The Technologists

A Novel

By: Matthew Pearl

Narrated by: Stephen Hoye

The first class at M.I.T. The last hope for a city in peril.

The acclaimed author of The Dante Club reinvigorates the historical thriller. Matthew Pearl’s spellbinding new novel transports readers to tumultuous nineteenth-century Boston, where the word “technology” represents a bold and frightening new concept. The fight for the future will hinge on . . .

THE TECHNOLOGISTS

Boston, 1868. The Civil War may be over but a new war has begun, one between the past and the present, tradition and technology. On a former marshy wasteland, the daring Massachusetts Institute of Technology is rising, its mission to harness science for the benefit of all and to open the doors of opportunity to everyone of merit. But in Boston Harbor a fiery cataclysm throws commerce into chaos, as ships’ instruments spin inexplicably out of control. Soon after, another mysterious catastrophe devastates the heart of the city. Is it sabotage by scientific means or Nature revolting against man’s attempt to control it?

The shocking disasters cast a pall over M.I.T. and provoke assaults from all sides—rival Harvard, labor unions, and a sensationalistic press. With their first graduation and the very survival of their groundbreaking college now in doubt, a band of the Institute’s best and brightest students secretly come together to save innocent lives and track down the truth, armed with ingenuity and their unique scientific training.

Led by “charity scholar” Marcus Mansfield, a quiet Civil War veteran and one-time machinist struggling to find his footing in rarefied Boston society, the group is rounded out by irrepressible Robert Richards, the bluest of Beacon Hill bluebloods; Edwin Hoyt, class genius; and brilliant freshman Ellen Swallow, the Institute’s lone, ostracized female student. Working against their small secret society, from within and without, are the arrayed forces of a stratified culture determined to resist change at all costs and a dark mastermind bent on the utter destruction of the city.

Studded with suspense and soaked in the rich historical atmosphere for which its author is renowned, The Technologists is a dazzling journey into a dangerous world not so very far from our own, as the America we know today begins to shimmer into being.

Critic reviews

Praise for The Technologists

“The Technologists combines everything I love in a thriller: fascinating history, science, and a frightening mystery that demands to be solved. Matthew Pearl is one of my must-read authors. He never fails to intrigue and thrill!”—Tess Gerritsen, author of The Silent Girl

“Fascinating, mesmerizing, and richly atmospheric, The Technologists is the best yet from a true master of the historical thriller. I loved this novel.”—Joseph Finder, New York Times bestselling author of Buried Secrets and Vanished

“Pearl’s signature complex plotting, strewn with red herrings and populated with unlikely villains, leaves readers as shocked and intrigued as the Bostonians. . . . Pearl’s first three novels—The Dante Club, The Poe Shadow, and The Last Dickens—were all New York Times bestsellers. His latest, another literary-historical thriller, seems certain to join the elite club.”—Booklist

“Pearl again blends detective fiction with historical characters (such as pioneering feminist and MIT-trained scientist Ellen Swallow), and his cast reads like a who’s who of nineteenth-century Boston. . . . Great fun.”—Publishers Weekly

Good yarn, though improbable.

It's a good story, but the narrator's repeated mispronunciation of one chief character's name (the "z" in Agassiz is silent) was a continual annoyance, like fingernails on a blackboard.

Refreshing.

This world would. be.much duller, without the likes of the imagination and pride of such fellowship as this. The Technologist, would make a fina movie.

Literate steampunk

Set just after the Civil War, with many shadows from that still looming, we are with the first graduating class of MIT, working against rival Harvard to solve the mystery of terrorist technological attacks on Boston. The attacks, and the "Technologists" attempts to engineer solutions, give this the steampunk feel. Pearl is a good writer, so this does not read like pulp.

As with many of these historically-based novels, it's fun to research who and what is based in reality, and what is pure fiction. Pearl's epilogue tells some of that story.

Reader was quite good.

Recommended.

Boston under siege by madman!

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Sure. This is a great example of historical fiction that immerses into a time period and location so completely it's like being transported. I'm a huge fan of Matthew Pearl after his breathtaking THE DANTE CLUB. But here THE TECHNOLOGISTS throws the reader into a perfectly rendered Boston circa 1866, just after the Civil War. Some madman manipulates science to attack the city of Boston in elaborate spectacles of masterfully planned chaos and death.

What other book might you compare The Technologists to and why?

Well, The Dante's Club, of course because here too Pearl takes an era and owns it!

What three words best describe Stephen Hoye’s performance?

Proper, competent, ivy-league

Was The Technologists worth the listening time?

Yes, absolutely.

Good story

I enjoyed the story and the history it portrays. The narration uses a fairly passive voice throughout, for all characters, which detracts from the story.