David Morrell got his start with the series of novels he wrote about a traumatized Vietnam war veteran which became the basis of the Rambo films starring Sylvester Stallone.
But he's gone on to write a number of tauntly plotted suspense thrillers incorporating historical people and events, of which this is the latest and one of the best. Although his prose may be clunky, his characterizations of both real and imagined characters are compelling, and he deftly weaves any number of real events, persons and places into his tale.
It is 1854 and London, the capital of the British Empire, is the home of the richest and most powerful men in the world. Much of the Empire's power however comes from the British East India Company's opium trade, which has destroyed the lives of millions of people at home and abroad. Thomas de Quincey, the infamous author of Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, has been lured to London so he can be framed for a series of brutal murders identical to the infamous Ratcliffe Highway murders that terrorized London in 1811.
De Quincey is suspected because one of his most controversial essays, "On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts," discusses the Ratcliffe Highway murders in great detail --- the very same horrific details that have been meticulously recreated in the new attacks. In order to prove his own innocence, de Quincey must insinuate himself into the police investigation, all the while fighting the debilitating effects of his own opium addiction. He learns that he and the murderer are linked by secrets long buried but never forgotten.
Check out this TRAILER for Murder as a Fine Art.
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