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The Gods of Gotham
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Review
'The Gods of Gotham' is a wonderful book. Lyndsay Faye's command of historical detail is remarkable and her knowledge of human character even more so. I bought into this world in the opening pages and never once had the desire to leave. It's a great read!'
(Michael Connelly )'Lyndsay Faye's exquisite new novel, The Gods of Gotham, plunges us into the teeming, sordid streets of Old New York...a raucous underworld of criminals and chiselers, the infamous Five Points, where thieves speak their own argot... In this vivid and impeccably crafted adventure, newly minted 'copper star' Timothy Wilde is the only man who can solve a series of gruesome murders. Faye's prose crackles with historical authenticity so cunningly rendered that readers will lose themselves from the very first turn of the page'
(Katherine Howe, New York Times Bestselling author of THE PHYSICK BOOK OF DELIVERANCE DANE )'Lyndsay Faye is a superstar caliber writer. She confidently and exquisitely recreates the past while her characters live on with you in the present, the elusive gold standard for a historical novel. The Gods of Gotham is a gift to the genre that readers will surely reslish while we wait for Faye's next one'
(Matthew Pearl )'Penetrating psychological study, flawless social history, beautifully crafted thriller... The Gods of Gotham is all these things, and a crackling great yarn to boot. Old New York has never been so blazingly alive. Lyndsay Faye is a writer to watch - and keep watching...'
(Louis Bayard, author of SCHOOL OF NIGHT )'Reading The Gods of Gotham is like being magically transported to another time. You'll be overwhelmed with the sights, sounds, smells and chaos of New York in the 1840s while never losing sight of the fact that this is a first-rate crime novel for any era. I can't wait to see what Lyndsay Faye will conjure next'
(Otto Penzler, THE MYSTERIOUS BOOKSHOP )'Intriguingly complex yet deliciously smooth, The Gods of Gotham is, in a word, stunning. The vivid characters and deft use of the historical setting read like the work of an established writer at the top of her (or indeed, his) career - that Faye is a newcomer is cause for an exuberance of fireworks, at the mere thought of so many superb novels yet to come'
(Laurie R. King, New York Times bestselling author of THE GOD OF THE HIVE and THE BEEKEEPER'S APPRENTICE )'The Gods of Gotham blew me away. Unflinching and bold, creative and dazzling cinematic, nineteenth century New York is still alive'
(Laura Caldwell, author of LONG WAY HOME )Review
'A wonderful book. Lyndsay Faye's command of historical detail is remarkable and her knowledge of human character even more so. I bought into this world and never once had the desire to leave'
(Michael Connelly )'Executed with brio and packed with pungent historical detail...this is a cracking yarn'
(Daily Mail )'Lyndsay Faye is a superstar calibre writer. She confidently and exquisitely recreates the past while her characters live on with you in the present, the elusive gold standard for a historical novel. Gods of Gotham is a gift that readers will surely relish'
(Matthew Pearl )'The Gods of Gotham succeeds on many levels: as a colourful, crackling evocation of an underworld packed with desperados; as an unflinching glance into the history of some of New York's shadiest and most shameful corners; and as a cleverly crafted crime story with a central character who deserves a new case, and another book'
(Metro )'The dangerous underworld of New York in the mid-nineteenth century... wonderfully vivid and vigorous'
(The Sunday Times )'This is special...The historical detail is impressive in a character-driven tale spotted with an underground language called Flash, which is fascinating. Stunning... highly recommended'
(Sarah Broadhurst, 'Ones to Watch' Paperback Preview, Bookseller ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
New York, summer of 1845. After a devastating fire that destroys a large part of lower Manhattan, Timothy Wilde finds himself without a job, home and savings. Recovering at his brother's home from the burns sustained in the fire, he feels he has no choice but to join the newly formed police force, and promptly has an investigation into murdered children on his hands.
