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Overview
Tap-tapping the keys and out come the words on this little screen, and who will read them I hardly know. I could be dead by the time anyone actually gets to read them, as dead as, say, Tolstoy. Or Shakespeare. Does it matter, when you read, if the person who wrote still lives?
These are the words of Jake Mishkin, whose seemingly innocent job as an intellectual property lawyer has put him at the center of a deadly conspiracy and a chase to find a priceless treasure involving William Shakespeare. As he awaits a killer—or killers—unknown, Jake writes an account of the events that led to this deadly endgame, a frantic chase that began when a fire in an antiquarian bookstore revealed the hiding place of letters containing a shocking secret, concealed for four hundred years. In a frantic race from New York to England and Switzerland, Jake finds himself matching wits with a shadowy figure who seems to anticipate his every move. What at first seems like a thrilling puzzle waiting to be deciphered soon turns into a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse, where no one—not family, not friends, not lovers—is to be trusted.
Moving between twenty-first-century America and seventeenth-century England, The Book of Air and Shadows is a modern thriller that brilliantly re-creates William Shakespeare's life at the turn of the seventeenth century and combines an ingenious and intricately layered plot with a devastating portrait of a contemporary man on the brink of self-discovery . . . or self-destruction.
Synopsis
Moving between twenty-first-century America and seventeenth-century England, The Book of Air and Shadows is a modern thriller that brilliantly re-creates William Shakespeare's life at the turn of the seventeenth century and combines an ingenious and intricately layered plot with a devastating portrait of a contemporary man on the brink of self-discovery...or self-destruction.
The Washington Post - Ron Charles
What follows is a wild story of double-crossings, forgeries, kidnappings and murders that's engrossing even when it's ridiculous. (At one point, the code secret is tattooed on a beautiful woman's thigh -- so handy.) We've got Russian mobsters, Jewish gangsters, Nazi thieves, international models and currency traders, oh my. And all of this madcap adventure in the present is mirrored in a story we gradually decipher from that 17th-century letter, describing a nefarious plot by radical Puritans to entrap "the secret papist Shaxpure." While twisting the plot into great knots of complexity, Gruber mixes in fascinating details about rare manuscripts, intellectual property, and ancient and modern cryptography.
Editorials
Boston Globe
"A smart thriller. Gruber’s themes may be lofty but his people are fully fleshed. An engaging adventure."Rocky Mountain News
"Finely-honed prose, ambitious structure and captivating characters...This is a whip-smart adventure that surpasses its competitors with dexterity."Booklist (starred review)
“Gruber deftly raises the thriller stakes and accelerates the plot while still creating convincing personal journeys for his characters.”Ventura County Star
"(An) entertaining thriller with Da Vinci Code appeal but far better writing."Seattle Times
"Fearless, intricate and intelligent. Stylish and confident prose. Dialogue that respects a reader’s intelligence. A smart and original plot."Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"A gripping literary thriller. A taut novel that offers ingenious puzzles plus murderous threats along the way."TheMorningNews.com
"Another one of [Gruber’s] patently intricate thrillers."Newsday
"MIchael Gruber pulls out all the stops (in) an elaborate game of cat-and-mouse."Maclean's
"Very good...ingenious and suspenseful."BookPage
"Not since Bayatt’s POSSESSION has an author so successfully combined literary puzzle, tempestuous duplicity, human adventure and good storytelling."Entertainment Weekly
"A dead genius, a sleuthing couple with romantic chemistry, and some bad guys...it’s a fun party."Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"Gruber is no ordinary writer."Dallas Morning News
"A crackling whodunit. Characters (with) rich inner lives that transmute genre fiction into literature."Wichita Eagle
"A wild ride of a thriller. The characters have depth, histories and believability."Chicago Tribune
"A wonderful book, brimming with energy, suspense, wit and fascinating details about the rare book business. A fast-paced yarn that is part Henry James, part James Bond.Arizona Republic
"Smart and irreverent."Salon.com
"Quirky, flawed characters, tricksy first-person narration, and nimble, witty prose. Gruber is the real deal."Edmonton Journal (Canada)
"(An) intoxicating mix of fact, fiction, secret codes and ancient conspiracies...well-written and cleverly told. A terrific thriller."USA Today
"Few thrillers will surpass [this book] when it comes to energetic writing, compellingly flawed characters, literary scholarship and mathematical conundrums."Denver Post
"An intricately crafted and literate work (that) should give the (thriller) genre a good shake."Tampa Tribune
"(An) intelligent thrill ride."Washington Post
"If you love books, make room on the shelf for a new guilty pleasure."Charlotte Observer
"One of the best new writers in the genre."Booklist
"Gruber deftly raises the thriller stakes and accelerates the plot while still creating convincing personal journeys for his characters."Newsday
“MIchael Gruber pulls out all the stops (in) an elaborate game of cat-and-mouse.”Entertainment Weekly
