Books Set in Europe, Lisbon, Portugal

The Day of Atonement, by David Lisa (2014)

This novel takes place in 1755, the year of the Great Lisbon Earthquake.  The Inquisition is still alive and well and going after the New Christians.  Ten years earlier, 13-year-old Sebastião Raposa was whisked out of Lisbon, but his parents were killed by the Inquisition.  When Sebastião Raposa returns, he poses as the Englishman Sebastian Foxx, and vows to seek vengeance on those who harmed his parents.

Sebastian also wants to help Charles Settwell, an English trader who smuggled him out of Portugal.  Settwell has now fallen on hard times with the English after having converted to Catholicism.  Sebastian, upon learning of Settwell's circumstances vows to avenge Settwell, as well.

The novel is full of twists and turns.  Who is actually the villain, and who is to be trusted.  A satisfying historical novel.

Read: December 16, 2024

3 Stars

Benjamin Weaver Series:

    A Conspiracy of Paper; August 28, 2003

    A Spectacle of Corruption; June 28, 2010

    The Day of Atonement; December 16, 2024

    

    

Books set in the United States: Florida

The Ethical Assassin by David Liss (2006)

I have generally liked David Liss's writings. I first read The Coffee Trader, when it was first published in 2003, and was absolutely hooked on Liss's historical fiction. The Coffee Trader described the rise of the modern commodities market in 17th Century Amsterdam. With The Ethical Assassin, however, Liss has moved to another genre. If I had read this book first, I would never have touched another book by Liss.

The Ethical Assassin tried to be both a crime novel and a treatise on animal rights. The story takes place in southern Florida in the mid-1980s. Young Lemuel Altick has taken a job as a door-to-door encyclopedia saiesman to earn tuition money for college. His assigned sales territory is a poor trailer park that is adjacent to a malodorous pig farm. Lemuel is about to close on a sale, in fact the check has been written, when his customer and her apparent husband are shot to death.

The hitman or "ethical assassin" informs Lemuel that his name is Melford Kean. He tells Lemuel that he will help him elude the police, but then begins to leave evidence that could frame Lemuel. More bodies begin to pile up and Lemuel finds himself linked to Kean's actions.

Kean is also concerned about the animal research that is being conducted at the research lab just beyond the pig farm. Kean begins talking about his vegan beliefs to Lemuel, which includes ethical treatment of animals. He believes strongly about animal rights, but has no apparent moral compunctions about murdering a human or two.

The author is a vegan, thus the subject matter on animal lives is close to his heart. I am not sure, however, that the direction of this novel is the proper forum for espousing his views. I hope David Liss goes back to writing historical fiction in which he informs the reader of the development of the economic institutions we are familiar with today.



Read: December 28, 2010

Books Set in Europe: London

A Spectacle of Corruption by David Liss

I generally enjoy historical fiction, and have previously enjoyed the historical novels of David Liss. I especially enjoyed The Coffee Trader. This book, however, not so much. I found it hard to care about Benjamin Weaver as he struggled to solve why someone wanted him dead.

A Spectacle of Corruption is the sequel to A Conspiracy of Paper which first introduced the reader to Benjamin Weaver. A Spectacle of Corruption centers around the exploits of Benjamin Weaver at the time of the British parliamentary elections of 1722. Although Weaver, as a Jew, was ineligible to participate in the elections, he found himself caught up in the process after being framed for the murder of Walter Yate, a dockworker. The 1722 British elections held intrigue for a number of reasons, not the least of which the Jacobites, who were attempting to restore the throne to the Catholic James the Pretender, threatened the security of King George I, England's first Hanoverian monarch.

Liss vividly describes life in 18th-century London. Benjamin Weaver is a “thieftaker,” which was apparently somewhat equivalent to today’s bounty hunters. He walks a fine line in a world hostile to anyone who is at all "foreign", and as a Jew, he is perceived as an outsider.

After his trial, in which he is found guilty of murdering Walter Yate, and as he is being hauled off to prison, a mysterious blonde woman hands Weaver a lockpick and file. Within hours, he has escaped from prison and is now a fugitive in London. Now he must prove his innocence to save his life.

Weaver enlists the aid of his friend Elias, who helps him masquerade as a wealthy tobacco merchant from Jamaica ready to become involved in British politics. The novel purports to be a mystery as Weaver must figure out why he was singled out for the murder of Yate.

I found the novel not so much a mystery as a snapshot of life in London in the early 1700s. Liss captures the sights, sounds and smells of London ~ a city crowded with poverty, coffee houses, and the juxtaposition of wealthy with their own set of impoverished morals. The book is well researched and provides an interesting slice of daily life experienced 300 years ago. Politically, however, not so much has changed.


Read: May 28, 2010