Set in San Jose against the backdrop of Prohibition and the Depression,an era of political maneuvering and manipulation, corruption in local government, bootlegging and the enormous profits to be made from the prohibited liquor, we have a kidnapping of a prominent young man - Jewish background but brought up in a catholic college. He was found and then disappeared again.

For convenience two petty criminals were arrested and mob violence prevailed. The two men were beaten, hanged in the town square and one was burnt. Mob violence at its worst. We have the worst that the era represented and it is a factionalized telling of what happened in 1933 long before Silicon Valley came into existence.

Not an easy read but life is sometimes full of horror stories too.

I got the ARC so I know there were edits to be made. The book had a lot of history that was so interesting not only for California but nationwide. There were a lot of parts addressing unions and their workers. It was a few decades that shaped how workers were treated. The area of Northern California, at the time were so different. People hit by unemployment, financial crisis and the depression were included and adequately explained.

There were a lot of parts that seemed scattered but I enjoyed the book

A historical fiction tale, St. James Park (2025) by John Doll is set in 1933 San Jose, against the backdrop of the Depression, Prohibition and Unionisation unrest. Michael Rosen, the son of a department store owner is kidnapped and a ransom demanded. The FBI and police investigate, only for Michael to turn up and then later disappear again. Two men are arrested for killing Michael and the upheaval of the time results in obfuscation and a tragic injustice. Whilst this story is an acknowledgement of past wrongs, fictionalising historical events is a delicate balance of fact and storytelling, which in this case results in somewhat bland characters and atmospherics - making for an okay two and half star read rating. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own, freely given and without any inducement. With thanks to Köehler Books and the author, for an uncorrected advanced review copy for review purposes.

There was a lot going on in this book. As a result it was hard to follow, hard to keep characters straight and you didn't feel like you had a satisfying ending. The overall premise was really eye catching. But I think there was still a little work needed on the story for it to come together in a cohesive manner
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

DNF

I really liked the summary for this book, and while historical fiction is not my favorite genre, I certainly have found myself loving a few. I just could not get into this at all. Sorry.

Though the premises of the story where interesting and appealing, the book failed to hook me.
Characters were not appealing and the wholewriting style just wasnt fast enough for all the things that were happening It- became a tedious read really quickly.

The book was very hard for me to follow. It seemed like it was all over the place and I had a problem keeping track of the characters and where the story was leading me. It was not a book I would recommend or reread.

This book is a fictionalization of real events that took place in San Jose in the 1930s and while I'm sure the author did a substantial amount of research, the book is all over the place.

We follow low level mobsters, cannery workers hoping to unionize, corrupt lawmen, college students, and one of Hoover's men from DC sent to investigate the kidnapping of a wealthy department store owner's college aged son. But the story jumps from point of view to point of view and goes off on tangents and ultimately never gives us a satisfying conclusion as to what happened to Michael Rosen. And while in real life that is often the case, but in a book it is frustrating.

I'll not be providing a review. It is clear that the description of the book at the story, at least the first part of the book, don't line up. I was curious about the "genre- bending" but apparently just means adding a history lesson to the novel.
By the way, there is a famous At. James Park in London. That, pulped with cover art led me to a whole different place.
I was not expecting the politically charged, union history lesson of California.
Victoria seems to be the protagonist but the description is of someone entirely different. The "hero" shows up 60 pages into the book?

And there are way too many characters tossed in at the beginning. "Raven-haired, chestnut-brown eyed" so cliche.