“A dead genius, a sleuthing couple with romantic chemistry, and some bad guys...it’s a fun party.”Dallas Morning News
“A crackling whodunit. Characters (with) rich inner lives that transmute genre fiction into literature.”Chicago Tribune
“A wonderful book, brimming with energy, suspense, wit and fascinating details about the rare book business. A fast-paced yarn that is part Henry James, part James Bond.Washington Post
“If you love books, make room on the shelf for a new guilty pleasure.”USA Today
“Few thrillers will surpass [this book] when it comes to energetic writing, compellingly flawed characters, literary scholarship and mathematical conundrums.”Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
“Gruber is no ordinary writer.”Wichita Eagle
“A wild ride of a thriller. The characters have depth, histories and believability.”Rocky Mountain News
“Finely-honed prose, ambitious structure and captivating characters...This is a whip-smart adventure that surpasses its competitors with dexterity.”Boston Globe
“A smart thriller. Gruber’s themes may be lofty but his people are fully fleshed. An engaging adventure.”Denver Post
“An intricately crafted and literate work (that) should give the (thriller) genre a good shake.”Charlotte Observer
“One of the best new writers in the genre.”BookPage
“Not since Bayatt’s POSSESSION has an author so successfully combined literary puzzle, tempestuous duplicity, human adventure and good storytelling.”Seattle Times
“Fearless, intricate and intelligent. Stylish and confident prose. Dialogue that respects a reader’s intelligence. A smart and original plot.”Tampa Tribune
“(An) intelligent thrill ride.”Arizona Republic
“Smart and irreverent.”Seattle Post-Intelligencer
“A gripping literary thriller. A taut novel that offers ingenious puzzles plus murderous threats along the way.”Salon.com
“Quirky, flawed characters, tricksy first-person narration, and nimble, witty prose. Gruber is the real deal.”Maclean's
“Very good...ingenious and suspenseful.”Booklist (starred review)
“Gruber deftly raises the thriller stakes and accelerates the plot while still creating convincing personal journeys for his characters.”Ventura County Star
“(An) entertaining thriller with Da Vinci Code appeal but far better writing.”Edmonton Journal (Canada)
“(An) intoxicating mix of fact, fiction, secret codes and ancient conspiracies...well-written and cleverly told. A terrific thriller.”TheMorningNews.com
“Another one of [Gruber’s] patently intricate thrillers.”Ron Charles
What follows is a wild story of double-crossings, forgeries, kidnappings and murders that's engrossing even when it's ridiculous. (At one point, the code secret is tattooed on a beautiful woman's thigh -- so handy.) We've got Russian mobsters, Jewish gangsters, Nazi thieves, international models and currency traders, oh my. And all of this madcap adventure in the present is mirrored in a story we gradually decipher from that 17th-century letter, describing a nefarious plot by radical Puritans to entrap "the secret papist Shaxpure." While twisting the plot into great knots of complexity, Gruber mixes in fascinating details about rare manuscripts, intellectual property, and ancient and modern cryptography.— The Washington Post
Publishers Weekly
In this ingenious literary thriller from Gruber (The Witch's Boy), the lives of two men are changed forever by William Shakespeare and the letters of Richard Bracegirdle, a 16th-century English spy and soldier. Jake Mishkin, a Manhattan intellectual property attorney and a bit of a rake, goes on the run from Russian gangsters. Albert Crosetti, an aspiring filmmaker working for an antiquarian bookstore, finds that life is more exciting than movies—perhaps too exciting. Together, Mishkin and Crosetti travel to England in search of a previously unknown Shakespeare manuscript mentioned by Bracegirdle. Though the pace sometimes slows to allow Mishkin, Crosetti and Bracegirdle to divulge interesting aspects of their personal lives, these digressions only make the story more engaging. The suspense created around the double-crosses and triple-crosses works because of the close connection readers forge with Crosetti in particular. The mysterious murder of a Shakespearean scholar, shootouts in the streets of Queens and an unlikely romance all combine to make for a gripping, satisfying read. (Apr.)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business InformationLibrary Journal
Praised author Gruber (Tropic of Night) attempts to join The Da Vinci Codefrenzy in his latest thriller, which centers on a hunt for an unknown autographed Shakespeare play. References to this play turn up in seemingly innocuous letters used as filler in the binding of an old book. Mishkin, an intellectual property attorney, comes into possession of some of these documents through his client, a Shakespearean scholar. Crosetti, who discovered the papers while working at a rare-book store, partners with Mishkin to find the play after the scholar's murder. The play is eventually found, but has it all been an intricate scam? Though the book sounds enthralling on paper, it falls far short. The letters are transcribed for us—slow-reading Jacobean English thrust into a thriller. Think rumble strips on an interstate. Gruber is heavy on the family drama and introspection, too. The best part: librarians are portrayed as brilliant and sexy. This difficult-to-follow novel is recommended only for popular fiction collections desiring all of this author's titles. [See Prepub Alert, LJ12/06.]
—Laura A.B. Cifelli Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information