Gods of Gotham (Faye) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
rollicking…juicy…Faye's canvas is a crowded one, with vibrant characters jumping out of the plot to contribute local color.
Marilyn Stasio - New York Times


[Faye's] newly minted investigators in 19th-century Gotham will bring to mind works such as Caleb Carr's The Alienist and E.L. Doctorow's The Waterworks. Faye thrillingly evokes the full range of megalopolitan horrors…She artfully weaves history and politics, particularly the age's ugly sectarianism, adding literary heft without weighing the novel down…there's enough excitement here to cause anyone's veins to quiver, and the plot hurtles along like…stampeding cattle
Ross King - Washington Post


It's been almost twenty years since Caleb Carr's bestselling Olde New York crime novel, The Alienist, was published, and I cant count the number of times since then that someone has asked me if I can recommend a suspense story anything "like it." Well, New York has inspired lots of terrific thrillers, but I've just stumbled on one of the worthiest successors yet—Lyndsay Faye's novel, The Gods of Gotham.
Maureen Corrigan - NPR's Fresh Air


Set in 1845 New York City, Faye’s knockout first in a new series improves on her impressive debut, Dust and Shadow (2009), which pitted Sherlock Holmes against Jack the Ripper. As Irish immigrants pour into the city, fleeing the potato famine in their homeland, Timothy Wilde, a 27-year-old former bartender, adjusts to life as a policeman in New York’s newly formed police force. As one of the first to wear the copper star, Wilde soon discovers more than one unwelcome surprise. In short order on his lower Manhattan beat, he runs across an infanticide and the body of a 12-year-old Irish boy whose spleen has been removed. The investigation the novice detective launches into the boy’s murder brings him deep into the heart of human darkness. Vivid period details, fully formed characters, and a blockbuster of a twisty plot put Faye in a class with Caleb Carr. Readers will look forward to the sequel.
Publishers Weekly


Faye's new novel, after the Sherlockian thriller Dust and Shadow, focuses on the growing distrust toward Irish Catholic immigrants in 1840s New York. Badly scarred and rendered destitute after a city fire, barman Timothy Wilde takes a job on the newly formed police force at the urging of his politically connected older brother, Valentine. As a "Copper Star," Tim is well suited to investigation, and he stumbles on a mystery involving murdered children and one of New York's most infamous brothels. Mercy Underhill, a devoted social worker and the object of Tim's unspoken affection, is drawn into the case as she tries to protect her wards. Tim searches for answers amid political scheming, nativist sentiments, and anti-Catholic riots. Verdict: The Wilde brothers are a valiantly flawed pair (commiting illegal acts for good reason) whose adventures dramatically light up this turbulent era. Faye's use of flash, an underground language akin to thieves' cant (British criminal jargon), further enriches this engrossing historical thriller, the first in a new series. —Catherine Lantz, Morton Coll. Lib., Cicero, IL
Library Journal


[A] top-notch historical thriller.... In July 1845, Timothy Wilde is a successful bartender who's accumulated $400 in silver—just about enough, he figures, to ask minister's daughter Mercy Underhill to marry him. But the conflagration that sweeps through Manhattan that night consumes Timothy's savings and disfigures his face.... Timothy [destitute, joins the police force and] stumbles across a young girl covered with blood, who leads him to the mass grave of 20 kinchin horribly disfigured.... No one is precisely what they seem in Faye's richly imagined, superbly plotted narrative, which delivers not one, not two, but three bravura twists as Timothy tracks the killer.... Faye's damaged but appealing hero seems likely to have more adventures ahead, and they'll be welcomed by anyone who appreciates strong, atmospheric storytelling.
Kirkus Reviews