raise money, against his father's wishes, to invest in Henry Ford's third attempt to launch an automobile company.

Thunder City is the most recent novel (and the last) in Loren Estleman's popular Detroit series. Chronologically (1900-1910), it is the earliest in the series. Whiskey River (1928-1939), Jitterbug (1943), Edsel (1951-1959), Motown (1966), Stress(1973), and King of the Corner (1990) complete the series.

Thunder City has as its focus the City of Detroit as it was in the first decade before the First World War. It's rich with a variety of interesting, well fleshed-out characters (e.g. a powerful Irish-American political boss, an early mafioso [Sal Borneo], the Dodge brothers, Henry Ford, and a son of one of the richest men in Detroit who sees the dawning auto industry as the future), who embody the spirit of a growing, dynamic Midwestern city in flux between the norms of 19th century life coupled with ethnic tensions, and the budding, progressive/industrial changes being ushered in by the new century.

As someone who was born and grew up in Detroit, this novel is TREMENDOUS, REVELATORY, and FANTASTIC!!! It helps to give me (as a transplanted Detroiter) a better perspective --- given the present state Detroit is in --- about the historic forces which have shaped the city over time. I LOVE THIS NOVEL. Thank you, Mr. Estleman.

I'm a big fan of Estleman, especially his Detroit series, and enjoyed "Thunder City" very much. I withhold the Fifth Star of Reader Ecstasy over a small error that nevertheless bugged me. Page 90 of the hardcover edition, describing a holiday scene on Belle Isle: "The smells of sun and water there where the river prepared to enter Lake St. Clair were intoxicating..." Argh. Any native of the area knows the Detroit River does not enter Lake St. Clair; it drains it. In fact, the Detroit River isn't technically a river at all but a strait, which is how the city got its name. I don't expect quibbling over that and this isn't a Barry Lopez novel, but it is a little like learning Jacques Cousteau mixed up the direction of the Gulf Stream.

That said, this may be my favorite of the series, if only because it involves a bit of local history I, a non-native, was unaware of, the battle over the Selden patents. It prompted me to read more about this case, and I agree with Estleman's afterword, that Henry Ford never received credit for standing up to those who would have quashed a transformative technology out of self-interest.

Mr. Estelman, your editor didn't save you, but your book saved itself.

This is the seventh and final entry in this author's Detroit series. In each of the books Estleman takes a pivotal point in the city's history and combines historical facts and personalities with great storytelling. The series' main character is the city itself with a supporting cast of politics, organized crime and industry - and this being the story of Detroit that means the auto industry. Thunder City chronicles the car industry's birth at the turn of the last century with Henry Ford as the central figure - although he's not the central character of this book - his successes, failures, friends and enemies as he revolutionizes not only the city of Detroit but the country with his vision of a car for every household.

What drives this book is the supporting fictional cast - a rotund, corrupt city official fighting change as he sees the power equation changing and not in his favor; a Detroit family's internal struggle as their business in horse drawn carriages is threatened by Ford's horseless one; and an up and coming Italian crime boss playing both sides of the struggle - Each vying to be King of the Detroit Hill. Their scheming, planning and double-crossing even when we know who wins is still fascinating.

This is an excellent book and an excellent series.

Loren Estleman is to Detroit in many ways as Carl Sandburg is to Chicago. Great American cities on the move growing and quaking with their expansion. THUNDER CITY brings an early entrepreneur, a political boss and a member of the mob together as teammates in the early days of the automotive industry. Friends they are not and they are soon mortal enemies with grievances to settle.
Estleman's clear sharp prose is as stark as an emerging city and it will keep you enthralled until the last page.
Nash Black, author of WRITING AS A SMALL BUSINESS and SINS OF THE FATHERS.

After reading a few self-help books that couldn't even make Fred Astaire feel light on his feet and positive in nature I turned to helping myself all year long in my freshman year at a high school in Maine. Today I put a cherry on top of my emotional acheivements for this year by completing Thunder City. The story is as inspiring as it is intricate, and as relative to today as it is historically accurate.

After reading a few self-help books that couldn't even make Fred Astaire feel light on his feet and positive in nature I turned to helping myself all year long in my freshman year at a high school in Maine. Today I put a cherry on top of my emotional acheivements for this year by completing Thunder City. The story is as inspiring as it is intricate, and as relative to today as it is historically accurate.