Thunder City : A Novel of Detroit (Detroit Series)

Rating:
Summary: Thunder City, Deserving of Thunderous Applause
Review: After reading a few self-help books that couldn't even make Fred Astaire feel light on his feet and positive in nature I turned to helping myself all year long in my freshman year at a high school in Maine. Today I put a cherry on top of my emotional acheivements for this year by completing Thunder City. The story is as inspiring as it is intricate, and as relative to today as it is historically accurate.

Rating:
Summary: Detroit Wins Series in Seven on Estleman Homer
Review: David Mamet recently published an elegy to Patrick O'Brian in The New York Times. In it he said that only the genre writers are writing interesting English, creating characters that we eagerly wish to know and becoming part of our everyday lives. Loren Estleman is one of the best of the genre writers. His Amos Walker mysteries carry the torch of Chandler and MacDonald. His westerns carry the torch of L'Amour. But, unlike any of the others currently writing, he has also invented a new fictional genre. It is one in which the main character is a place, with a supporting cast that weaves in and out of its history. "Thunder City" is the seventh (and last) of the City of Detroit series, which seeks to define the character of Twentieth Century Detroit, one of the most gritty, down-to-earth, hard-working, corrupt, in-your-face, dangerous and exciting cities in America. I know. I grew up there. This series is recommended reading for anyone interested in genre fiction, but it is essential reading for anyone who feels connected to Detroit. You will recognize the culture, the locations, the history, the trivia, the conflicts, the voices, the attitude. It is a one-of-a-kind fictional endeavor that will someday compare with the formative novels of established genres. Not to be missed. You need them all: "Whiskey River," "Motown," "Edsel," "Stress," "King of the Corner," "Jitterbug" and "Thunder City." I suppose Loren Estleman will finally get his "best seller" due when he turns eighty, like Patrick O'Brian. Life just works out that way sometimes. But maybe, just maybe, there is a David Mamet somewhere who will speak out sooner this time around. Then maybe, just maybe, Loren Estleman will continue this marvelous series about the City of Detroit.

Rating:
Summary: Blends History, Rich Characterizations, and Suspenseful Plot
Review: In the early 1900s Detroit was home to the emerging automobile industry. Few were sure whether the noisy, unreliable mechanical carriages were simply a fad, or whether they were something more profound. Fortunately, much like Silicon Valley in the 1980s, there was a critical mass of young confident, competitive technologists that believed that they would transform the world. And in a single decade, they did so.

Thunder City is a fascinating historical novel. The plot is well-crafted and I found it difficult to set Thunder City aside even for short periods. One chapter quickly leads to another.

What I most remember is Estleman's intriguing characterizations. Within a few pages I was captivated by Loren Estleman's portrait of James Aloysius Dolan, Big Jimmy Dolan, the most powerful political boss in Detroit. Other equally fascinating characterizations follow: Abner Crownover (the famous manufacturer of carriages), the aggressive, twice failed Henry Ford, the explosive Dodge brothers, and the self-made Sal Borneo, a visionary Italian mobster. I was uncertain which characters, if any, were fictional.

This diverse cast is held together by Harlan Crownover, a lesser son of the respected Abner Crownover, as he attempts to raise money, against his father's wishes, to invest in Henry Ford's third attempt to launch an automobile company.

Thunder City is the most recent novel (and the last) in Loren Estleman's popular Detroit series. Chronologically (1900-1910), it is the earliest in the series. Whiskey River (1928-1939), Jitterbug (1943), Edsel (1951-1959), Motown (1966), Stress(1973), and King of the Corner (1990) complete the series.

Thunder City offers an exciting look at a decisive period in American history, introduces memorable characters, and makes good reading.