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cl224's review against another edition
5.0
Every story in here is interesting. It covers a wide range of topics that are all super enthralling. Grann is a great writers and his style helps the reader gain context to the facts he shares later. Great reporting.
jwsg's review against another edition
4.0
I’d just finished John McPhee’s Draft No. 4 before picking up David Grann’s The Devil and Sherlock Holmes. The connection between the two being their writing for The New Yorker. 9 out of the 12 stories in this collection were published in The New Yorker previously (the other 3 having been published in The Atlantic, The New Republic and the NYT Magazine). I don’t read The New Yorker regularly but what I’ve read, I’ve enjoyed. So naturally, I whizzed through Grann’s collection.
McPhee writes on a wide and eclectic range of topics but there’s a strong emphasis on the natural world. Grann’s collection is equally eclectic but has a much more obvious human interest angle – the “strange death of a Sherlock Holmes fanatic”; a story on arson investigation and whether shoddy science led to the execution of an innocent man in Texas; the story of Frederic Bourdin, a con artist who impersonated missing and exploited children; the story of a fireman who survived 9/11 but lost his memories of the event and was haunted that the only reason he survived was because he ran to save his skin while the rest of his team perished trying to save others; the story of Forrest Tucker, the robber who wouldn’t and couldn’t retire; the story of how Toto Constant, a Haitian war criminal, was allowed to immigrate to and walk free in the US; and the story of how the US Marshals tried to take down the Aryan Brotherhood, “the most dangerous prison gang in America”.
Most of the stories were compelling reads but my favourite was perhaps City of Water, a fascinating 2003 piece Grann wrote for The New Yorker on the vulnerability of New York City’s aging infrastructure and the group of men – the sandhoggers – tasked to build a new water Tunnel No. 3 to ensure that New York City’s taps don’t run dry even as the population grows and demand for industrial, commercial and residential use rises.
Eye opening.
McPhee writes on a wide and eclectic range of topics but there’s a strong emphasis on the natural world. Grann’s collection is equally eclectic but has a much more obvious human interest angle – the “strange death of a Sherlock Holmes fanatic”; a story on arson investigation and whether shoddy science led to the execution of an innocent man in Texas; the story of Frederic Bourdin, a con artist who impersonated missing and exploited children; the story of a fireman who survived 9/11 but lost his memories of the event and was haunted that the only reason he survived was because he ran to save his skin while the rest of his team perished trying to save others; the story of Forrest Tucker, the robber who wouldn’t and couldn’t retire; the story of how Toto Constant, a Haitian war criminal, was allowed to immigrate to and walk free in the US; and the story of how the US Marshals tried to take down the Aryan Brotherhood, “the most dangerous prison gang in America”.
Most of the stories were compelling reads but my favourite was perhaps City of Water, a fascinating 2003 piece Grann wrote for The New Yorker on the vulnerability of New York City’s aging infrastructure and the group of men – the sandhoggers – tasked to build a new water Tunnel No. 3 to ensure that New York City’s taps don’t run dry even as the population grows and demand for industrial, commercial and residential use rises.
Eye opening.
mthorley23's review against another edition
2.0
Meh, I didn't finish it. Grann is a good writer but I guess maybe I don't like a mystery for mystery's sake. I am interested in the characters, mainly those who are solving the mysteries. This wasn't Sherlock Holmes, it was Unsolved Mysteries. Not my style. Plus it had some rough language, which put another nail in the coffin.
melledotca's review against another edition
2.0
The title is misleading. The first story has to do with the murder of a Sherlock Holmes scholar, but the rest are more just true crime/unsolved mysteries type of thing. Also not really any cohesive thread, aside from the criminal element and, presumably, that the author thought they were interesting.
nlbullock1's review against another edition
4.0
This book is a collection of non-fiction short stories by David Grann, and come primarily from articles he'd written in the New Yorker, Atlantic, and New York Times magazines. All of the stories focus on people with personal obsessions, true crime, or unsolved mysteries. Although the author attempted to unite all of the stories through Sherlock Holmes stories, he doesn't necessarily succeed in creating unity amongst the various stories.
That being said, each of the stories on it's own was very interesting and informative. I was reminded of the power of long-form narrative journalism to fully flesh out a story and give much more detail and color to a point of view. It reminded me that as a society, we have lost much through blogs, twitter, and other short-form "journalistic" mediums. I came away feeling better informed and, as with all good books, entertained.
That being said, each of the stories on it's own was very interesting and informative. I was reminded of the power of long-form narrative journalism to fully flesh out a story and give much more detail and color to a point of view. It reminded me that as a society, we have lost much through blogs, twitter, and other short-form "journalistic" mediums. I came away feeling better informed and, as with all good books, entertained.
gianm's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.0
hrgisahero's review against another edition
4.0
A great collection of journalism pieces that are engagingly written and researched to a comfortable degree. Always enjoy Grann’s writing.
monda16's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
5.0