Book Recommendation: The Devil and Sherlock Holmes

This is the third book that I have read from David Grann. He wrote The Wager and Killers of the Flower Moon, as well. This book is a collection of articles that he had written for various publications between 2000 and 2009 and some of them have already been adapted for the screen (Trial by Fire in 2018, Dark Crimes in 2016, and The Old Man and the Gun in 2018).

The book features twelve true stories. Each a bit different from the other. Admittedly, some were better than others, but I still enjoyed it. Here is the Goodreads synopsis:

Acclaimed New Yorker writer and author of the breakout debut bestseller The Lost City of Z, David Grann offers a collection of spellbinding narrative journalism.

Whether he’s reporting on the infiltration of the murderous Aryan Brotherhood into the U.S. prison system, tracking down a chameleon con artist in Europe, or riding in a cyclone-tossed skiff with a scientist hunting the elusive giant squid, David Grann revels in telling stories that explore the nature of obsession and that piece together true and unforgettable mysteries.

Each of the dozen stories in this collection reveals a hidden and often dangerous world and, like Into Thin Air and The Orchid Thief, pivots around the gravitational pull of obsession and the captivating personalities of those caught in its grip. There is the world’s foremost expert on Sherlock Holmes who is found dead in mysterious circumstances; an arson sleuth trying to prove that a man about to be executed is innocent, and sandhogs racing to complete the brutally dangerous job of building New York City’s water tunnels before the old system collapses. Throughout, Grann’s hypnotic accounts display the power-and often the willful perversity-of the human spirit.

Compulsively readable, The Devil and Sherlock Holmes is a brilliant mosaic of ambition, madness, passion, and folly.

Also featured in the book is the story of a NYC fireman whose entire station was killed in the Twin Towers on 9/11. He awakens not knowing how or why he survived. There is a story in the book for sports fans, too, about the great base stealer Ricky Henderson.

All in all, it was a good read with a variety of true stories. If you like non-fiction, you might enjoy this one.