Books I Read in May (Part 2)
Payment UponDelivery by Hackley Hammett DNF 4%
Meh. Began with arecent college Spanish major grad, Jake Williams, returning to hishome in a rather dumpy West Virginia town. Jake started a fightduring a baseball game he was playing in in college and that’s abig black mark against him. He’s offered a job as a salesman for aMexican plastics recycler over the phone, and takes it, even thoughhe can’t find any mention of the company on the web. He then flies downto Buenos Aires to meet the owner at a conference for some reason…You can guess where this is going. I don’t think I want to readabout a fellow that stupid. The boxed set of the first three bookswere free, if it sounds up your alley.
On Hadrian’sSecret Service by Gavin Chappell C
The story is set onthe northern border of Roman controlled England in AD 120. We have aRoman soldier, Flaminius who is recruited into dealing with thetroublesome tribes in the north of England, with the idea of keepingthem from fighting each other at the instigation of a more powerfultribe in Caledonia. Competently written, the author does attempt torecreate the world of second century Britain, It moves along, and isset in a new, for me, time period. It was not quite as evocative as Iwould’ve liked, but I don’t have a visualmind. What keeps it an average story is that the main charactersfailed to really come completely to life for me. Certainlyan effort was made to make them unique and motivated, but in the end,they seemed to be in the story mostly for the purpose of the story. Which is to say that they served to move the story along, rather than thestory being about them, if you get my drift. But again, not for alack of effort by the author, they just didn’t click with me. Theother knock I have against this story, is that the author felt theneed to insert the hero into a great event of history and make acritical difference, though I must admit that I haven’t beenmotivated to do the research to see if the event in the story was actuallyhistoric. In this case, the fate of the Roman Emperor in Rome hung inbalance. While this made for a hectic, cinematographic ending, it wasa little too over the top for me. But once again, that’s just me. Ilike things that are more understated. So final verdict; don’t letmy C grade keep you from reading it. I think it is worth reading ifyou find the premise interesting, and there are more storiesinvolving the characters set in other parts of the Roman Empire, ifyou find the story to your taste.
The Sands ofTruth by Richard Townshend Bickers B-
A well researched,authentic sounding account of a British officer in one of the nativeregiments (a seypoy regiment) of the British army in India set in1824. It begins with the mutiny of the 47th NativeInfantry in Barrackpore, who believe that they were to be sent toBurma via ship over the sea, which they believed would cost themtheir souls. They were actually being shipped in boats up river tosave time marching. In the aftermath of the mutiny, that included thedeath of some fellow officers and their families, the story’s hero,Hugh Ramsey, a lieutenant in a companion regiment at the base, someof whom also mutinied, decides to change his career, despitesoldiering being something of a family tradition. He agrees to becomea partner with a Calcutta merchant and take a large consignment ofgoods to a native state some weeks of travel up the Ganges. Thisnative state is ruled by a cruel and murderous leader, who, unknownto Ramsey, likely had the merchant’s first agent quietly killed,fearing him to be a British spy. Complications quickly arisebeginning in Calcutta which changes their agreement. On the journeyRamsey loses half of the merchandise to pirates and thugs. Then onarrival in native state’s capital, he must deal with theintricacies the of native politics with a population divided byreligious believes – Muslim and Hindu, of which we are given anextensive view of.
As I said at thebeginning, this reads like a well researched story, likely drawn fromcontemporary accounts of life in India during the 1800’s. Howeverthose accounts come from its colonial rulers, and their view of Indiathough the lens of their prejudices. How accurately those accountsreflect the total realities of India might be open to debate. I havelittle doubt that the practices described in the book – caste,child weddings and widowhood, beggars, traveling dancinggirls/whores, and degenerate rulers did exist, but do not offer acomplete picture of Indian culture. Plus there is the attitude of theauthor to be considered. While certainly not anti-Indian, he doespaint his India with a lot of its unpleasant aspects. And treats sexand romance in a traditional way, i.e. while it is fine for Ramsey tosleep with a native, he must marry a European, or in this case, anAmerican. Indeed, the romance aspect is a minor one, but handled in avery unconvincing and convenient fashion.
