Black Out (Inspector Troy, #1) in Espionage Aficionados

Sep 27, 2017 Sam Reaves rated it really liked it

This is the first in John Lawton's excellent series of WWII-era crime novels featuring Frederick Troy, a first-generation Englishman, youngest son of an exiled Russian aristocrat, who becomes an inspector in the London Metropolitan Police. I'd read a couple of later novels in the series; they stand on their own but I'd recommend starting with this one, as there's a lot of recurring back story in the series.
This one takes place in a battered and darkened London in 1944, with the Luftwaffe sending ...more

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Mar 28, 2011 Elli rated it really liked it

Shelves: crime-criminal-activity, world-war-2, england

Another author new to me that I like quite well. Detective Troy is a policeman now working for Scotland Yard who gets called in for a particularly gruesome murder case. It's set during the heavy German bombings of England during WW II. The atmosphere is rough anyway, food and basic necessities are not easy to come by, and you are always on alert to go to safety when the bombings happen and plenty don't make it. Lawton recreates the setting and atmosphere very well giving a picture of the problem ...more

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Apr 28, 2014 Nooilforpacifists rated it liked it

Shelves: thriller, world-war-ii-thriller-espionage

Very odd book. First half seemed pointless; second half rushed. Characters were flat, until the last quarter (or so) of the book. Unlike other reviewers, I didn't find the male-female relations unconvincing -- for plot reasons I won't mention -- but over-the-top descriptively.

I'm prepared to believe the author improved, and will try one later in the series. ...more

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Feb 21, 2017 Thomas rated it did not like it

The best part of this book is the first four brief chapters, where part of a human arm is found in the bombed out debris of WWII London, yet no one is reported injured or missing in the area. Then the book becomes exceedingly confusing, with other inexplicable bodies, relations, colleagues, relatives, Nazi's, Communists and the neighborhood dog all involved. The storyline becomes not only meandering, but equally boring and implausible. The author even goes so far to give characters bizarre names ...more

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