The Coffee Trader by David Liss - 4 stars (added to bookshelf)

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

I enjoyed this historical fiction. It doubles as a mystery/thriller, though that didn't kick in until the latter half. David Liss does a fine job with the setting of 1659 Amsterdam. The main character, Miguel Lienzo, is a Portuguese Jew. He and the others in his community fled their country and the Inquisition.

The presentation of the story is somewhat unusual. Most fiction is told in the third person, and so is most of this. However, many of the chapters conclude with a section "from The Factual and Revealing Memoirs of Alonzo Alferonda" and, being a purported memoir, is told in the first person. Alonzo knows things that the other characters do not and it is with Alonzo that we are privy to some of the intrigue.

The beginning drew me in immediately, but then seemed a bit flat. Then it picked up, and then again was flat. In other novels, I might call this uneven, but I have decided this was just the nature of this story. Not every person's life can be exciting every moment. Miguel had to take time to think, and it was the thinking that drove the thriller rather than the villain as in most thrillers. He is not the villain of the piece and the story is never told from the perspective of the villain.

I am happy I have purchased another David Liss when it was a sale item for my Kindle. I don't know how soon I'll get to it, but it won't lie languishing for years, I think. This one slips into the 4 star bracket (from 3) because of the last 75 pages. It has neither the superb prose nor characterizations which I want for my 5 star reads.

[Hahtoolah]

I read The Coffee Trader several years ago and just loved it. I recommended it to both of my reading groups. I also read A Conspiracy of Paper and A Spectacle of Corruption, which take place around the same time frame. I liked both of those historical novels. His novel, The Ethical Assassin, however, is an outlier.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Hahtoolah wrote: "I read The Coffee Trader several years ago and just loved it. I recommended it to both of my reading groups. I also read A Conspiracy of Paper and A Spectacle of Corruption, which take place around..."

It is A Conspiracy of Paper that I have. I actually have it pencilled in for this month, but I doubt I'll get to it. I have so many others to read!

[JoLene]

I think I have this sitting in a box somewhere...I really like historical fiction.