Because Charlotte put the flames to my feet, I will have to confess.  I am responsible for the “Devil in the White City” debacle.  Honest, though, I did NOT deliberately put it first.  I ran the randomization twice and both times it came out on top.  I took it as a sign from God, but in retrospect, this may have been a bit misguided.  As a disclaimer, I will warn you that I said something about drivel…

Okay, now that my chest is clear on that, I will have to say that I didn’t think it was all THAT bad.  He definitely got better at writing as he went on, but I guess I am used to the jumping around.  It annoyed me less than the jumping around in “Game of Thrones”, which I have never finished (by the looks of the book list, I will be forced to later).  My one big criticism is that it was not balanced.  As interesting as I found the architectural history of the Fair, and I really do find it interesting, there simply was not enough on Holmes to spice it up for an easy read.  Not exactly beach fare.

Larson’s foreshadowing is clumsy (which may be my understatement of the week), but, well, it’s HISTORY.  Technically, we know how it turns out.  This however, does not forgive the fact that the infamous “footprint” passage was repeated almost verbatim the second time it came up.  That’s just lazy.  The things that I really felt were out of place were the menus.  They felt like Larson stuck them in there just because he could. 

All in all, the ending just felt anticlimactic.  But then again, that may be the point.  There was this HUGE buildup for this extravaganza that lasted a few months and was gone.  Poof.  I bet a lot of people felt that way at the time, too.

Well – on to Scorpion Bombs next month.  I am in the mood for weaponry.   After everyone chimes in who wants to get their licks in on “Devil…” I will post the synopsis of the next GAMBLE gamble.