I am reading Dongri to Dubai by S. Hussain Zaidi.
Growing up in Mumbai in the 1980s/90s, I remember reading news stories about the Mumbai gang wars.
This book covers that in great detail and as such qualifies as a genuine history book.
And yet, it reads like a potboiler. It is essentially unputdownable.
10/10
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Yes, and also same for In The Garden of Beasts, and Dead Wake. Larson really has a knack for this subgenre.
I recently read Thunderstruck, also by Larson, and I found it to be much more tense and exciting. I knew nothing about both stories in that book though. I’d read Harold Schecter’s book on Holmes before I read DitWC, so that was likely a factor.
But I recommend Thunderstruck either way.
So much scary shit happened to me when I read that book. It was like HH Holmes’ ghost didn’t want me knowing what he did.