Peter

Geoffrey Blaisdell, the narrator, brings Dreiser's characters and 1870's Philadelphia setting alive in this compelling study of a maverick stock operator.
This is what "Wall Street" or "Bonfire of the Vanities" should have been.

If you're looking for insight into the world and minds of the "Masters of the Universe", you'll find that human nature is timeless, and that the American financial and legal systems, which Dreiser describes in detail, haven't changed that much.

The book opens shortly before the US Civil war and ends with the panic of 1873, when financial houses in New York and Philadelphia rose to prominence funding the Union's side of the Civil war and the subsequent railroad boom.

The books character's are strongly drawn and compelling - especially the protagonist, Frank Cowperwood, and his mistress Eileen Butler. Dreiser's prose is a thing of beauty and his eye for detail is unmatched.

I'm proud of Blackstone for reviving this worth book, and hope they will record all three in the series.

Tom Stechschulte, the narrator of this book, proves himself to be the best interpreter of McCarthy's prose. Reading McCarthy's texts can be difficult at times, which make his achievement all the more impressive. This book isn't for everyone -- McCarthy's bleak view of human nature has NO resolution or happy endings. But, it's an impressive work and will rank high in the canon of "Doomsday" literature.

Neither the settings or the characters had any life to them, most of the plot and devices were lifted from other works. The plotting is competent, and Scott Brick always helps any book.

I'm really surprised by the rush of rave reviews early on. Were these from people who actually liked the book, or were they placed by the author and/or his friends?

After I finished this book, I listened to James Lee Burke's latest; his three sentences describing the sunrise on the bayou in the opening crackle with life, and made me realize what I'd been missing.