This is quite an interesting story set in the post Civil War era in New York during construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. The basic tale is a plot by a group of disgruntled former Confederate soldiers to destroy the bridge and the efforts of a policeman (who is also battling corruption both within himself and within the police force) to ferret out and thwart the plot.The characters are quite well developed and complex (with the good not entirely good and the bad not entirely evil) and there is a nice depiction of both life in New York during this period and in the construction of the bridge. Though I knew quite a lot about the bridge (the problem of caisson disease, etc.), I learned some new things as well.Though some aspects of the plot are a bit fanciful, this is a good read. It comes close to a 4.5.