Description
From Publishers Weekly Liss's novel dissects the corrupt underbelly of 18th-century commerce, politics and religion. Benjamin Weaver, a thief taker, is blackmailed into spying on the powerful British East India Company, while a variety of undercover and double agents keep their eyes on him. The audio version is enhanced by a stirring performance by Simon Vance. His rendition of Weaver as crafty but moralistic is nearly perfect, though Weaver comes across as more educated and middle class than Liss intended. But in tackling a long novel rife with dialogue, Vance performs a huge cast that reflects the London society of 1722, including merchants, textile workers, accountants, security guards, a Scottish physician, Portuguese Jews, French spies, street urchins, plus the denizens of many a tavern and brothel. A wide audience will be delighted by this fast-paced thriller, thanks to Vance's deft dramatization. A Random hardcover (Reviews, May 18). (July) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. David Liss is the author of A Spectacle of Corruption, A Conspiracy of Paper (winner of the 2000 Edgar Award for Best First Novel), and The Ethical Assassin. He has a graduate degree in English literature from Columbia University, as well as an M.A. from Georgia State University and a B.S. from Syracuse University. He lives in San Antonio with his wife and daughter.An AudioFile Golden Voice and Booklist magazine’s inaugural ‘Voice of Choice’, Simon has won two coveted Audie Awards and more than 20 Earphone Awards. His range includes classics such as Dickens and Trollope, modern thrillers, and many nonfiction titles, including an AudioFile Book of the Year. From AudioFile In David Liss's third Benjamin Weaver novel, the seemingly effortless artistry of Audiofile Golden Voice Simon Vance brings listeners an eighteenth-century London replete with stuffy manners, superficial mores, and Machiavellian plotting. Charming, sometimes ingenuous, always engaging, Weaver is duped into owing a large sum of money, a situation that forces him to steal documents to erase his debt. Vance's nuanced performance makes Weaver an appealing hero who confronts the social problems of the day--from gambling establishments to political intrigue, from business hanky-panky to anti-Semitic attitudes. Liss offers nefarious villains, sumptuous temptations, a homosexual bawdy house, and several wild chase sequences. Vance develops noteworthy secondary characters, precise period diction, and Weaver's witty, droll observations. All combine to make this suspenseful adventure a winning audio experience. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine Read more
Features & Highlights
- From the acclaimed author of The Whiskey Rebels and A Conspiracy of Paper comes a superb historical thriller set in the splendor and squalor of eighteenth-century London. In Benjamin Weaver, David Liss has created one of fiction’s most enthralling characters. The year is 1722. Ruffian for hire, ex-boxer, and master of disguise, Weaver finds himself caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse, pitted against Jerome Cobb, a wealthy and mysterious schemer who needs Weaver’s strength and guile for his own treacherous plans. Weaver is blackmailed into stealing documents from England’s most heavily guarded estate, the headquarters of the ruthless British East India Company, but the theft of corporate secrets is only the first move in a daring conspiracy within the eighteenth century’s most powerful corporation. To save his friends and family from Cobb’s reach, Weaver must infiltrate the Company, navigate its warring factions, and uncover a secret plot of corporate rivals, foreign spies, and government operatives. With the security of the nation at stake, Weaver will find himself in a labyrinth of hidden agendas, daring enemies, and unexpected allies. With the explosive action and scrupulous period research that are David Liss’s trademarks, The Devil’s Company, depicting the birth of the modern corporation, is the most impressive achievement yet from an author who continues to set ever higher standards for historical suspense.
