Customer Reviews

No Graves As Yet: A Novel of World War One

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I have read most of Anne Perry's mysteries. Not being a sci fi fan, I haven't tried those. I had grown tired of Pitt and Monk--perhaps one can only take SO many mysteries and the dynamics between the detectives and their spouses seemed repetitious.
However, I thoroughly enjoyed her new series! Contrary to the other reviewers, I felt that she was painting a long-term picture that I didn't expect WOULD be resolved in one novel. As always, her descriptions are sumptuous and memorable, her characters complex (yes, even the females!) and the various stories kept me reading on and on. Although there were several questions left hanging at the end of the book, it was clear to me that this was the beginning of a story, not an ending. I am looking forward to Christmas when I hope that someone will give me the next in the series!

As a long time fan of Anne Perry and an avid World War I buff, I found this book to be tedious and confusing. Many questions were raised and never answered: Who were the two mysterious plotters?What happened to the original document (or the copy if the one hidden was not the original)? What was Sebastians connection with the two plotters? How did the brilliant Irish rebel leader figure into this mix? And on and on. Too many loose threads!

I enjoy the Pitt and Monk mysteries and looked forward to a new series by Perry. This book disappointed me. The characters were one-dimensional, the plot predictable, the mystery not much of one. Don't bother with this one.

I was so excited to finally get my hands on this book, and even more so to find out that it will be a new series.
I fell in love with the Reavley brothers instantly because they were written so well. I feel like they are just like regular guys with dreams and history, and flaws, and through it all they remained strong for each other.
I love Anne Perry's work. This is a great story that takes you back in time and makes you think.
Give this book a chance, it's worth it.

I have heard so much about Anne Perry that I had to read one of her books. After I renewed it from the Library for the second time (14 days) and found myself still not finished, I concluded, it was not keeping my interest and was very slow moving. I went to the last few pages, and felt I got most of the story. Only then,do you find out where the documents are and the whole event is very simple. Regarding the world events surrounding WWI, better to go to a history book or true historic novel. If it sequals well, there may be hope. But I would not recommend the book. Better to spend an hour watching a murder story on Law and Order for a fun evening.

Honestly, I have never been a big fan of Anne Perry's Victorian mystery series (Pitt, Monk), but I thought this one, set just before the outbreak of the first World War, was going to be different. However, just as I found Charles Todd's recent stand-alone, The Murder Stone, to be highly unsatisfactory, so is this book.

This novel starts out with a bang and then peters out gradually over the rest of its course. The protagonists, Joseph and Matthew Reavly, are trying to get to the bottom of some sort of dire conspiracy that will do great harm to England on the eve of World War I. Their father, who discovered the existence of the conspiracy, is murdered, together with his wife, on the same day Archduke Ferdinand and his wife are asassinated in Sarajevo. As the investigation goes on, one of Joseph's prize students at Cambridge is found dead in his room, apparently murdered. Now the two investigations progress (sort of) side by side, with some suspicion that they may be related. Unfortunately, the story gets so bogged down with debates and discussions about the Home Rule issue and whether England will be drawn into a war, and a ton of historical facts and "atmosphere," that the story only hobbles along. On top of everything else, the ending is very open-ended: Do the brothers really know the truth about the conspiracy, their parents' murder, and the death of Sebastian Allard, or don't they? Maybe the story is continued in the next volume. If not, this book ought to get one star instead of two.

Her books on the 19th century were informative, suspenseful, entertaining and well-written. She lost something in translation to the 20th century. The ambigious, wandering philosophical comments may have had a purpose; but she forgot what they were.

The plot was capable of much more complexity, even if only in the hands of the principals. The ending was an anticlimax, leaving me glad the book was done. The mysterious characters who appeared twice in the book were unexplained. Why did she waste time with them? Much hand-wringing throughout the book. And the purpose?

It's good to have libraries where one may read before buying.

I had been saving this book for an after-holiday bad-weather reading treat. Big disappointment. After following the Pitts and Monk and Hester through all their wonderful adventures, I found this book to be a big letdown. It was so boring I couldn't even stay with it--didn't care about any of the characters or what happened to them. It's hard for me to believe that Anne Perry could write such a dull book, bust apparently she has. Every highly moral idea a character has is stated multiple times, barmaids speak like poets, and pages go by without anything happening except the reader being talked to death. I doubt that I'll bother with the next title in the series. Unless a different editor takes over who will cut out all the excess.

I have read several of the Monk and Pitt mysteries and loved them, but I think this is her best novel yet. Anxiously awaiting the next book in the series.

This is the first in a new series for Anne Perry. Forget the Pitts and Monk, Anne Perry has moved on in time to the start of the First World War and her main characters are brothers Joseph and Matthew Reavley. Joseph is a professor of biblical languages at Cambridge University and Matthew works for the British Intelligence. When their parents are killed in a car crash and Joseph's star student is shot the brothers find themselves having to begin unravelling a complex web of international intrigue.

An obscure Archduke is shot in Serbia. What could that possibly have to do with the death of the Reavleys and Joseph's cloistered world at Cambridge? Everything, it turns out, as international forces trying to prevent war vie against those riding heedlessly ahead. War is unthinkable, and yet it seems that there is something worse.

One of Anne Perry's strengths as a writer is her understanding of the nuances in the relationships between people and this is shown to advantage in this book. On the other hand, the pace is often slowed by moral discourses and discussions of right and wrong and greater rights versus greater wrongs. In addition to these endless moral dilemmas I didn't feel that the writer is at her best using male viewpoint characters. In her earlier books I loved the sheer fun of Charlotte Pitt and the social whirl and delicious ball gowns, as well as the juxtaposition of rich and poor in Victorian life. I felt for the anger and fire of Hester Latterly as she fought the Victorian medical establishment. I didn't feel for the Reavleys.

So this was not one of Anne Perry's more memorable books. I hope there will be more action and more three dimensional characters in the remaining books of the series.