The Gods of Gotham

Fascinating story and a great narration.
Even though there were some gruesome parts,
I enjoyed every word from beginning to end.
I'd love to find other 4-5 star books like this,
Ones you can't put down till the end, and
then wish it wasn't quite over just yet.

Although a little grisly in places for my taste, this is the kind of historical fiction that transports the listener to the world of the story. The writing is much above average for the genre,and the packed historical detail is fascinating without getting in the way of the story. The narration is excellent, too - both author and narrator seem to have made the wise choice that, since neither the prose nor the delivery is REALLY going to imitate 1845 New York, then make both sound modern and let the story, character, setting and appropriately chosen period vocabulary paint the images of the story world. I wade though a large amount of historical fiction flotsam to catch a few like this that really work - a good dense story, likeable characters, and, as a bonus, a social conscience without being hamfisted preachy.

Atmospheric, intelligent and engaging

This story is beautifully written, replete with descriptions of New York in the mid-1840s - what it looked like (sometimes gorgeous, more often dark and dreary), what it smelled like (smoky and rancid), and what it sounded like. Several themes run through a story that is about murder and mayhem, science and religion as well as the plight of women and children in an uncivilized place birthing itself from the depths of poverty and squalor. There are characters I wanted to know better - and hope that Lyndsay Faye will tell us more about Timothy Wilde, Bird Daley and the kinchins in the future. A most delightful element in this book is the way in which Timothy, who has been given a job as a ``copper star`` in the newly formed police force, uses his talent as a listener and observer of people and as an artist to become a detective - truly a problem solver using all of his gifts to understand `who did it`.

My favourite scene was the one in which Timothy, beaten and discouraged, returns to his room above the bakery. Once home, he takes out his onionskin and begins to write down phrases that he has heard over the course of his inquiries, drawing pictures of what he has seen and, finally, piecing together an entire picture to make sense of the `crimes``. I also loved the scene where Timothy and his brother, Valentine, come to know a very dark truth about their family. The scene bristles with horror and is infused with compassion.

While Timothy Wilde will stay in my mind for a long time, it is Mercy who I will remember. In her, the author has created a heroine tragically ahead of her time, deeply flawed, selfless and selfish, and for whom this female reader, while shuddering, can only feel compassion.

I downloaded The Gods of Gotham because I really enjoyed Lyndsay Faye's previous novel, Dust & Shadow. That account of Holmes and Watson pursuing the notorious Jack the Ripper was riveting and if anything, Faye's latest is better. The characterizations are vivid, the plot twists unexpected and the story moves along at a crisp pace without ever feeling rushed or contrived.

The Gods of Gotham, set in 1845, tells the tale of Timothy Wilde, a former bartender who finds himself a reluctant member of New York City's newly-founded police force. Wilde finds himself embroiled in a grisly mystery in a city that not only has some resentment towards the police (dubbed "copper stars" because of their copper badges) but is beset by corruption and racial tension as irish catholic immigrants pour into the country, compelled by the great potato famine to look for a new start in the U.S.A. It's a rich background for a mystery story and the author brings the period to life.

Faye is on a roll and I can't wait for her next book.

Regarding the reading: when I began listening, I wasn't sure if Steven Boyer was going to be a good fit for the material but he quickly won me over. He deftly brings the characters and events of Faye's novel to life for the listener.

This historical fiction novel is set in New York city in the mid-1840s, when a huge wave of Irish immigrants arrived following the Potato Famine. It describes how the New York police force was created in 1845, and is told from the point of view of a young man, Tim Wilde, who is more or less forced against his will into becoming a policeman following tragic circumstances. Having lost his parents as a boy in a fire which consumed the family home, Tim's only remaining family is his troubled older brother Val, who lives a life of complete debauchery but who's political connections guarantee him a post as a captain of the "copper stars". For his part, Tim gets stuck on the beat of Ward 6, described as one of the most wretchedly poor neighbourhoods of the city. Tim is embittered about the state of his life and hates his new job, but one night things take a dramatic turn when he discovers a little girl no older than six wandering in a nightgown drenched in blood. Shortly after, the mutilated body of another child is discovered, and Tim begins to make connections which will lead him to search for what may be the city's first serial killer.

This was a great story very well told which definitely pulled me in. I'm not sure if I was more shocked by some of the gruesome scenes involving children or by the treatment the Irish immigrants suffered in real life—evidenced not only by elements of the story, but also by authentic texts quoted from documents published at the time. It certainly made for a fascinating read. I wasn't entirely convinced with the ending at first, but now that I've taken some distance from it, find it was very well woven into the story after all. Best of all, I found out there is a sequel in the works, which I'll no doubt pounce on as soon as it's released.

Lyndsay Faye does a lot of things right in Gods of Gotham.

Characters, though not fully three dimensional, are colorful and consistent while retaining the ability to surprise us. The central mystery is gruesome and fascinating, and if the solution does not come as a stunning surprise, we don't really mind since the process of knitting together all the loose threads is so satisfying. A host of minor characters create a rich mixture of the comic, bizarre and chilling in a progression of events which moves along at a very nice pace.

