Hardcover: The Technologists by Matthew Pearl

Published February 2012 by Random House Publishing

Note: This is both a review of the hardcover edition of The Technologists by Matthew Pearl, self-purchased copy, and a review of the Audiobook, also self-purchased.

The Book:

I admit, freely and wholeheartedly from the get go, and in the interest of full disclosure, that I have a full-on literary crush on Matthew Pearl. He had me at “The.” However, that being said, if I’d never been lucky enough to be familiar with Mr. Pearl’s work prior to The Technologists,  I’d make it my goal to become familiar now.

In the aftermath of the  recently climaxed Civil War of the States a new friction has developed in the form of  a battle between past traditions of labor, and the looming future of technology. Boston in 1868 is a mélange of wounded veterans pandering for work, young hopeful and elite young men vying for the educational crowns at universities like prestigious Harvard, and laborers and unions seeing themselves replaced by the advent of the machine.  Sprinkle in some old time religion, and the omni-present argument over Darwinism, and  you are left with a stew of passionate emotions and self-interests. And when it bubbles over what’s left is a literary world where past and present collide, peppered with the essence of the fantastic,  in Matthew Pearl’s new historical thriller, The Technologists.

Amidst all this, the fledgling  Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with its mission to allow science to be its deity and education to become egalitarian–hence opening up education to all with merit regardless of position–becomes fixed as the center of controversy when a series of unexplainable atrocities transpire from Boston Harbor, to Boston Common.    Ships ominously spin out of control, their instruments and  compasses rendered useless in a late evening fog,  causing numerous  tragic collisions and casualties. Soon after in the hectic Financial district of Boston,  glass defies its own innate properties. Window panes  dissolve from their moorings, detach from buildings, and glass once solid, cascades liquefied onto the streets below, only to solidify once more entrapping anyone unfortunate enough to engage contact.

It appears to the terrified public, and is exacerbated by the ham-fisted reporting  of a  greedy sensationalizing Press, as if nature and the laws of physics have been completely up-ended.  As other inexplicable anomalies follow,  the argument ensues:  is it sabotage by the proponents of  the demi-god Science, or is it Nature, punishing mankind for having been subverted by hubris and the grasp for divine control.

At the heart of it lies MIT and its paean to the future of  Science.  Attacked by the press, under assault by labor unions, and reviled by the vested interests of Harvard, there is a danger that the first graduation class of MIT may become its last, and any hope for the future of the Institute dashed.

Enter  three senior MIT students: the young Civil War veteran Marcus Mansfield, a  charity student, his friend Robert Richards a wealthy but ostracized  son of Boston society, and Edwin Hoyt, a high Brahmin blue-blood who is nothing short of brilliant. They ban together to save the reputation of MIT, even though the board of  MIT has strictly forbidden their interaction. The trio form a secret society, The Technologists, with the express purpose of discovering  the secrets behind the bizarre technology and ending  the malignant design of its unknown creator.

Combining their unique strengths they battle the nameless  forces creating resistance to change through terror, hoping to end the stigma that hovers over  progress in general, and the  reputation of MIT specifically. They are eventually joined in their pursuits by a mainly self-taught and equally brilliant freshman, Ellen Swallow. Ellen has her own problems with being a woman in a man’s world, but when her genius becomes instrumental in circling toward the enigma of the mastermind behind the atrocities, she too becomes part of the society that will use the reviled art of science to thwart the menace.

There is as well a fourth important protagonist in The Technologists, and that would be the silent but ever present city of Boston.  Pearl, as in his other historical thrillers, takes the past, and doesn’t just present it, he owns it. He dazzlingly paints such a vivid picture of an era, in this case the  Boston of 1868, that it becomes three dimensional.  When left to our own mental devices, we can see and hear the citizens, sights, and sounds, that made Boston one of the most advanced cities of  that age. The rural charm of the town of Cambridge, the unbeaten and desolate expanse of Back Bay and its surrounds, the class distinctions and the toll of unrest left over from the Civil War, vividly come to life.

Moreover there is a wry foreshadowing by the author throughout the book, as we see our world of today, encircled by the shadows of many of the same prejudices and themes that afflicted Boston in 1868.

If you are a fan of mysteries, and additionally and aficionado of period thrillers, or just plain like a well written and intriguing book,  do pick up The Technologists.   Pull up a chair and immerse yourself. You won’t be disappointed.

The Audiobook:

Audiobook:  The Technologists

Written By:  Matthew Pearl

Narrated By:  Stephen Hoye

Published By: Random House Audio                  Length: Unabridged 18+ hours

Note: Having been enthralled by the book, I set my sights, or rather my ears, on the Audiobook.  I was a bit skeptical about doing so, because firstly, I like to review only what I recommend. I have too many friends in the publishing and narrating end of the industry  and I’m of the school that everyone should get, if not an A, at least an E for effort.  I do not like to show my wit or ability or lack of wit and/or ability by denigrating.  So, again, I was a bit nervous.  After listening to the Audiobook, I shouldn’t have been.

As I have already given you chapter and verse from the hardcover book, I’ll get straight to the audio part of the review:

The Technologists, published by Random House Audio, features an expertly written mystery by Matthew Pearl, with  splendid narration by Stephen Hoye.  His soft intriguing tones induced me into believing all would be fine, even as I knew full well that trouble was about to erupt in triplicate. His pacing was often intentionally lulling, moments  before, in the turn of a phrase, he would skillfully pick up the pace and take us racing toward disaster. There were occasions of melodrama to be sure, but as the plot often turns on  fantastical circumstances, that suited me just fine.

Again, if you are a fan of mystery, thrillers, and period thrillers specifically, buy the Hardcover, or buy the eBook, or  buy the Audiobook, or visit, aid and abet your local library. In fact, visit your library anyway. You’ll be glad you did.