Author-historian Erik Larson created a best-selling history book with “The Devil in the White City,” a riveting tale contrasting the construction of a Victorian-era World’s Fair while a serial killer stalks the city streets.

Through detailed research with a thriller’s narrative pacing, Larson’s “The Devil in the White City” was an arresting page-turner from cover to cover — something that can’t be said for too many history books.

He has written several historical thrillers since, following the same strategy of mixing detailed research with sharp writing and pacing.

“Thunderstruck” is one of those books.

With “Thunderstruck,” Larson returned to even the same format of pitting a technological advancement alongside a sensational crime in the same late 1800s to early 1900s time frame.

Here, Larson charts the rise of Guglielmo Marconi’s invention of the wireless radio and the spiraling downfall in the case of Dr. H.H. Crippen.

Like “The Devil in the White City’s” creation of the magnificent World’s Fair, “Thunderstruck’s” look at the technological development of Marconi’s radio is as fascinating as the more prurient details of the notorious deeds involving Crippen.

In some ways, the Marconi side of this tale is more intriguing than the crime portions.

“Thunderstruck” is lopsided held up to “The Devil in the White City.” The connection between Marconi and Crippen is a little more stretched than the perfect historical culmination of “White City’s” killer and the fair.

These comparisons, perhaps, are unfair but unavoidable. “The Devil in the White City” is an excellent book, perhaps even a masterpiece in presenting historical fact within a narrative as well-paced as a novel.

“Thunderstruck” doesn’t match “White City’s” heights but “Thunderstruck” does stand well on its own.

It is a gripping read — just don’t expect to be left as thunderstruck as reading “White City.”