Told in the first person, Timothy Wilde's voice is engaging in a wry and sardonic way, often unflinching in its depiction of abject poverty and squalor. This is very much a present-day novel of gritty realism with a curious mixture of historically accurate slang and 21st-century language, something I struggled with at first, having got used to the convention that people in historical novels ought to speak in a certain way. I guess it is appropriate that the author has given him a modern vocabulary, as Timothy is quite an unconventional man in a way with his views and opinions that mark him out from the rest. Yet I still can't quite reconcile his eloquence with the fact that he barely had any formal education, having been orphaned at the age of ten and required to earn a living on ferry boats on the Hudson river. Admittedly, he explains that he had frequent access to the Reverend Underhill's extensive library, but it still seems incongruous to me. The book would also have benefited from a more abundant selection of credible alternative villains, the lack thereof making it fairly easy for the attentive reader to pick the culprit who had committed the crimes. In places there's a bit too much pondering going on, the author obviously keen to paint an accurate picture of the times, that she neglects to move on the plot sufficiently to keep the reader's interest engaged, and in those instances the novel sags a bit in my opinion. Lindsay Faye has a lot to say about social inequality, prejudice, racism and religious intolerance that the inhabitants of New York faced in the 1840s, and yet so much of it is easily transferable to the present day and shows that whereas technology may have moved on another 170 years or so, human pettiness has not.
In all, I enjoyed the novel despite its flaws, and found in Timothy Wilde a very engaging and sympathetic guide, and would love it if he showed me a bit more of New York. Any chance of a sequel?
Told in the first person, Timothy Wilde's voice is engaging in a wry and sardonic way, often unflinching in its depiction of abject poverty and squalor. This is very much a present-day novel of gritty realism with a curious mixture of historically accurate slang and 21st-century language, something I struggled with at first, having got used to the convention that people in historical novels ought to speak in a certain way. I guess it is appropriate that the author has given him a modern vocabulary, as Timothy is quite an unconventional man in a way with his views and opinions that mark him out from the rest. Yet I still can't quite reconcile his eloquence with the fact that he barely had any formal education, having been orphaned at the age of ten and required to earn a living on ferry boats on the Hudson river. Admittedly, he explains that he had frequent access to the Reverend Underhill's extensive library, but it still seems incongruous to me. The book would also have benefited from a more abundant selection of credible alternative villains, the lack thereof making it fairly easy for the attentive reader to pick the culprit who had committed the crimes. In places there's a bit too much pondering going on, the author obviously keen to paint an accurate picture of the times, that she neglects to move on the plot sufficiently to keep the reader's interest engaged, and in those instances the novel sags a bit in my opinion. Lindsay Faye has a lot to say about social inequality, prejudice, racism and religious intolerance that the inhabitants of New York faced in the 1840s, and yet so much of it is easily transferable to the present day and shows that whereas technology may have moved on another 170 years or so, human pettiness has not.
In all, I enjoyed the novel despite its flaws, and found in Timothy Wilde a very engaging and sympathetic guide, and would love it if he showed me a bit more of New York. Any chance of a sequel?
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
A few reviewers have already given a brief plot synopsis and pointed out some of its weaknesses. I would say that these are fair points if you are looking for a plot-driven detective novel but in my mind this book is several other things before it gets around to being a crime thriller.
I have been brought up on a diet of Sherlock Holmes - first read to me by my father who's a lifelong fan and since then it remains a source of enjoyment through my life. As this book is littered with turns of phrase and choice of wording that pays homage to Conan Doyle's super-sleuth, it came as no surprise to discover the author is a big fan of his work. Not only that, but it is clear to me that her hero, Timothy Wilde, shares much in the powers of deduction (or really induction but who's quibbling!) with our common hero of Baker Street. Timothy Wilde, however is a rich creation in his own right without drawing parallels to other works. Maybe his `inner voice' is a bit androgynous for the tough-guy former bar-tender and able street-fighter that he proves to be. But I still found his exploits to be just within the boundaries of the credible (more so than Holmes in many ways).
The real enjoyment of this book for me was the language and detail of the times. It seems to have been a thoroughly researched work using Matsell's Rogues' Lexicon as its basis but expanding out into the melting pot culture of New York in the 1840s. Faye really paints a wonderful scene and though the plot meanders and doesn't entirely hold together the views along the way are highly memorable and well worth the effort. Others found the book too long but I just enjoyed switching down a gear and taking it all in. With more tightly plotted `whodunnits' I might have engaged a bit more of my brain on trying to solve the crime but here I really just sat back and let it all trundle to its conclusion. No surprises that all the key characters were on the page from the early chapters then.