Finally, the historic NYC setting is vividly rendered, an unsavory feast for the senses with a wealth of telling detail. This is crime fiction in an historical setting done to a fare-thee-well. I was sorry to come to the end, and I look forward to more from this author. When it comes, I hope it is narrated by Steven Boyer. He did a nice job of establishing the right energy for a story which demands a kind of fresh naivete in its presentation in order to capture us completely. Nice work!

First and foremost, I found the story itself to be riveting, well constructed and not overly predictable. The characters had depth, especially Timothy Wilde who showed wonderful growth through the arc of the story. None of the primary characters were one-dimensionally good or evil. The historical sensibilities felt real, if sometimes a bit overdone. I feel that some tighter editing would have eliminated some of the unnecessarily wordy passages that seemed to be self consciously showing off for effect of atmosphere. It took a while to get the hang of the slang, making it necessary to listen with full attention to get the context. My major complaint is of the reader. Particularly in the first half of the story, the reading was very monotoned without clear distinction between characters. I had to back up several times in conversations between Tim and Val to sort out who said what. As the pace and intensity of the story picked up in the second half, the reader seemed to get into the characters more completely, bringing me into the story with more conviction. I give the story very high marks. For some it might be better to read than to listen. Try the sample first.

The author does a great job with bringing the listener to a New York I was pretty unfamiliar with, mixing terms of the time into the story without seeming to force it. Mr. Boyer is a very credible Timothy Wilde, with just enough grit, exhaustion and tenderness to breath life into the main character. Overall a great listening experience.

Empathetic
Suspenseful
Historical

When "good" triumphs and Bird Daily is given the chance to start a new life.

Obviously, it is the main character, Timothy Wilde.

Tim really grows up during the story. His true character develops and matures. He figures out things about his family and himself that shapes the present and his future.

The story includes racism and prejudice from the era that seems very foreign in our time, and yet with many similarities. I enjoyed the presentation by Boyer and Faye's story line both very much. It's a great "who dunnit" with some history thrown in to enrich the story and enlighten the reader.

New York in 1845 was a powder-keg of unrest. With an influx of Irish immigrants escaping the tragic Great Potato Famine into an already packed city, the New York summer of 1845 was filled with riots, religious unrest, murder, and the eventual birth of the New York Police Department, known by New Yorkers as a "standing army." Timothy Wilde, once a bartender with an unfulfilled love for a charitable woman named Mercy Underhill, has accepted a position as a policeman after a horrible fire leaves him with no bar to tend and his face disfigured. Amidst racism, brothels, drugs and murder, Timothy learns there is much more darkness in the city than he ever imagined. When a young girl, Bird, runs into him one night during his rounds, her nightdress covered in blood, with unbelievable stories of a murdered child, his new career becomes even darker.

A strong dislike for his older and more politically-minded brother, Val, Timothy's got an ethical side that can't be undone. Even with Bird, he doesn't have the heart to deliver her to the House of Refuge for orphaned children and instead takes her back to his apartment building where the female proprietor cares for her. As he takes the case to uncover the child murders, which seem to point heavily to a blatant hatred for Irish Catholicism, Timothy's unsure of who to rely on. His brother is of questionable character and the locals don't take any issue with brothels, even if children are an option. It's a gritty underworld that he didn't expect to be immersed in.

The Gods of Gotham is superb with early 1800s elements of New York life and American history, from the combination of race and religious unrest to the Irish "assimilation" into New York and even to the seedy brothels. While Mercy Underhill maintains her own sense of willful independence that at times was shocking, she provides the clear contrast to the city's evil with her ministering of care to the orphans and uncared for children, all the while dreaming of her one-day voyage across the Atlantic to England to escape New York. Each piece of the story was brilliant.

However, I did take issue with the audiobook so let me first encourage you to visit the Audible.com reviews site because I definitely do not represent the majority of the listeners. While I loved the story, I struggled with the audio considerably. In 1845 New York, I anticipated a little more accented English and instead felt the narrator's voice was flat and non-regional, and a good portion of the audio was monotonous, even to the point that there wasn't any variation between the male voices. There was also a distinct lack of emotion for several of Timothy's truly painful moments and with such a vivid story, it's unfair to the characters to be so colorlessly represented. Usually, a narrator keeps a bad story going, but in this case, The Gods of Gotham was thankfully a captivating tale which was the sole reason I was motivated to continue. I do want to mention that there was one bright spot that I loved in audio, which occurred between the newsboys and Timothy when they spoke "flash," a slang dialect of the lower classes in New York. It was extremely unique and interestingly enough, "flash" is also the foundation of several slang words we use today. Other reviews point out that these conversations were a difficult part when reading in print, however I can say the audiobook makes it much, much easier to understand and visualize and I do feel the narrator did a good job here. (For a really cool interview with the author discussing "flash," click here.)

The story and historical elements are fascinating and while it was a bit wordy at the start of the book, it evened out and became an engaging tale which makes me now eagerly await the sequel. At that time, though, I will be reading the printed version versus listening to the audio.