This book was a pleasure to read from beginning to end. The author was a graduate student in the world in which this novel is set--the world of finance in 1719 London. Although, unlike him, I'm by no means an expert, the first person narrative had a great voice, a seemingly dead on period tone that helped so much to establish character and setting.
The narrator and protagonist, Benjamin Weaver, is a former pugilist making a living as a "thief-taker"--one who finds stolen goods for a fee among other things. He's also a Jew, and a first generation Englishman, his family having emigrated from Holland. The tale thus immerses the reader in several interesting worlds--from that of the aristocracy to the underworld--and above all the world of the "stock-jobber"--that is a trader in the emerging stock exchange.
I thought the plot bubbled along nicely and made sense, and I liked Benjamin. He's hardly perfect--for one thing he's not above using prostitutes and that is a squick of mine to be honest. He also has quite a temper. But there's something engaging and appealing about him nevertheless and I certainly will be picking up more "financial thrillers" from Liss in the future.
