David LissResenhas

nice historical detail-a sufficiently evil nemesis in the shape of the various arms of the east india company a femme fatale . good addition to the series, will keep reading

Really enjoyed this book!the central plot revolves around banks, loans and trading, all of which have zero interest to me. Nonetheless, the writer did a great job explaining things and an even better job with the characters. I loved the alternating chapters, building sympathy and interest in wrongly accused former spy Ethan Saunders and brilliant widow Joan maycott. The author creates a conflict in which the reader finds themselves rooting for both sides of the conflict. The honorable characters like Leonaidas and Lavigne contrast well with those like sure and Pearson, motivated solely by their selfish greed

Paranormal

(2000)A Jew in London tries to find out who killed his father only to discover that the murder was part of a stock scam. Set in 1719. Fairly good, bogged down until after the middle.

This book is a prequel of sorts to the author's first book, A Conspiracy of Paper. The main character, Miguel Lienzo, having escaped Spain and the Inquisition, is the trader of the title and an ancestor of the protagonist in the aforementioned first book. Living in Amsterdam, in 1659, with other displaced Jews, he is now able to practice his religion. To ply his trade, he often crosses lines set by the Ma'amad, the group of elected leaders in the Jewish community who set lifestyle rules and protect the community from anyone wishing to do them harm.

Having lost his funds and ruined his reputation in a deal gone wrong, Miguel is forced to live in his brother's flood-prone basement, a bad situation made worse by the enmity between the brothers and by Miguel's growing affection for his brother's wife. So, when a Dutch widow he's befriended wants to partner with him in a scheme to make a fortune in trading the new drink made from coffee berries, Miguel agrees, setting in motion a twisty endeavor full of intrigue and betrayal.

I haven't really read historical fiction set in this time period, so it made for an interesting read. And Lisss's pacing and plot twists kept me turning pages.

There were a few things I didn't like about this book, but I enjoyed the story very much. It's a complicated story of stock fraud and possible murder set in a time when paper money and stock exchanges were new. Things weren't regulated as they are today. In addition, there was no police force per se...people largely hired agents to regain stolen property or "enforce" other interests. The plot kept me guessing...and changing my mind...as to how it would come together. It dragged -- just a bit; the book could have been a little shorter, I think.

I didn't like the protagonist, Benjamin Weaver, as a person. But what a well -drawn character! The consummate outsider, flawed, human, trying to get by as best he can.

The book was well researched, and the problems of market manipulation and bubbles continue to plague investors today. There were times, however, when the author explained things through dialogue between characters that felt a bit forced.

Overall, though, the book was very well written. It was written in the style of the time period it portrays, both in terms of specific words and with asides to the reader which was common in novels written in that time.½

The plot is centred on South Sea bubble of 1720 that is dubbed as the first stock market crash. The the novel is well researched and has a lot of references to real life characters of the 18th century London. David Liss has deftly handled two (or three ) subplots that made the storyline intriguing. Every page of the novel ripples with writer’s passion. There certain section of the novel, that I feel, are verbose.

Awesome book. I couldn't wait to find out the ending. If you love historical fiction you will love this.

Good read. Love historical fiction and mystery.

Real Rating: 3.5* of five

The Publisher Says: The year is 1722. Ruffian for hire, ex-boxer, and master of disguise, Weaver finds himself caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse, pitted against Jerome Cobb, a wealthy and mysterious schemer who needs Weaver’s strength and guile for his own treacherous plans.

Weaver is blackmailed into stealing documents from England’s most heavily guarded estate, the headquarters of the ruthless British East India Company, but the theft of corporate secrets is only the first move in a daring conspiracy within the eighteenth century’s most powerful corporation. To save his friends and family from Cobb’s reach, Weaver must infiltrate the Company, navigate its warring factions, and uncover a secret plot of corporate rivals, foreign spies, and government operatives. With millions of pounds and the security of the nation at stake, Weaver will find himself in a labyrinth of hidden agendas, daring enemies, and unexpected allies.

With the explosive action and scrupulous period research that are David Liss’s trademarks, The Devil’s Company, depicting the birth of the modern corporation, is the most impressive achievement yet from an author who continues to set ever higher standards for historical suspense.

I RECEIVED AN ARC FROM THE PUBLISHER. THANK YOU.

My Review: Seriously ugly jacket.

Book is, well, book is...really well plotted, filled with characters whose ideas and motivations I get and even support, and told in a very engaging way.

Liss's trademark business angle is very much in evidence in this book. It's set partially within the confines of the East India Company, and quite a lot of the action takes place around the various business concerns of the characters; all handled in such a way as to make it clear that this story arises from those concerns, driving each actor to his or her next action. It's enviable, the way Liss can see the story in the business and not just the business in the story.

