The Dante Club

Title: The Dante Club

Author: Matthew Pearl

Published: 2003
Read: July 2005
Number of pages: 464
Fiction
Where I obtained the book: borrowed from parents
How I discovered it: from a "what I've read recently" forum online
My grade: C+

This novel, which takes place in Boston in 1865 is based on a series of murders that are inspired by Dante's Inferno. Since I really enjoyed Inferno, I thought this would make for a good, grisly read. The characters are actually real people who had formed a Dante Club; they were the first to translate the cantos into English. While that is fascinating, the novel got a little dull at times and even though the deaths were gruesome, I wanted to be more shocked.  

I don't have the book with me, and as you can seen it's been a while since I've read it, but I would recommend reading the actual Dante novel before reading this, though you may find this interesting if you're into Dante's work.