Though it is not a work of fiction, this book reads a lot
like fiction. Primarily, I think, because it contains the things most novels have:
plot, setting, characters, point of view, and
conflict.
Plot - It is an intricately woven plot, moving
between the two primary characters. Their paths run parallel to one another at times,
and they intersect at certain moments, as well. There is amazing suspense and drama
built into the plot--I mean, one of them is creating a world's fair on a level never
before seen, and the other is methodically killing people who have come to be part of
that spectacle. You just can't make this stuff up,
really.
Setting - I already mentioned the world's fair, a
work in progress but with so many intriguing and interesting elements it doesn't
seem real to a modern audience. As for Holmes's world, it's a
terrifying revelation throughout the book.
Characters - A
methodical and maniacal serial killer. Enough said. A relatively unknown man who is
both able to gather the greatest minds and talents as well as use his own inventive
genius in order to create what the world had never before seen. Plenty of smaller
players, but these are two enormously powerful
characters.
Point of view - Every novel has one, and this
book does, too. It's told in third person by a narrator. This is one element which
might have changed if this had been a novel.
Conflict -
Well, I think I just laid that out in discussing the elements above. The story is
jam-packed with conflict.
Clearly this is a work of
non-fiction, because there are elements which bog it down and keep it from reading
exactly like a work of fiction; however, it does contain all the classic elements of a
novel.
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