<![CDATA[The Poe Shadow: A Novel]]>

false <![CDATA[The Poe Shadow: A Novel]]> 9533 25 “I present to you . . . the truth about this man’s death and my life.” Baltimore, 1849. The body of Edgar Allan Poe has been buried in an unmarked grave. The public, the press, and even Poe’s own family and friends accept the conclusion that Poe was a second-rate writer who met a disgraceful end as a drunkard. Everyone, in fact, seems to believe this except a young Baltimore lawyer named Quentin Clark, an ardent admirer who puts his own career and reputation at risk in a passionate crusade to salvage Poe’s. As Quentin explores the puzzling circumstances of Poe’s demise, he discovers that the writer’s last days are riddled with unanswered questions the police are possibly willfully ignoring. Just when Poe’s death seems destined to remain a mystery, and forever sealing his ignominy, inspiration strikes Quentin–in the form of Poe’s own stories. The young attorney realizes that he must find the one person who can solve the strange case of Poe’s death: the real-life model for Poe’s brilliant fictional detective character, C. Auguste Dupin, the hero of ingenious tales of crime and detection. In short order, Quentin finds himself enmeshed in sinister machinations involving political agents, a female assassin, the corrupt Baltimore slave trade, and the lost secrets of Poe’s final hours. With his own future hanging in the balance, Quentin Clark must turn master investigator himself to unchain his now imperiled fate from that of Poe’s. Following his phenomenal debut novel, The Dante Club, Matthew Pearl has once again crossed pitch-perfect literary history with innovative mystery to create a beautifully detailed, ingeniously plotted tale of suspense. Pearl’s groundbreaking research–featuring documented material never published before–opens a new window on the truth behind Poe’s demise, literary history’s most persistent enigma. The resulting novel is a publishing event that, through sublime craftsmanship, subtle wit, and devious twists, does honor to Poe himself 1437022 23 5 2006 The Poe Shadow: A Novel total:1402|5:10|4:18|3:31|2:24|1:12| 1402 4138 2330 346 9533 1400061032 9781400061037 1191 282 The Poe Shadow: A Novel 2.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166028018m/9533.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9533.The_Poe_Shadow_A_Novel 2 7 false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 23 12:18:05 -0700 2007 Sat Sep 01 15:53:10 -0700 2007 more...]]> 9533 1400061032 9781400061037 1191 282 The Poe Shadow: A Novel 2.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166028018m/9533.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9533.The_Poe_Shadow_A_Novel 0 5 false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Thu Sep 06 13:39:36 -0700 2007 Thu Sep 06 13:39:36 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1933061 0743552652 9780743552653 14 3 The Poe Shadow 2.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1190522364m/1933061.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1933061.The_Poe_Shadow 2 2 false Mon Jun 09 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu May 22 18:48:39 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 09 10:21:37 -0700 2008
He is o...more...]]> 9533 1400061032 9781400061037 1191 282 The Poe Shadow: A Novel 2.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166028018m/9533.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9533.The_Poe_Shadow_A_Novel 5 1 false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Dec 08 15:32:34 -0800 2007 Sun Dec 09 06:18:35 -0800 2007
"The Poe Shadow"...more...]]> 9533 1400061032 9781400061037 1191 282 The Poe Shadow: A Novel 2.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166028018m/9533.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9533.The_Poe_Shadow_A_Novel 2 1 false Wed Sep 05 08:13:17 -0700 2007 Wed Sep 05 08:16:10 -0700 2007 more...]]> 9533 1400061032 9781400061037 1191 282 The Poe Shadow: A Novel 2.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166028018m/9533.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9533.The_Poe_Shadow_A_Novel 2 1 false Sat Jul 21 17:05:00 -0700 2007 Sat Jul 21 17:05:37 -0700 2007 more...]]> 9533 1400061032 9781400061037 1191 282 The Poe Shadow: A Novel 2.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166028018m/9533.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9533.The_Poe_Shadow_A_Novel 1 0 false Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 27 08:45:58 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 27 11:05:23 -0800 2009 The Poe Shadow is a meticulously researched "historical mystery" novel that has many trees but no forest--that is to say, good details steeped in historical facts, acutely observed and well rendered, but in and of themselves not "the story."