So I suppose you could say that the whole story is a device to shed light on a much more intriguing backdrop of the historical context of New York and the influx of Irish Catholics fleeing starvation. It works. But my main criticism comes from the levity of Faye's style when dealing with what must have been truly ghastly experiences. There's a dry humour running through the story which makes it all the more readable but also seemed a bit flimsy and maybe even in bad taste when dealing with the subjects of child murder, child prostitution, racism and the squalour of 19th Century life in a burgeoning city.
Overall I really enjoyed this book and will look out for Faye's sequel but it falls short of excellent in my view.
I have been brought up on a diet of Sherlock Holmes - first read to me by my father who's a lifelong fan and since then it remains a source of enjoyment through my life. As this book is littered with turns of phrase and choice of wording that pays homage to Conan Doyle's super-sleuth, it came as no surprise to discover the author is a big fan of his work. Not only that, but it is clear to me that her hero, Timothy Wilde, shares much in the powers of deduction (or really induction but who's quibbling!) with our common hero of Baker Street. Timothy Wilde, however is a rich creation in his own right without drawing parallels to other works. Maybe his `inner voice' is a bit androgynous for the tough-guy former bar-tender and able street-fighter that he proves to be. But I still found his exploits to be just within the boundaries of the credible (more so than Holmes in many ways).
The real enjoyment of this book for me was the language and detail of the times. It seems to have been a thoroughly researched work using Matsell's Rogues' Lexicon as its basis but expanding out into the melting pot culture of New York in the 1840s. Faye really paints a wonderful scene and though the plot meanders and doesn't entirely hold together the views along the way are highly memorable and well worth the effort. Others found the book too long but I just enjoyed switching down a gear and taking it all in. With more tightly plotted `whodunnits' I might have engaged a bit more of my brain on trying to solve the crime but here I really just sat back and let it all trundle to its conclusion. No surprises that all the key characters were on the page from the early chapters then.
So I suppose you could say that the whole story is a device to shed light on a much more intriguing backdrop of the historical context of New York and the influx of Irish Catholics fleeing starvation. It works. But my main criticism comes from the levity of Faye's style when dealing with what must have been truly ghastly experiences. There's a dry humour running through the story which makes it all the more readable but also seemed a bit flimsy and maybe even in bad taste when dealing with the subjects of child murder, child prostitution, racism and the squalour of 19th Century life in a burgeoning city.
Overall I really enjoyed this book and will look out for Faye's sequel but it falls short of excellent in my view.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
The author paints a convincing portrait of New York in 1845. In many ways it is a grim place with extreme poverty and sickness. Brothels abound and numerous abused and vagrant children live on the streets or in `bawdy houses'. This is a city which has grown rapidly to a population of some 400,000 and which is increasing in size daily as the Irish flood driven by the potato famine in their native land. The Irish jostle at the bottom of the social scale alongside the blacks and there is particular resentment towards Catholics.
The story is told in the first person by Timothy Wilde who loses his lodgings and his savings and is hurt in a great fire which devastates a large part of lower Manhattan. His brother, Val, who is older than him and with whom he has an extreme love hate relationship, is a political animal involved with the Democrats. As a result of this he secures a position as Captain in the fledgling police force, and manages to find a job for an initially reluctant Tim as police roundsman or a `Copper Star'.
Tim quickly finds himself involved with a case which involves the murder and disposal of a number of children. Unlike most of his colleagues who patrol the streets and intervene if they see something illegal, Tim's skill is in solving crimes. He is intelligent, resourceful, analytical and has a lot of perseverance. Whilst initially he, and the other members of the force are mainly observers, his skills are quickly recognised by George Washington Matsell, the Chief of Police and he is then given the go ahead to investigate crimes. A further essential skill in his new career is that he is sufficiently politically and emotionally astute to be able to make sensible judgements.
There is a lot of `flash' in this book which is the language of the underworld. In many books, authors drop in the occasional non English word to give their tale a local flavour, and usually this is meaningless as far as the reader is concerned and somewhat irritating. However, one does not feel this with flash as many of the words or expressions are either already vaguely familiar or fairly obvious or the reader becomes accustomed to them quite quickly.