I like this book. I like the hero. I like the way early capitalist London is presented to our senses, and how the author brings us along in our readerly sense of how the sleuth is going to develop across the series.

So why a mingy three-and-a-half?

Because: 1) Several people die, one of whom I know to be a real blow to the future of the series, and in each case the event with its aftermath is curiously flat. The sleuth's response is well-enough drawn, but it's not...the stakes aren't *there* for the (or this) reader. And the quite, quite startling aftermath of one quite important death is announced and left for later, while some very exciting other plot stuff happens.

See? I shouldn't be able to type that sentence without the Nasty Fairy whackin' me a good one, sayin' "too far, boy!" But his whackin' wand is not raised.

2) A surprise reveal late in the chase portion of the story falls sort of flat as well, and a character whose character we are given no reason to admire is revealed to be so amoral as to have—gasp, say it isn't so—slept with men and women both, and for profit! Wouldn't even cause an eyeblink if this were not a) the only time this concept has ever been brought up in the series, and b) a trait presented as somehow amplifying the character's extant perceived vileness.

Full marks for fairness: Benjamin, the sleuth and a self-described vigorously straight man (yawn) does some surprising soul-searching about his sodomitical revulsion. The whorehouse madam makes a pretty good case for the sodomites she serves being pretty much just like the rest of the world. And in the end, a straight man who doesn't write pure scary-o-types when discussing the more fluid borders of sexuality is more to be praised than not. It just doesn't sit right in this case.

3) The Love Interest. Oh god. We now reach the portion of our series where the sleuth must Fall In Love, and with a worthy adversary. Just once, one lousy time, I'd like to see a likable hero like Benjamin Weaver make it through an entire series without a Love Interest. I know it's what the market likes, but yeesh. I content myself with observing that she's a interesting character in her own right.

I like the sleuth, I like the series, and I will buy the next one. You should too.

Recommended for Anglomanes, for business buffs, and for puzzle people; historical fanciers will hyperventilate at some of Liss's more atmospheric passages; and international intrigue fans...stay tuned....½

The narrator/protagonist, Benjamin Weaver, is a former boxer now chasing down debtors and thieves for well-to-do clients in 1719 London. A Jew, he is estranged from his family, but when a new client hires him to investigate the suicide of his father and the accidental death of Ben's wealthy stock-jobber father, Ben is forced to make peace with his uncle in order to learn more about his father's activities.

Ben knows next to nothing about the fairly new stock market, so there is a fair amount of explanations and info-dumping in this story written in formal English to fit the time period. The more Ben learns, the more he realizes he doesn't know, but attempts on his life convince him to keep pushing for answers. The are enough plot twists, some I saw coming and a couple that surprised me, to keep the story moving and like Ben, I wasn't sure who could be trusted. With its attention to period detail, this historical novel is worth reading.

Excellent audio narration and a great prequel to Insomniac's Spider-Man made for a really good audiobook. It doesn't exist merely to prop up Spider-Man 2018 but it does a good job of filling in a few gaps while telling its own story with characterizations that feel consistent with the Insomniac Spider-Man universe. My only quibble was that there were a couple times when Peter suddenly had magical omnipotence and could tell what other characters were thinking as if he had read the same thing I had from their point of view. He already has super powers so that felt kind of lazy but overall the quips and the thwips were good

I hate when a good friend recommends a book to you, loans it to you, and then you don't like it. Unfortunately, that was the case this time, and I really don't think I can break it to her.

The story takes place in 17th century Amsterdam and focuses on a merchant, Miguel. Miguel faces a lot of problems - - he's in debt, he lives in his brother's basement, and he has enemies. He needs to make money and based on a tip he receives, he decides that manipulating coffee futures is the way to do it. Coffee futures. Does that sound like an exciting basis for a mystery? I assure you, it is not.

What follows is an incredibly overwraught tale. Every character in the book is truly despicable - LIARS - - the whole lot of them. There is no one to root for. Miguel is the protagonist, but it's not like he's a good guy either. At first you have some sympathy for him, but by the end, you realize he's just as bad as all the rest.

The plot is relentlessly complicated and involves a LOT of financial doings. I'm familiar with stocks, commodities, and futures, but that doesn't mean I find them scintillating and suspenseful. There is a clever plot twist at the end, but it wasn't clever enough to flog through the rest of the book. Not by a long shot. And the whole plotting was so complex that I had to read the last two chapters twice to make sure I really understood the twist.

I actually own Liss' more well known book, A Conspiracy of Paper, and I picked it up and put it right back down because it didn't grab me. Because a friend really wanted me to read The Coffee Trader, I did. But I really wish I hadn't.