The book features a protago...more...]]> 9533 1400061032 9781400061037 1191 282 The Poe Shadow: A Novel 2.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166028018m/9533.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9533.The_Poe_Shadow_A_Novel 2 0 false Wed Dec 24 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 24 07:42:37 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 24 07:54:10 -0800 2008 1 more...]]> 9533 1400061032 9781400061037 1191 282 The Poe Shadow: A Novel 2.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166028018m/9533.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9533.The_Poe_Shadow_A_Novel 3 0 false Sat Mar 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 29 18:47:09 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 29 18:59:35 -0700 2009 more...]]> 9533 1400061032 9781400061037 1191 282 The Poe Shadow: A Novel 2.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166028018m/9533.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9533.The_Poe_Shadow_A_Novel 2 0 false Fri Sep 04 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 31 07:38:41 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 08 11:55:42 -0700 2009
Quentin Clark is a disillusioned attorney living in Baltimore. Although successful i...more...]]> 2265527 0345496760 9780345496768 4 1 The Poe Shadow 2.95 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2265527.The_Poe_Shadow 5 0 false Sun Mar 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 08 09:33:24 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 18 12:00:36 -0700 2009
Many readers are commenting that The Poe Shadow is not as good as The Dante Club. Sure, a serial killer on the loose in Boston is compelling stuff. Graphic murder and mayhem trumps an intellectual myst...more...]]> 9533 1400061032 9781400061037 1191 282 The Poe Shadow: A Novel 2.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166028018m/9533.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9533.The_Poe_Shadow_A_Novel 2 0 false Sat Aug 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 25 05:10:59 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 25 05:19:28 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1933061 0743552652 9780743552653 14 3 The Poe Shadow 2.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1190522364m/1933061.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1933061.The_Poe_Shadow 2 0 false Thu Jan 29 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 27 23:26:09 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 31 12:11:48 -0800 2009 more...]]> 9533 1400061032 9781400061037 1191 282 The Poe Shadow: A Novel 2.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166028018m/9533.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9533.The_Poe_Shadow_A_Novel 0 0 false Thu Feb 05 09:39:37 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 05 09:39:37 -0800 2009 Matthew Pearl's best-selling The Dante Club (2003) successfully meshed history, literature, and mystery. Though he tries to duplicate this formula and honor a great American writer, The Poe Shadow fails to garner similar interest. First, Pearl's attempt to echo 19th-century prose is fusty and verbo...

more...]]> 9533 1400061032 9781400061037 1191 282 The Poe Shadow: A Novel 2.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166028018m/9533.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9533.The_Poe_Shadow_A_Novel 4 1 false Sat Apr 11 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 03 12:43:25 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 13 06:26:23 -0700 2009 more...]]> 9533 1400061032 9781400061037 1191 282 The Poe Shadow: A Novel 2.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166028018m/9533.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9533.The_Poe_Shadow_A_Novel 2 0 false Tue Apr 07 06:18:19 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 25 06:13:28 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 07 06:18:19 -0700 2009
While I enjoyed The Dante Club by Pearl, the Poe Shadow to me seemed to take forever to get going, and its first-person narration was rambling and dense. I suspect Pearl might have been trying ...more...]]> 9533 1400061032 9781400061037 1191 282 The Poe Shadow: A Novel 2.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166028018m/9533.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9533.The_Poe_Shadow_A_Novel 2 0 false Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed May 27 20:51:32 -0700 2009 Wed May 27 20:58:31 -0700 2009
Poe Shadow seemed rather more like the author had a bunch of parts and characters and tried really hard to fit them into a story that never got ...more...]]> 1121641 1419380427 7 3 The Poe Shadow 2.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1186080007m/1121641.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1121641.The_Poe_Shadow 2 0 false Tue Feb 24 09:26:48 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 08 11:20:57 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 24 09:26:48 -0800 2009
That said, this is a very well researched book about the late 19th Century in Baltimore. Pearl also makes many interesting literary references regarding Edgar A. Poe and his work. These two redeeming factors he...more...]]> 587480 0099478226 9780099478225 14 5 The Poe Shadow 2.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176055878m/587480.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/587480.The_Poe_Shadow 2 0 false Mon Jan 19 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 12 13:15:40 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 19 13:50:32 -0800 2009 I am struggling to get through this book. I've finally finished this book! It took me a while but you just need to power through it otherwise you will lose the desire to finish it. While I like the setting (the dark, gas lit alleys of 19th century Baltimore and Paris) and the Poe Era-inspired langua...more...]]> 9533 1400061032 9781400061037 1191 282 The Poe Shadow: A Novel 2.95 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166028018m/9533.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9533.The_Poe_Shadow_A_Novel 2 0 false Tue Apr 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 20 08:28:30 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 29 05:55:02 -0700 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=6361814