The Book
Thomas Pitt, still working with Victor Narraway and Special Branch, is awakened early in the morning with word that anarchists are going to set off a bomb in a residential area. They arrive just as the police get everyone out, but there is not enough time to find and disarm the bomb. It destroys several houses. Special Branch chases the anarchists, who have been caught running out of the back of the house. They track the bombers back to house on Long Spoon Lane, where the anarchists are holed up. A gun battle ensues. Narraway decides not to wait the bombers out and rushes in. They find three anarchists, one of them is dead--murdered not dead in the cross fire. Now Pitt must determine who killed Magnus ???
In the chaos, a new political enemy emerges, one who wants to give the police force unfettered power. Pitt and Special Branch know the force is corrupt, with the power hungry new head of the Inner Circle leading the corruption. Politics makes strange bedfellows and before long Pitt is swept up into an uneasy alliance between him and Charles Voisey, the former head of the Inner Circle.
Pitt, Charlotte, Narraway, Aunt Vespasia and Tellman all race against time and all odds to defeat the new enemy. Failure means death to Pitt, Tellman and Narraway. Success means they fight to live another day, unless they get lucky and defeat the Inner Circle once and for all.
My Thoughts
This book ends the last of the remaining loose ends from Inspector Pitt's time at Bow Street. Although I have thought the Inner Circle arc asked the reader to be a little too credulous. However, there are legions of secret societies, and there are many instances of criminal organizations corrupting those who would be corrupted. So, I guess it's plausible. I'm not fond of the plot point, and I wasn't happy with it in the Amanda Quick romance novels of the late 1990s/early 2000s. In fact, the plot point was used so much and with frequently less plausible plots that I quit reading Amanda Quick and several other similar books.
Nevertheless, Perry does the plot point incredibly well. The crimes are equally horrifying and plausible. I've read far worse in true crime mafia cases.
This tale weaves it's way through many intricate plot points, without losing steam or stretching too far. It is truly Perry at her very best. I read through the last half of the book in one sitting. If you're only going to read a few Perry's, then read this one.
How Much My Library Card Saved Me
This book came to me from Palatine Public Library. As it predates their use of a scan only system, there is a card in the front of this first edition. On that card, it shows the book entered their library in March of 2005. This book is in really good condition, however, as books get older, especially if they are read repeatedly, start to slide off the spine, which causes the spine to slant. This book has this. It is not the worst I've ever seen, but it has started. I hope they keep this book in their library for several more years, but it wouldn't surprise me if they decided to let it go. The inside jacket cover says that this book cost $25.95, so that is the number we will use on this 323 page book.
This Book $25.95
Items Reviewed This Year $386.89
Private Books
This Book $0.00
Total of Private Books $44.89
Total of All Items Reviewed This Year $433.66
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The Book
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