This murder mystery in the author's "disaster" series is set against the background of one of the most well known fake disasters, Orson Welles' notorious War of the Worlds radio broadcast in October 1938, in which Welles and his colleagues were able to fool many Americans that a real Martian invasion of New Jersey had occurred. The novel was rather uneven, with all of the action and excitement in the second half, where the murder is revealed and the broadcast takes place (there is only a tenuous connection between them). The first half was really an opportunity for the author to set the cultural scene around the worlds of radio broadcasts and low brow detective fiction of the era, showing his extensive knowledge of the era, but perhaps rather over-indulgent in terms of the proportion of the book this takes up. Not a great novel, though the fake broadcast incident is a very interesting example of how artificial panic can be so easily whipped up. ( )

Nice murder that isn't a murder. Orson Welles is the ultimate out-sized character, even for the thirties. Gives a nice view into the world of live radio. ( )

Weaves a story told to him by Walter Gibson, comic book/pulp fiction writer who claims to have been at the presentation of the war of the worlds broadcast. Intermingled is a murder that points to Orson as the killer. Loved the story about Orson and the broadcast. the murder was actually a detraction from the story. overall a great read but not his better "disaster-fiction" novels. ( )