NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A world of invention and skulduggery populated by the likes of
Edison Westinghouse and Tesla.-Erik Larson A model of superior historical fiction . . . an
exciting sometimes astonishing story.-The Washington Post From Graham Moore the Oscar-winning
screenwriter of The Imitation Game and New York Times bestselling author of The Sherlockian
comes a thrilling novel-based on actual events-about the nature of genius the cost of ambition
and the battle to electrify America. New York 1888. Gas lamps still flicker in the city
streets but the miracle of electric light is in its infancy. The person who controls the means
to turn night into day will make history-and a vast fortune. A young untested lawyer named Paul
Cravath fresh out of Columbia Law School takes a case that seems impossible to win. Paul's
client George Westinghouse has been sued by Thomas Edison over a billion-dollar question: Who
invented the light bulb and holds the right to power the country? The case affords Paul entry
to the heady world of high society-the glittering parties in Gramercy Park mansions and the
more insidious dealings done behind closed doors. The task facing him is beyond daunting.
Edison is a wily dangerous opponent with vast resources at his disposal-private spies
newspapers in his pocket and the backing of J. P. Morgan himself. Yet this unknown lawyer
shares with his famous adversary a compulsion to win at all costs. How will he do it? In
obsessive pursuit of victory Paul crosses paths with Nikola Tesla an eccentric brilliant
inventor who may hold the key to defeating Edison and with Agnes Huntington a beautiful opera
singer who proves to be a flawless performer on stage and off. As Paul takes greater and
greater risks he'll find that everyone in his path is playing their own game and no one is
quite who they seem. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST AND THE
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER A satisfying romp . . . Takes place against a backdrop rich with period
detail . . . Works wonderfully as an entertainment . . . As it charges forward the novel
leaves no dot unconnected.-Noah Hawley The New York Times Book Review