Bickers wrote thisbook in 1984, and is the author of over 50 novels, mostly militaryfiction, and mostly about war in the air. He knows how to write, andhis story is intricate and engaging, with may twists and turns. Wellworth reading if the story sounds appealing to you.
Murder at theManor by Catherine Coles C+ (for what it is)
A Tommy and EvelynChristie Mystery story, the first of at least six such stories. Aclassic/cozy country house whodunit. Written in 2020 and set in 1921,the story featured the husband and wife team of Evelyn and TommyChristie, he an ex policeman recovering from a war wound, and she hadalso worked in the police department during the war. He is third inline to a title and an estate, and she the daughter of a retired MP,i.e. both with an upper class background. She helps makes scones inthe kitchen, making this a cozy mystery. The story has all the tropesyou would expect in a mystery set in an English country house, amurder, a flock of suspects, all with motives, bumbling constables(largely off screen in this story) that ends with a gathering in thestudy where Tommy and Evelyn explain whodunit. You probably shouldn’twaste any time detecting yourself, as Tommy and Evelyn, despite theirname, not on the level of Agatha. Just go with the flow. If thissounds like your cup of tea, you should find it enjoyable.
Windrush by Malcolm Archibald B
This is book 1 ofthe Jack Windrush Series. Another story set in South Asia, this timein Burma in 1852. In this story opens in England with Jack Windrush,the funeral of his father, General Windrush. He expects to join theBritish regiment that his family has always joined, but instead, forhis mother purchases a commission as an ensign in the 113thRegiment, a regiment of ill repute for him, sending his youngerbrother to the family’s much more prestigious regiment. Jack’sregiment is stationed in India, and after traveling there, is givenan independent command of a dozen men to serve in a war in Burma, andthere, after a battle is sent on a mission to track down a crueldacoit band (bandits) possibility led by a renegade British soldier.
I found this to be apetty entertaining book. It seems that between the Lonesome Dovesaga, The Sands of Truth, and this book, I’ve been meeting somepretty cruel and bloodthirsty characters. I am not sure of the allureof writing these characters. Is it for historical accuracy or simplyfor thrills? Or both?
This is the firstbook of a long series – something like 15 books – covering JackWindrush’s career as he moves up in the ranks of the Victorian eraBritish Army while serving in its many wars, big and little. Ienjoyed this book more than I did the Sharpe book I read, though, inthis first installment, it doesn’t reach the heights of theFlashman saga.
The Lion At Sea A Kelly Maguire Thriller by Max Hennessy B
The story opens withKelly Maguire as an ensign in the Royal Navy in 1911 and follows hiscareer to the Battle of Jutland in 1916. Along the way he servesaboard a cruiser in the North Sea at the beginning of the war, in asubmarine during the Dardanelles campaign, and aboard a destroyerduring the fleet action known as the Battle of Jutland. This is thefirst of a three book series that was first published in 1977. MaxHennessy is the pen name of British novelist John Harris, who wrotesome 76 novels under various pen names in various genre over a longcareer. I enjoyed this book, though it features the, serious,fearless, never say die hero for which George MacDonald’s Fraser’santi-hero Flashman is an antidote for. I have long been a fan of theRoyal Navy. Back when I was a teenager, my friends and I engaged in anaval race of our own. We each purchased 1:1200 metal models of WW2 warships of the fleet that wehad chosen to collect in order to fight sea battles on our basementfloor. We used rules invented by the SF author, Fletcher Pratt. I hadchosen to built a Royal Navy fleet, which I still have, while my friendsbuilt the American, Japanese, French, and German navies. This isthe second free book I’ve read which is a reissue of a book written50ish years ago and are being used to draw readers into these olderseries books. The quality is there, making them a very good deal.Will I spend £4for a digital copy of the next book? Well, no, but if you're not as cheap as me, the next book covers the inner war years from theRussian civil war and then on the China...