This is an impressive and well written novel which has clearly been thoroughly researched to give it an authentic background. New York is so well described that you can almost feel the sights and smells of 1845. In particular we really get under Tim's skin and appreciate that he is a complex character. He is using his skills to do the job of solving crimes after the event rather than preventing them happening, which is unique in this setting, since this concept has not even been considered by the powers that be. I would think there is plenty of scope for further stories about Timothy Wilde. I certainly hope that the author does choose to write more since this character and setting are well worth persevering with. If further books do follow they will be high on my personal reading list.
The story is told in the first person by Timothy Wilde who loses his lodgings and his savings and is hurt in a great fire which devastates a large part of lower Manhattan. His brother, Val, who is older than him and with whom he has an extreme love hate relationship, is a political animal involved with the Democrats. As a result of this he secures a position as Captain in the fledgling police force, and manages to find a job for an initially reluctant Tim as police roundsman or a `Copper Star'.
Tim quickly finds himself involved with a case which involves the murder and disposal of a number of children. Unlike most of his colleagues who patrol the streets and intervene if they see something illegal, Tim's skill is in solving crimes. He is intelligent, resourceful, analytical and has a lot of perseverance. Whilst initially he, and the other members of the force are mainly observers, his skills are quickly recognised by George Washington Matsell, the Chief of Police and he is then given the go ahead to investigate crimes. A further essential skill in his new career is that he is sufficiently politically and emotionally astute to be able to make sensible judgements.
There is a lot of `flash' in this book which is the language of the underworld. In many books, authors drop in the occasional non English word to give their tale a local flavour, and usually this is meaningless as far as the reader is concerned and somewhat irritating. However, one does not feel this with flash as many of the words or expressions are either already vaguely familiar or fairly obvious or the reader becomes accustomed to them quite quickly.
This is an impressive and well written novel which has clearly been thoroughly researched to give it an authentic background. New York is so well described that you can almost feel the sights and smells of 1845. In particular we really get under Tim's skin and appreciate that he is a complex character. He is using his skills to do the job of solving crimes after the event rather than preventing them happening, which is unique in this setting, since this concept has not even been considered by the powers that be. I would think there is plenty of scope for further stories about Timothy Wilde. I certainly hope that the author does choose to write more since this character and setting are well worth persevering with. If further books do follow they will be high on my personal reading list.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Very good read!
I found this book to be a bit like Boardwalk Empire and Gangs of New York in as much as it's all centered around who owns' areas within New York. Read more
Published 1 day ago by A. Douglas
Diverting Reading
This book is set in an interesting and particularly brutal period in the history of New York. I must admit I enjoyed this book more than I expected I would, the history of New... Read more
Published 14 days ago by F. Proctor
depth and thrills perfect for a weekends read.
Gods of gotham was a great read but it was so chocked full of detail that it needs alot of patience to wade through it. Read more
Published 14 days ago by K. D. Squire
Thoroughly absorbing
This is a thoroughly enjoyable novel. The use of contemporary New York Slang, "Flash" adds an authenticity to the work, which along with the writing style itself- which has the... Read more
Published 17 days ago by John Woodcock
No sign of Batman!!
If your looking for Batman, forget it! This book follows the life of Timothy Wilde who becomes poor, homeless and injured following a large fire in a lower Manhattan fire, set in... Read more
Published 17 days ago by FLB
The Gods prove fallible
I can see what the writer is trying to do, create a compelling story of murder and degradation in 19th century New York. Read more
Published 18 days ago by Perfectbub
very good read
Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Mixture of fact and fiction. An insight into New York's past, and fascinating view of of slang... some of which is still used today. Read more
Published 22 days ago by Dicee.
A good yarn
I've read some of the other thoughts on here and whilst I understand the points made, they haven't detracted from my enjoyment of this book. Read more
Published 23 days ago by Christian
slow start, good story, distracting detail, ok ending
I imagine that this book is the first in a series and we are going to see more of Timothy, who here has been set up at NY's first detective, his landlady and the girl (and is the... Read more
Published 25 days ago by G. Gavigan
Colourful slice of New York life
The Gods of Gotham is a crime thriller with a difference. It's set in New York in the mid 1840s and our erstwhile narrator, Timothy Wilde, has rather reluctantly been recruited to... Read more
Published 26 days ago by Denise4891
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