The Black Tower

By Louis Bayard
(Harper Perennial, Paperback, 9780061173516, 384pp.)

Publication Date: September 21, 2009

Other Editions of This Title: (September 2008), Compact Disc (September 2008), Compact Disc - Abridged (September 2008), (September 2008), Large Print (August 28, 2008), Hardcover (August 7, 2008)

Categories: Mystery & Detective - Historical

Selected by Indie Booksellers for the September 2008 Indie Next List

A writer, book reviewer, and the author of Mr. Timothy and The Pale Blue Eye, Louis Bayard has written for the New York Times, Washington Post, and Salon.com, among other media outlets. He lives in Washington, D.C.

"Bayard is a fearlessly confident writer. We are treated to all of the narrative verve and sly wit-both plot twists and turns of phrase-that make his books such a pleasure to read."
-Washington Post

"A tale that has as much energy and cunning as the detective propelling it forward."
-Christian Science Monitor

"A compelling and sympathetic narrator instantly draws the reader into Bayard's stellar third historical. Bayard keeps the reader guessing until the end. Few writers today can match the author's skill in devising an intelligent thriller with heart."
-Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Having previously channeled Dickens and Poe, historical novelist Bayard throws down the gauntlet to Dumas in another high-energy melodrama. The novel's witty succession of trapdoor endings, culminating in "the quietest of abdications," keeps surprising us. Who says they don't write 'em like this anymore? Long may Bayard reign."
-Kirkus Reviews (starred)

"A fascinating detective story about one of the world's most compelling mysteries. Bayard's scholarly and beautiful, heart-stopping prose always keeps before us the possibility of an improbability - what mystery is all about."
-Louisville Courier Journal

"Top-notch historical fiction. Bayard's is the kind of popular fiction readers are thrilled to discover: equal parts effective plotting, lean but distinctive prose and characters and dialogue that brim with life from the outset. A royally entertaining read."
-Creative Loafing

"Louis Bayard finds fictional inspiration in historical fact. He has emerged as a writer of historical thrillers in the vein of Caleb Carr, author of The Alienist, and 19th century writers such as Alexandre Dumas, author of The Count of Monte Christo."
-Wall Street Journal

"Louis Bayard repairs to Paris for another daring historical adventure. Bayard makes brilliant application of Vidocq in the fanciful adventure. No snatch-and-run researcher, Bayard takes care to capture Vidocq's roguish voice and grandiose affectations."
-New York Times Book Review

"Bayard doesn't revisit the past so much as reinvent it, historically and literarily, with a great deal of style, wit and suspense. Dark, surprising and Bayard's best example so far of a lean and accessible historical thriller."
-Miami Herald

"Delicious. [Bayard] inbues(s) his characters with real soul. You may find yourself, more than two centuries after the fact, aching over the fate of the pitiful young Dauphin. A-"
-Entertainment Weekly

"In his fast-moving tale, Bayard deftly places details to make history come alive."
-Rocky Mountain News

"In addition to the many fine, quirky character portraits and the visceral depiction of a chaotic France still reeling under the regime change, Bayard offers a rip-roaring plot full of smart and funny turns."
-Booklist (starred review)

"In the world of historical fiction, Louis Bayard is a master at blending history into intelligent thrillers."
-USA Today

"The Black Tower breathes life into the world's first police detective, Vidocq, a literary feat that happily waited for this novelist. As the gripping and nuanced story races through the parlor rooms and back alleys of Paris, Bayard shows why he is at the forefront of literary historical fiction today."
-Matthew Pearl, author of The Dante Club and The Poe Shadow