Review: The Montevideo Brief: A Thomas Grey Novel

The Montevideo Brief: A Thomas Grey Novel by J.H. Gelernter
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a review of an ARC provided by BookBrowse for review.

Loved this book especially since I read it while vacationing at the shore, where several days the weather was dirty--very atmospheric for the setting of the book. The sea, that is, not the Maine coast rather than the seas of the Southern Hemisphere. There is so much history in the book but couched in an engrossing story of seafaring men working on behalf of the Crown of England. A straightforward tale of international espionage turns into a tale of piracy, growth of a new nation, America and her navy, and the impressment of men into the British navy. There is name dropping--James Monroe is our Ambassador to the Court of St James. Napoleon is making dirty deals with Spain, supposedly neutral. Britain is trying to retain her rule of the seas. And all of the action revolves around Captain Thomas Grey, a marine in the Secret Service and his interaction with many men of various ranks and loyalties.
The author tosses in so much of the history of the time--the Elgin Marbles of Greece, the relationship between Beethoven and Haydn, the writing of the Eroica Symphony and its premier performance, the piratic empire of Jean LaFitte, the development of Dept of Discovery that employed Lewis and Clarke, the building of sea-faring vessels. Oh, and the rules governing the original form of tennis, court tennis, which are mind-boggling! Not to mention the finer points, no pun intended, of the art of dueling with sabres.

There is so much interesting packed into this relatively small novel, that it is worthy of a second read to absorb it all. So much more than just a run of the mill tale of sea battles between sailing ships bearing huge, recoiling cannons, though there is a bit of that, too!

I'm going to have to find the other two Thomas Grey novels--I hope they take place before his interesting wife, Paulette, has died.

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Review: The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill

The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill by Brad Meltzer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

BookBrowse provided an Arc to be discussed this month on their website.

One of the most engrossing, interesting and stirring books I've ever read about the Second World War. Having been born in Washington DC in 1942 this is a particular chapter in American history that has fascinated me very much. There is no flamboyant language or overly dramatic flourishes to the writing and yet it is a fast and moving read. It is not a dry rendition of facts but rather a flowing narrative that is, at times, blood curdling in its bare and succinct description of genocide carried out coldly and in numbers beyond comprehension. At other times, it is an espionage saga with spies at every turn. And, at still other places, it is a political tale of three men---all intelligent, all powerful, all intent on controlling the Allied response to an enemy as intelligent and powerful as they. They are patriots to their countries but also defenders of freedom and though, not truly friends, they are determined to defeat without compromise or conditions the movement they see threatening to take over the entire world--Nazism.
Never, however, have a read a book that gives as much insight into the man and his officers who are in charge of the danger. Their backgrounds and personalities are fascinating and their unstinting belief in a Master race and the threat of the Jews of the world is almost difficult to trully comprehend. Yet, at the same time, my mind kept seeing seeds of the same type of belief in today's world. Chilling and frightening to think that might be true.

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