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For what it's worth, here's the review I posted on Amazon:
To call this a strange novel would be an understatement.
Edison was a flawed man in real life, and the curious conceit of weaving some of the peculiar facts of this life (including his involvement with the first execution by electric chair, and the famous filmed electrocution of an elephant, 'Topsy') into a disturbing portrait of Edison as an unrepentant serial killer sometimes works. But it doesn't take long for this fictional twist to become repetitive and tiresome. Midway through the book it becomes very hard to sustain interest as boredom sets in, shock value notwithstanding. (And there is plenty of shocking material, much of it gratuitous).
The book's most serious flaw is not the tiresome nature of one murder after another. The central premise -- a secret co-invention by Edison and his rival Tesla -- fails to hold it together. This secretive but all-important thread runs all the way through the book but ultimately proves to be both wildly implausible and actually irrelevant. The ending is a major letdown.
I was personally struck by a major sense of déjà vu as I read the section about Edison's son and namesake, Tom Junior (nicknamed "Dash"). I quickly recognized that much of the text was pulled nearly verbatim from my own (copyrighted) website dedicated to Thomas A. Edison, Junior (http://edisontinfoil.com/taejr/edisonjr.htm), with the exception of changing the voice from declarative to conversational, as if being verbally recounted by Edison. Here are a few samples of such lifted passages:
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My website:
In 1899 Tom Junior married a young actress named Mary (aka Marie) Touhey, a chorus girl on the New York stage with a reputation as a lush and a low-life.
Inventing Madness, page 278:
'In 1899 Dash was introduced to a young and lovely actress named Marie Touhey. She was a chorus girl on the New York stage. Marie enjoyed her liquor, just like my son. She had a reputation as a drunk and a lowlife.'
My website:
Starting in the late 1890's he was the ostensible head of such companies as the Thomas A. Edison, Jr. Chemical Co. (makers of "Wizard Ink" tablets as well as the "Magno Electric Vitalizer," a patent cure-all for everything from rheumatism to deafness)...
Inventing Madness, page 280:
He was the head of the Thomas A. Edison Jr. Chemical Co., the makers of Wizard Ink tablets. Can you imagine? He also lent -- rather sold -- my famous name to a company that manufactured something called the Magno Electric Vitalizer, supposedly a cure-all for everything from rheumatism to deafness.
My website:
By the turn of the century the situation was out of control. Tom Jr. was passing bad checks, drinking heavily, and was under investigation for mail fraud.
Inventing Madness, page 280:
'The last I heard he was passing bad checks, drinking heavily and was under investigation for mail fraud,' I told her.
My website:
The Edison name was being used for all sorts of shady enterprises. Edison finally went to court and obtained an injunction to forbid his son from using his name in commercial enterprises, and legally disowned him for a short time. In 1903, however, Edison's lawyer negotiated a peace treaty between the estranged father and son, by which Edison agreed to give Tom Junior an allowance of $35 a week (raised to $50 in 1906) in return for which his son was to stop using the famous Edison name altogether. (Ever the control freak, the senior Edison required his son to sign receipts for each weekly allowance payment.)
Inventing Madness, page 280:
'In fact, for a time I legally disowned him,' I continued,' but a few years ago one of my lawyers negotiated a peace treaty between us, and I agreed to give him an allowance of thirty-five dollars a week in return for which he agreed to stop using my name altogether. I am so aggravated with him and trust him so little, I made him sign a receipt for each of his allowance payments.'
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I do not believe that such obvious plagiarism falls under the cover of "fair use".
Edison was no saint, and it's no secret that he happily took credit for the work of his employees (and others), but he still deserves better than this disjointed, exploitative and fundamentally ugly piece of sensationalized fable.
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