THE WHISKEY REBELS
David Liss
Ballantine Books
Historical Thriller
Hardcover: 9781400064205
Paperback: 9780812974539
After writing his first contemporary novel, THE ETHICAL ASSASSIN, Edgar Award winner David Liss is back on more comfortable ground with another exceptional piece of historical fiction, THE WHISKEY REBELS. For the first time, Liss is exploring America's past, an interesting challenge for an author who has focused on more obscure topics like England's 18th-century Exchange Alley or immigrant Jewish farmers in 17th-century Amsterdam. Here he tackles the early days of the American adventure in a surprisingly timely tale of corrupt and unethical bank speculators who almost bring down the fledgling country's new financial institution --- the Bank of the United States.
THE WHISKEY REBELS begins in 1792 with two alternating protagonists. The first chapter is narrated by Captain Ethan Saunders, a formerly dashing and daring spy for General Washington, who has fallen on hard times and now scrapes by on the streets, seducing wealthy women and spending what money he can scrounge on hard drink with hard men. Saunders gets a second chance in life after being branded a traitor and banished from civilized society. He still has valuable skills, and when his lost love needs him once again, he helps the new government he fought to establish smoke out a conspiracy against the nation's banking system.
The second chapter is narrated by Joan Maycott, a well-educated prospective novelist who journeys with her husband from the civilized eastern seaboard into the untamed west --- Pennsylvania. Maycott's story is the tale of the hardened men and women who played such a vital roll in taming the undeveloped country. Liss does a superb job here, making it clear just how difficult life on the frontier really was. Clearing the land and making a living were the least of the Maycotts' problems. They also had to deal with dishonest businessmen and even American Indians unhappy about being pushed further and further west.
Each chapter alternates between the two well-drawn and compelling characters until the disparate stories collide at the end of the novel. THE WHISKEY REBELS is historical fiction at its very best. Liss inserts the reader right in the middle of post-Revolutionary War America and makes them feel right at home. The time period is vividly recreated, and the fictional Saunders and Maycott mingle seamlessly with real historical figures like Alexander Hamilton, William Duer and even the great George Washington himself.
Historical thrillers like this are often flawed works, falling short either on period details or failing to create a compelling story that moves the characters naturally through an otherwise well-crafted set piece. Liss is among the genre's best writers. The story not only has a compulsively readable plot and believable historical details, the author also has a knack for creating wonderful period dialogue. The characters in THE WHISKEY REBELS sound like real people, but real people from the 1700s, a noteworthy accomplishment.
Liss is a special writer, and this is his best novel yet. At first glance, a story about bankers, speculators and taxes doesn't sound like a very exciting thriller, but he explains the early banking system clearly without awkward exposition. Greedy banking speculators are central to the plot, making Liss one of the only people in America to profit from our current financial crisis. THE WHISKEY REBELS is a timely tale that makes it clear that East Coast bankers throwing the country's financial institutions into chaos is nothing new.
--- Reviewed by Jonathan Snowden
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