Amsterdam, 1659. En la primera bolsa de valores del mundo, la riqueza se hace y se pierde en un instante. Miguel Lienzo, un hábil comerciante de la comunidad judía de origen portugués, lo ha perdido todo por el repentino hundimiento del mercado del azúcar. Obligado a vivir de la caridad de su mezquino hermano, está dispuesto a hacer lo que sea por cambiar su suerte. En contra de las reglas de la comunidad judía, decide asociarse con la seductora Geertruid en un osado plan para monopolizar el tráfico de una nueva mercancía: el café. Para triunfar, Miguel tendrá que arriesgarlo todo y poner a prueba los límites de su astucia; al tiempo que se enfrenta a un enemigo que no se detendrá con tal de verlo caer.

Cuando Lem acepta el puesto de vendedor de enciclopedias para poder costearse sus estudios, poco sospecha que será testigo presencial de un crimen, y que el criminal lo implicará directamente a él. A partir de ahí, Lem tendrá que desentrañar una compleja trama de corrupción y tráfico de animales que lo obligará a conocer al peculiar asesino, una especie de Robin Hood inteligente y socarrón que libra su propia cruzada en un mundo hostil y corrompido.

Siglo XVIII. Un insólito ex capitán del ejército y la intrépida mujer que lidera a los destiladores de whisky ponen en jaque el nacimiento del Banco de Estados Unidos, la primera piedra angular del país.

London, 1899. Thomas Thresher, twenty-three, nominal scion of the noted banking family of that name, should consider himself fortunate, with a bright future to look forward to. But Thomas feels no hope for anything, present or future. His cruel, tyrannical brother, Walter, the bank’s governor, insists that Thomas serve as a clerk, performing pointless tasks, from which he learns nothing, nor is he meant to, a Dickensian touch. Further, Walter demands that he marry a young woman he’s never seen — a Jewess, no less, an idea that repels him.

But Thomas finds it hard to feel sorry for himself, or to feel much of anything, because Walter has manipulated him all his life and discarded him as worthless — except to do his bidding, as with the strange marriage, for no reason Thomas can fathom. He’s allowed no will or character of his own, and you can see the effects.

What’s more, London itself has changed. Violent fogs that slither like giant, amorphous reptiles bludgeon people to death. Thomas has seen this, but there are other horrors he’s only read about, such as women giving birth to rabbits, or people whose spirits have become trapped in horses, furnishings, or articles of clothing. He doubts all these accounts until he starts sprouting leaves.
These abnormalities and others go by the name of Peculiarities, and in stereotypical British fashion, nobody talks about them. Nobody in polite society, anyway, for the worst afflictions beset the lower classes predominantly, a concept Thomas is loath to accept when his purported fiancée, Esther Feldstein, tells him so.

But you know that Thomas must take her seriously, sooner or later, not least because the bank seems implicated in some way — the impenetrable institution, a Dickensian theme. At the same time, he can accomplish nothing unless he takes himself seriously too, a difficult task when he has been ground under his family’s heel.

His progression makes terrific reading; I’m reminded again of Dickens, say, Pip in Great Expectations. You don’t often see a thriller with such an intricate, forceful character arc, let alone a story that also has enough energy from reversals to power a small city. Plenty happens in The Peculiarities, but this is a character-driven novel that explores every emotional transition, and that’s why you care.

The story invokes magic, as you might have guessed, and the plot revolves around the power it confers. But though characters attempt to cast spells, the magic here, as Liss states in the text and repeats in an afterword, doesn’t operate in defiance of natural laws. Rather, it depends on natural laws “previously hidden or generally unknown.” The distinction will become clearer if you read the novel, which I recommend, but I’ll give you one hint. Thomas was on the way toward becoming a first-rate mathematician at Trinity College, Cambridge, until Walter forced him to quit his studies. The skill comes in handy.

Note too the context of the so-called Peculiarities. That the London fog has become deadly violent, instead of the passive killer known to history, suggests environmental disaster writ large. That it attacks poor neighborhoods more often than others reflects a fact reckoned with today but not during the Victorian Age, and that Thomas at first refuses to accept the evidence rings all too true.

How ironic that he’s turning into a tree, as though the forests are taking vengeance for human depredation. And the births of “rabbit children” represent two themes, natal defects from industrial poisons and the attack on reproductive rights. Surely, Liss intends to criticize capitalism in its unbridled state—consider that the central institution here is Thresher’s Bank.

