[I received a copy through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

A mystery where the “detective” is not actually with the police, but a lawyer. Ten years before the beginning of the novel, Maya Seal was drafted as juror in a high-visibility abduction-possible-murder case where a guilty verdict seemed the obvious result… only Maya wasn’t convinced, and managed to bring the whole jury to vote not guilty.

I really enjoyed this novel. As the prime suspect in the murder, and after the controversy that followed the trial from 10 years ago, Maya is well aware that no one is going to cut her some slack—on the contrary!—and that if she doesn’t do something, she may very well be found guilty. And so, she embarks on her own investigation, trying to root out the truth from her former fellow jurors as well as from the previous trial’s defendant. And all along, things are never truly certain, for there are in fact two mysteries, not just one. Was that man actually guilty, or not? And, of course, who’s the culprit in the recent murder?

It’s difficult to write much about this novel, for fear of accidental spoilers, but I can at least say that overall, I liked the characters (they all had their good sides and their darker little secrets), and I found the pacing appropriate.

One thing that I deeply regretted, though: one of the chapters completely spoils the endings to several Agatha Christie novels. Yes, I know, I know, by now the whole world is supposed to have read them, but I guarantee this is not the case (so now, I need to wait a few more years until I forget the spoilers to read those Christie stories…). I don’t know why authors do that, but please don’t. Seriously, don’t. I’d have made it a 4* book, but this kind of stunt makes me feel obligated to dock a half star just on principle.

Conclusion: 3.5 stars.

Going through my TBR stacks, these are the books I have yet to read that concern either Sherlock Holmes or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, or written by Doyle, as well as two that are tribute/pastiche (one a stand alone fiction, one an anthologies of short stories).

I am not including those I've already read (i.e. all the Sherlock Holmes stories written by Doyle); not because I'm unwilling to re-read them, just unwilling to list them all.

Not sure what I'll get around to reading the next three months.  I'd like to tackle Hesketh Pearson's work, but I've got to be in a biography frame of mind.  Hopefully one or two will work for BL-opoly spaces and can do double-duty.

    I found this to be a very entertaining read, which helped give me a real feel for the period when the electricity cables started to connect the cities and then towns of North America. Moore did a great job of invoking a sense of place and time. I felt the magic of those times, so appropriately generated, by profound technological progress. The alchemy of turning night to day was of an order of wonder only matched in my lifetime by the Apollo missions to the Moon.

    My difficulty with this reading is small and to many will seem pedantic. That being my strong preference that writers of historical fiction never play fast and loose with the known timelines of events. Facts and the time on which they act should be sacrosanct in the reporting of history. The writer should only weave his fiction, his story, on the solid framework of all commonly accepted truth. He may of course dispute details if there is a case to be argued, such that perhaps in one infamous earlier history ‘the princes weren’t suffocated in the Tower of London’ and Richard III didn’t have the extreme deformity reported by Shakespeare. However, to condense and distort events is to rip deep slashes into the fabric of the past.

     This book, despite telling the story so well can finally stand only as an entertainment; a first class one, an informative one, but mere entertainment nevertheless.

    Crude measure of a book should be awarded simply on the qualities of the writing, and so giving less than five stars where such banality is demanded would be disingenuous indeed.

AMAZON LINK

The Last Days of Night, Graham Moore, author, Johnathan McClain, narrator

George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison are both geniuses and rivals with egos that are huge. Both are driven to succeed. Both are inventors extraordinaire and both are engaged in a lawsuit with each other, suing and counter suing. Edison demands that Westinghouse stop making light bulbs because he has the patent to prove he invented them and owns all rights to them in any form. The law is on his side stating that he alone can produce them. Westinghouse is suing Edison to allow his company to produce light bulbs also. Westinghouse believes he has invented a better light bulb.

Paul Cravath is a young lawyer in his mid twenties. He was lucky to land a job with a law firm and then to be hired by George Westinghouse to represent him in his fight against Edison General Electric, even though he is inexperienced and without major contacts. They were the actual qualities that appealed to Westinghouse.

Nikola Tesla is a brilliant, if not disturbed, scientist and inventor. He sees the world through the pictures he fantasizes and imagines in his head and then attempts to create them in the real world. His mind is amazing, but his personality leaves a bit to be desired since he seems to be obsessive and often disengaged from the world everyone else is witnessing. Tesla invented alternating current which is eventually used by Westinghouse. Although it is safer, in an effort to prevent its use, Edison portrays it as a tool of death and uses it for an electric chair.

Agnes Huntington is a talented and beautiful young woman in her mid twenties who is an ingénue who sings at the Metropolitan Opera House. She is sought after by men of influence, money and power and she uses her influence with them. Paul Cravath is completely smitten by this vixen who lives in a world way above his station in life. He does not know her secrets. Paul comes from a humble family. His father is a man of the cloth who has founded Fisk, a school for uneducated, freed slaves. Although Slavery had ended, equal rights had not yet become a reality. It would take many more years.

The lawsuit between Edison General Electric and Westinghouse Electric threatens to bankrupt both men, but both are stubborn enough to throw caution to the wind. Neither will say uncle. As the author weaves this tale of historic fiction, he shines a light on Cravath, Edison, Westinghouse, Tesla and Huntington, with an intensity that brings them to life on the page. Little known facts are revealed about their interactions as General Electric is born.

