The Book of Air and Shadows

By Michael Gruber

Book Overview

A distinguished Shakespearean scholar found tortured to death . . .

A lost manuscript and its secrets buried for centuries . . .

An encrypted map that leads to incalculable wealth . . .

The Washington Post called Michael Gruber's previous work "a miracle of intelligent fiction and among the essential novels of recent years." Now comes his most intellectually provocative and compulsively readable novel yet.

Tap-tapping the keys and out come the words on this little screen, and who will read them I hardly know. I could be dead by the time anyone actually gets to read them, as dead as, say, Tolstoy. Or Shakespeare. Does it matter, when you read, if the person who wrote still lives?

These are the words of Jake Mishkin, whose seemingly innocent job as an intellectual property lawyer has put him at the center of a deadly conspiracy and a chase to find a priceless treasure involving William Shakespeare. As he awaits a killer--or killers--unknown, Jake writes an account of the events that led to this deadly endgame, a frantic chase that began when a fire in an antiquarian bookstore revealed the hiding place of letters containing a shocking secret, concealed for four hundred years. In a frantic race from New York to England and Switzerland, Jake finds himself matching wits with a shadowy figure who seems to anticipate his every move. What at first seems like a thrilling puzzle waiting to be deciphered soon turns into a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse, where no one--not family, not friends, not lovers--is to be trusted.

Moving between twenty-first-century America and seventeenth-century England, The Book of Air and Shadows is a modern thriller that brilliantly re-creates William Shakespeare's life at the turn of the seventeenth century and combines an ingenious and intricately layered plot with a devastating portrait of a contemporary man on the brink of self-discovery . . . or self-destruction.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060874465
• ISBN13: 9780060874469
• Release Date: March 2007
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 1.59 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Brilliantly written!

Far from an ordinary genre thriller, "The Book of Air and Shadows" is a complicated tale spanning four centuries. Within the requisite context of action and suspense, societal, cultural and historical issues are addressed with wit and style. There's lots of shoot 'em up action in this story, told by an assortment of engagingly flawed characters--Shakespeare himself is in the mix--a very difficult device Mr. Gruber pulls off without a false step. Wild plot twists and digressions on topics as varied as the guilt of the very rich, the influence of movies on culture and the nature of truth make it an entertaining and memorable read. Mr. Gruber did some prodigious scholarship; there's information about bookbinding, 17th century armaments, the development of mathematics, Shakespearean lore, the Russian Mob, and geology. Gruber deftly illustrates the foibles of the main characters (and what foibles they are!) with humor and keeps the reader as curious about them as about the next plot twist. Some charming and well-defined minor characters keep the book from becoming too angst-ridden and their contributions make the main players' voyages of self discovery as riveting as the plentiful action. This is one of the few thrillers I've read recently that didn't waste my time. It's very smart, very satisfying and well, thrilling.

In search of the literary grail

Albert Crosetti, a young filmmaker in progress works in a rare book store. A fire next door to the shop sets off an international quest for a literary grail, an undiscovered manuscript by William Shakespeare, written in his own hand. The play which is about Mary Queen of Scots is the product of 17th Century intrigue as England labors under post-Elizabethan religious turmoil under the reign of the beheaded Mary's son King James I. Bracegirdle, a young man of so little promise that his father apprenticed him off, proves to be a talented accountant, inventor, gunner, cryptographer, and (ultimately) spy. He is sent by Lord Darden to befriend "W.S." with a fanciful claim that they are maternal cousins. Bracegirdle's mission is to convince W.S. to write a play glorifying the late Scottish queen and prove W.S. to be a secret papist. The Bracegirdle manuscript discovered in the binding of a water-damaged rare book is taken to a British scholar in residence at Columbia who cheats Crosetti and then having made a deal with the devil, a Russian gangster, pays with his life. But by then the Bracegirdle document has been placed for safekeeping with a New York lawyer Jacob Miskin, who opens this narrative in a cottage on Lake Henry awaiting his own death. This is an astonishingly well-crafted novel, written in three distinct voices-Crosetti, Miskin and Bracegirdle. It presents historical and literary back-story with keen insight, while making but one passing and sly reference to the DaVinci Code to which this work most favorably compares. Michael Gruber clearly contemplates a blockbuster version to be produced and offers some insights into film, reality and art that are truly thought provoking. Push the Buy It Now button and travel through time and space with characters you will never forget.

Bookseller's dream!

Imagine the possibility of finding a new play by William Shakespeare! During restoration work on a 16th century book enticing letters are found that hint at the existence of an unknown play by Shakespeare. Obviously a major coup and soon after the discovery everybody seems to after this unknown manuscript, including a bunch of Russian mobsters and some Jewish gangsters. The novel is made up of three story lines that converge as the story develops. Richard Bracegirdle, the letter writer from the 16th century; Jake Mishkin an Intellectual Property Lawyer; and Albert Crosetti an aspiring filmmaker making a living working for an antiquarian bookshop. The author uses the written word eloquently to bring three distinct characters to life in such a way that you get absolutely and completely absorbed in the narrative. The novel does not totally focus on the thrill of the chase to find the illusive manuscript, but incorporates the (dysfunctional) lives and loves of the main characters to give a rounded whole. This is a literary detective story, where you will find it difficult to anticipate where the narrative will take you next, with the only way forward to turn the pages quickly to the next and the next. I think the novel holds something for everyone, even if you don't know anything about Shakespeare or books. I have to admit that this book is one of the best I have read so far this year and will definitely anticipate the next book of this author.

Fascinating historical thriller!

My wife brought this book home a few days ago as she loves Da Vinci style thrillers, I don't however. But I do enjoy good writing. I picked up "Air and Shadows" and started reading the first chapter, In spite of my self I was hooked! In less the 48 hours I had finished the book. The Plot involves Ciphered seventeenth century letters that lead to a race to find an undiscovered Shakespear play. The story could easily have turned into another run of the mill historical thriller full of stereotypical characters and genre scenes we have all seen too many times, but the author doesn't allow that to happen. The book is intelligent, without being preachy, and the twists and turns are believable and for the most part I did not see them coming. Real historical nuance is woven into the fiction to create an especially satisfying read. This book really should enjoy a wide audience and would make a great movie in the right hands.