"The Whiskey Rebels"

David Liss has written several novels, mainly set in London or Amsterdam in the 17th or early 18th century. Typically they have very complex plots and turns of events, with a central character thrown into a situation that he must understand or (possibly) die. Mystery and suspense are skillfully built into these historical novels.

The Whiskey Rebels, just out in paperback, takes place just after the Revolutionary War. The setting is Philadelphia (still the US capital), New York, and the brutally wild areas of western Pennsylvania. Instead of a single central character, there are two alternate narrators, a man and a woman, each thrown into his/her own dire situation.

For the first 200 or so pages of this very long novel, the two stories have only incidental intersections -- eventually, the characters meet and combine their goals. This makes the first 200 pages very tough reading, as the alternating stories are extremely detailed and they seem to interrupt one another. I felt that the expected suspense doesn't really build until around half way through the book: I almost gave up reading!

Once I made it through this challenge, and once the setup was complete, I quite enjoyed the remaining 300 + pages. The characterization of the evil men on the frontier and their methods of terrorizing the "little men" were extraordinary -- it was painful to read, but full of insight about human nature. When the two plots merged, the suspense aspect did keep my interest.

As in Liss's other books, economic issues are central to the events and motives of the characters. In this case, the founding of Alexander Hamilton's bank, the establishment of tax on whiskey, and the speculation in various financial instruments are the crux of the plot. The author leads the reader to see parallels in recent 21st century financial events that are similar to those of 1791-1792, as well. The fictitious characters mesh well into the historical setting, though one would have to be a scholar to know which elements and characters are real and which the author invented.

Major characters in Liss's earlier novels are Jewish, and the portrayal of issues of being Jewish in historic London or Amsterdam is an important part of those works. In The Whiskey Rebels, a single character is Jewish, and his interal thoughts and community are not portrayed. For me, this is disappointing as the Jewish historic themes of the earlier novels were extremely appealing and well-researched.

Suggestion: If you want to read a novel by David Liss, pick one of the earlier, shorter ones like A Conspiracy of Paper or The Coffee Trader!