Their tactics, often underhanded, and their cohorts, often dishonest, though powerful, work together to create a novel that has all the makings of a great movie as well as an incredibly readable book. The fact that a there is a romantic undercurrent enhances and enchants rather than cheapens the story. When the book comes to a close, the reader feels almost as if they had met all the major characters in real life, although it is more than 120 years in the past. The fact that each character is willing to compromise their soul to gain power and success is illustrated as the story unfolds. In some ways, their behavior is admirable even as it is sometimes also reprehensible.

The friendship that develops between Paul Cravath and Nikola Tesla is intricately drawn as Tesla’s personality and genius are developed from his own writings and possibly the expression of a kind of mental illness that he suffers from which causes him to behave in an odd manner, most of the time. Throw Agnes Huntington into the mix and the story blossoms not only as a court case and study of business, brilliance and madness, but also as a beautiful romance. Agnes is talented, beautiful and intelligent. Paul becomes quite smitten with her even though she may be already promised to another, even though their different backgrounds and class are antagonistic to each other.

In his fictional presentation, Moore has accurately described the skullduggery that exists in the corporate and financial worlds, probably not only then, in the late 19^th century, but even today, in the 21^st century. Money talks and its power is enormously influential regarding deal making and relationships.

In addition to the creativity of the author in crafting such a masterful novel, there is an incredibly talented narrator. Perhaps coming from the entertainment business industry, Moore was particularly able to choose someone from his own industry that read the story magically, always with the perfect accent necessary and the emotional presentation that was never over the top, never stole the show, but always perfectly enhanced every scene.

Der Kampf gegen die Dunkelheit ist gewonnen seit die Glühbirne erfunden ist. Doch damit bricht in den USA ein elektrisierender Krieg zwischen George Westinghouse und Thomas Alva Edison aus, der sich um die Frage dreht, wer der wahre Erfinder der Glühbirne ist.

Erfindungen verändern die Gesellschaft. Während sie manchmal nur träge ihren Platz im Alltag einnehmen, bringen andre von einem Moment auf den anderen Licht in die Dunkelheit. Zwar kann man sich vorstellen, dass ein Erfinder seine Wunder vollbringt, allerdings kaum, welcher Wirbel damit - zumindest bei der Glühbirne - einhergegangen ist. 

Graham Moore verpackt in diesem historischen Roman die Stromgiganten des 19. Jahrhunderts, denen wir nach wie vor verdanken, dass uns in den Abendstunden ein Licht aufgeht.

Die Geschichte wird aus der Perspektive von Paul Cravath erzählt. Er ist ein junger Anwalt, der von George Westinghouse angeheuert wird. Von seinem Können überzeugt, widmet er sich hingebungsvoll der neuen Aufgabe, die ihn mitten ins elektrisierende Geschehen um Edison, Westinghouse und sogar Nikola Tesla wirft.

Der Autor hat mit der Figur Cravath eine gute Perspektive gewählt, um Licht auf die beteiligten Personen zu werfen. Durch den Einsatz des Anwalts und der Ich-Perspektive schafft es Moore, ihn als Drehscheibe der Ereignisse zu verwenden, indem er in ins Zentrum der Erzählung rückt. Dabei hat es mir seine persönliche Entwicklung weniger angetan. Man merkt ihm an, dass er eben seine Rolle im Gesamtbild zu erfüllen hat und nur darin seine Existenzberechtigung als Figur liegt. 

Besonders gut hat mir hingegen die Darstellung von Nikola Tesla gefallen. Er wird als wirrer, genialer Geist geschildert, dem man trotz seiner chaotischen Art einfach ins Herz schließen muss.

Die Erzählung umfasst mehrere Jahre und ist schon fast im epischen Stil angelegt. Manchmal wurden mir zu lange Zeitspannen übersprungen, worunter die Spannung und vor allem die Atmosphäre gelitten hat. Denn so ganz konnte ich den Erfindergeist, die Begeisterung und die feindliche Gesinnung nicht spüren, obwohl sie im Roman selbst immer wieder zur Sprache kommen. 

Ich fand es allerdings sehr spannend von den Hintergründen des Stromdebakels zu erfahren. Westinghouse und Edison haben sich eine ordentliche Schlacht geliefert und dabei sogar unfaire Mittelchen eingesetzt. Außerdem wird beleuchtet, welche weiteren technischen Errungenschaften auf diese beiden Herren zurückzuführen sind und wie damals Ideen-Fabriken aus der Taufe gehoben wurden. 

Sprecher David Nathan leiht der Hörbuchversion seine Stimme, die in gewohnter Qualität fesselnd und angenehm zu hören ist. 

Graham Moore hat mit „Die letzten Tage der Nacht“ einen historischen Blick auf die Vergangenheit geworfen, die nach wie vor den Alltag unserer Gegenwart prägt. Meiner Meinung nach handelt es sich trotz der genannten Abstriche um ein bemerkenswertes (Hör-) Buch, das bei Interesse unbedingt gelesen werden muss.