Customer Reviews

Stone's Fall

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What a story and what great writing. I'd never read Iain Pears before, one of the few British mystery writers I've missed, but this novel, his newest, had me literally unable to put it down. A large book, with three stories seemingly independently told, the ending pulls everything together. The main characters are in each part, and each part is the back-story of the previous one. The prologue is set in 1951 and the first part is set in 1909, the second in 1891, and the last in 1867.

This is a huge, juicy, well-told story of business, love, hate, madness, the occult, and, in the end, love again.

Iain Pears is in an elite company. He, together with Michael Lewis, Michael Pollan, and Neal Stephenson, are authors whose complete oeuvre I've devoured. That doesn't mean every work is perfect. (Well, Michael Lewis might be.) "Anathem" was good - not great. I didn't really care for "The Portrait". But if you loved "The Dream of Scipio" and "An Instance of the Fingerpost" you are in for another treat. Like those two, this novel wraps up, intelligently and satisfyingly, in the final pages. En route are very interesting looks at early twentieth century diplomacy, the perils of the capital markets, and the importance of reputation - for individuals, institutions, and even Empires.