BOOK REVIEWS: Save Our Souls: Matthew Pearl

Published 7:53 am Friday, March 28, 2025

Matthew Pearl gained notice for penning novels centered on literary figures thrust into historical mysteries/thrillers.

“The Dante Club,” his debut, imagined poets Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes and James Russell Lowell, along with publisher J. T. Fields, encountering a horrifying mystery as they translate America’s first adaptation of Dante’s “The Divine Comedy.”

“The Poe Shadow” novelized a long-standing mystery surrounding Edgar Allan Poe’s death.

“The Last Dickens” delved into a murder mystery surrounding the American publication of Charles Dickens’ final manuscript.

These and other novels were all intriguing and all dealt with famed authors of the 19th century.

With his last book, “The Taking of Jemima Boone: Colonial Settlers, Tribal Nations, and the Kidnap that Shaped America,” and his newest book, “Save Our Souls: The True Story of a Castaway Family, Treachery, and Murder,” Pearl has moved to exploring non-fiction subjects from the past.

“Save Our Souls” follows the Walkers – a ship captain, his wife and their three sons – and crew marooned in the Midway islands after a storm destroys their ship in the late 1800s.

Before the ship sinks, Captain Frederick Walker must deal with a treacherous first mate.

On shore, the Walkers soon discover the island isn’t deserted. They encounter Hans, a man who claims he survived another shipwreck. Which is true. But Hans harbors a dark secret for why he is the only member of his shipwrecked crew left on the island.

Think “Swiss Family Robinson,” with a twist of serial killer.

“Save Our Souls” follows a recent spate of non-fiction books about doomed sailing ships: David Grann’s “The Wager: Shipwreck, Mutiny, Murder,” Hampton Sides’ “The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook,” Julian Sancton’s “Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica’s Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night,” etc.

Pearl weaves a fascinating, though often threadbare, tale. To create a book of 200 pages, Pearl regularly gets sidetracked with stories of other shipwrecks, descriptions provided by people not related to the Walkers’ ordeal, backgrounds of minor players in the case.

There’s a great story here. Robert Louis Stevenson based his novel, “The Wrecker,” on this shipwreck. But there apparently isn’t enough historic material to fill a non-fiction book, without plenty of side stories.

Still, Pearl pens a readable volume but “Save Our Souls” lacks the personal touch and emotional heft that readers have come to expect from similar books and from Pearl’s novels.

Dark Night: A True Batman Story: Paul Dini & Eduardo Risso

Paul Dini worked as a writer for “Batman: The Animated Series” and “Tiny Toon Adventures” in the 1990s. He won an Emmy for his work on the popular TV cartoon series.

Two muggers attacked Dini one night as he walked home following a bad date. They brutally beat him before forcing him to hand over his wallet.

Dini suffered several broken bones and extensive damage to his face. Recovery was slow, not just for the physical injuries but the damage to his psyche.

In “Dark Night: A True Batman Story,” Dini tells his story. He is tormented by the memory of his attackers but, here, he is also tormented by cameos from the characters he brought to life on “Batman: The Animated Series.”

The Joker laughs at him. Scarecrow plays to his fears. Poison Ivy schools him in the ways his desired “girlfriend” has used him and ignored him. The Penguin lures him into bars to drink away his anxieties.

Batman pushes him to get up, get back to work, return to living.

But how can anyone live up to the ideal – the expectation – of Batman? How can Dini return to a job writing about a fantasized crimefighter battling evildoers in the dark when he couldn’t prevent or stop his attack?