At once a coming-of-age story, a thriller, and historical fantasy, The Peculiarities has much to offer. The plot twists like an eel, sometimes in melodramatic fashion, with one incredible revelation after another. But the prose is beautiful and lucid, and the characters never strike attitudes, as they might in a full-fledged melodrama. Esther proves more than a match for Thomas, one of several friends with whom he never would have bothered had he not been afflicted and chosen to embark on a journey of discovery.

I generally avoid historical fantasy, but such is my admiration for Liss’s previous books, most notably A Conspiracy of Paper (capitalism, again), that I grabbed this novel off the shelf. The results confirm my trust.

David Liss, ganador del prestigioso premio Edgar, sorprende con una magnífica novela, protagonizada por un peculiar investigador que debe desentrañar un complot en torno al comercio de la seda con las colonias británicas de ultramar... Londres, 1722. En la época de apogeo del mercado de importación de seda y especias, Benjamin Weaver, judío de extracción humilde, ex boxeador y cazarrecompensas, se ve acorralado por el excéntrico y misterioso millonario Cobb para que investigue en su provecho. Muy pronto Weaver se ve sumergido en una maraña de corrupción, espionaje y competencia desleal cuyo trasfondo son los más oscuros intereses económicos y comerciales

Londres, 1720. Harto de la notoriedad que le persigue por un crimen que no había cometido, Benjamin Weaver, judío, ex boxeador, de extracción humilde y cazarrecompensas, decide contar su historia, exponer en un libro qué hechos lo llevaron a ser condenado a muerte y cómo consiguió huir de la prisión y convertirse en investigador privado de su propio caso. Weaver, que había sido injustamente condenado por la muerte de un estibador del puerto de Londres, huye antes de ser ejecutado y decide adoptar la personalidad de un rico negociante para poder investigar el misterio que se esconde tras su condena. Sus pesquisas y las singulares situaciones que provocan le llevan a pensar que tal vez lo que le ha pasado no sea más que un insignificante eslabón de una conspiración de altos vuelos. Una vez más, el aclamado autor David Liss combina su conocimiento de la historia con la intriga, atractivas caracterizaciones y un cautivador sentido de la ironía, que le permite sumergir al lector en una vívida recreación del Londres de la época y componer un colorido tapiz de las intrigas políticas, los contrastes sociales y la picaresca reinante.

Benjamin Weaver se enfrenta a un crimen relacionado con la muerte de su padre, un especulador que se movía como pez en el agua en la Bolsa de Londres. Para hallar respuestas, el protagonista deberá escarbar en su pasado y contactar con parientes lejanos que le reprochan su distanciamiento de la fe judía. Poco a poco, Weaver descubre a una peligrosa red de especuladores formada por hombres poderosos del mundo de las finanzas.

The nephews choose this one for a car ride. They opinion is that the movies are better. This was too much build up for their minds. Now this story was written for adults and not kids/teens, but we had high hopes. I think they will like this better with a bit of age and life experience. For no it was just too much. DNFed at 10%

This is NOT a novel about the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 in the new American Republic, but is about some of the circumstances that led to it. Mostly, it's a tale of two personal obsessions: one entangled with the "whiskey boys" seeking revenge and destruction of a new bank challenging Hamilton's hobby horse Bank of The United States, and the other a quest to save the life and honor of a lost love. Both involved complicated financial scheming that I never completely understood, as well as some rollicking adventures. Both also involved very well drawn characters, whose vitality on the page kept me reading through the slightly sloggy bits. Joan Maycott and her husband were swindled by a man named Duer (a historical figure who did exist). After her husband's death, Joan made it her business to bring Duer down, by whatever means were at hand. Captain Ethan Saunders lost his reputation, his best friend and his lady love to the underhanded actions of Jacob Pearson, an associate of Duer's, so he set out to put things right by bringing them both to ruin without harming Pearson's wife (the aforesaid lady love) or children. It's all very tricky and convoluted, and I cannot say I followed it at every turn. It was also about 200 pages longer than it needed to be. But I felt invested in both story lines, which eventually intersected in a way I did not see coming. As historical fiction, it did shed some light on undercurrents that could easily have crippled this country before it got its legs solidly under it. We have not moved terribly far away from the sort of philosophical conflicts that plagued the founding fathers and mothers.½

Fínustu nóvellur sem fjalla um áhrif uppvakninga á sína nánustu. Ef þú missir ástkæran vin eða fjölskyldumeðlim, hvað ertu reiðubúinn að ganga langt til að ná honum aftur til lífs? 4 höfundar spyrja þessarar spurningar og svörin eru fæst á jákvæðum nótum. Heillandi nöturleg lesning.

A very, very slow-moving historical mystery that owes rather more of its narrative and diction than it ought to the digressions and circumlocutions of an old man's fictional nostalgia.

The setting is fantastic, the story not.