The engagement party of Benjamin Raycourt and Phoebe Stanbury is disturbed by the entrance of a naked and grubby stranger who tells Benjamin the he has saved him when he murders Phoebe. DI Harry Treadway is put in charge of finding the killer. A socially inept and timid law clerk, William Lamb, defies his boss, Mr Bridge, by visiting a client, Ambrose Habberlain, which results in a devastating trail of consequences for William. Mr Bridge gives William a casket to safeguard, tells him to run for his life and proceeds to commit suicide. William’s aunt is abducted and the casket is taken. The American, Savannah Shelton, is an expert gunslinger with a history of shooting people dead, and is observing Habberlain’s residence for the criminal that is Obediah Pincott who has his fingers in many pies. The brave and courageous Shelton finds herself protecting William as his life becomes overwhelmed with danger. William, Harry and Shelton come together to connect their information that points to deplorable amoral actions by a privileged elite and a sinister secret society with dangerous weapons and plans. William is forced to adapt to his changing circumstances and fundamentally change as he searches for his identity and family.
This is a Victorian mystery set in London in 1881. The 1880s was a period in time that encompassed change, new thinkings and new critical inventions which the author utilises throughout the novel showing that she has researched the period well, however certain creative liberties are taken with the history such as name changes and so forth. The reader is taken on a journey through the survival of the fittest theory with Charles Darwin and the support of Eugenics by Galton as well on some ideas of classical history and in particular Alexander the Great in the culmination of a ancient worlwide secret society that practoces eugenics and has some particularly distubing ideas around the search for the master race and immortality of that said race.
This book was a mixed bag and had some postives and some negatives for me personally. so lets start with the positives as there were more positives than negatives in my opinion.
From the opening chapter seeped in mystery and brutality, the reader is left in no doubt that there are those who are willing to go to extreme lengths to keep certain secrets, and questioning how the shy, mild-mannered, scared of his own shadow young legal clark called William Lamb get mixed up in it all?!
Each character we meet along the way has their own fascinating story to tell and each one you get drawn into – from Savannah, the brash American watching over others and always looking over her shoulder, to Harry Treadway, the detective who ends up investigating the society murder and the links to everything and everyone. Just when you think you have it figured out something else comes into play and you are left guessing all over again.
I loved how well paced the story was as I often find that sometimes mysteries especially historical mysteries can drag a little, but I often found myself reading on longer than i intended to as I couldn’t bear not knowing what was going to happen next.
The story flowed seamlessly from character to character and plot line to plot line as they all add to the underlying crux of what the villains are so determined to keep hidden, while others strive to unravel the secret world they knew nothing of.
But that is what i enjoyed now sadly for what was less enjoyable.
The novel is intended to be a Quincunxesqu Victorian mystery but there are several fumbles that would just not happen such as the police sergeant addressing a member of the nobility by his first name, no significant mention of mourning for a character that has been mentioned to have passed and his daughter marrying less than a year since his passing. this lack of attention to detail in some of the minor details gave it a haphazard feel at times.
There were also some sentences/scenes that felt unneccessary and almost like they were there to bump out a scene or add to a word count. instances include a scene were a character is looking in a mirror and describing himself which i found unusual and unecessary and also a character using the phrase
Shock plummeted to her ankles like lead petticoats
umm sure I feel like that all the time when I am shocked.
The last negative about this book is that after being fast paced and keeping me enthralled for the most part, the ending feel really flat and just felt totally rushed and left me feeling deflated.
I really wanted to give this book more stars and if the ending had been better I would have done but unfortunately for me this was a *** read.
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