Please join me in welcoming historical fiction author, Tim Standish, onto Oh look, another book. Tim is taking his book, The Sterling Directive, on tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club and I am so excited to be taking part in the tour because his book is fabulous!!
It is 1896. In an alternative history where Babbage’s difference engines have become commonplace, Captain Charles Maddox, wrongly convicted of a murder and newly arrested for treason, is rescued from execution by a covert agency called the Map Room.
Maddox is given the choice of taking his chances with the authorities or joining the Map Room as an agent and helping them uncover a possible conspiracy surrounding the 1888 Ripper murders. Seeing little choice, Maddox accepts the offer and joins the team of fellow agents Church and Green. With help from the Map Room team, Maddox (now Agent Sterling) and Church investigate the Ripper murders and uncover a closely guarded conspiracy deep within the British Government. Success depends on the two of them quickly forging a successful partnership as agents and following the trail wherever, and to whomever, it leads.
An espionage thriller set in an alternative late 19th-century London.
As you may well know, I could drop one end of my to-read list from the top of a flight of stairs and it would reach the bottom and then some. This means that I often forget what a book is about and go into it blind. This one, however, I didn’t. I kept repeating the phrase ‘Victorian era with computers’ to myself, which made me incredibly excited to read this book.
Charles got himself into a bit of trouble a few years ago, wherein he ended up as the main suspect of murder and was told he could either join the army for ten years or be put to death. Unsurprisingly, he took the option that meant he didn’t die, and was shipped off to fight. With a few years still left, Charles’ father fell ill and Charles snuck back into London to try and see his father before his imminent demise. He has a very eventful welcome home, finding himself in a duel, then heading to Cooper’s, a place that can only be described as a fancy brothel, only to then be faced with a raid to the building that ended up with him in handcuffs.
Luckily, for him, the cell he was put in was only under the Thames, which apparently was no challenge for the agency calling themselves the Map Room to break him out and recruit him, in exchange for a pardon, allowing him to stay in the country and escape the notice of the police. They have a directive that they want him to help with – to investigate Jack the Ripper. New information has come to light, that there may not be just one man, but two working together to create the Ripper, and such information needs investigating.
Charles takes on the name ‘Sterling’ and works with another agent, Church, in the investigation. I must say, Church was one of my favourite characters, if only for his love of tea. He gets very upset when there is no tea, and, despite his distaste for coffee, he seems to end up drinking it quite often. Being British, I can assure you that this is not a stereotype, but almost an everyday occurance when there is a lack of tea available.
I also really liked Patience, who is an angsty computer hacker, who seems to spend all her time locked away in a room with a computer, getting up to one thing or another that is incredibly helpful to the Map Room, and an inconvenience to anyone else. Patience reminded me of Shuri, the Black Panther’s sister, if anyone has seen that movie.
A couple of times, I found myself doing some research as to when certain things were invented. For certain, in the Victorian times, there was no such thing as a card reader, they weren’t invented until the 1960s, so this book is definitely an alternative history novel. Somehow, though, this didn’t hinder the story at all. I liked the fact that it was modern day, minus mobile phones and internet, in the Victorian times. It created a world that I am accustomed to (not that I am accustomed to airship raids, but you get what I mean) in a historical setting and it was incredibly easy to get lost in the pages.
There is plenty of mystery and action in this book, which make you not want to put it down to do things like sleep because you want to keep on reading. This, unfortunately, poses an issue, as I like sleep and I already have an overactive child who likes waking up far too early. My usual early(ish) nights turned later and while my husband kept trying to get me to go to bed, I ignored him to keep reading. Eventually, he realised that tempting me with hot chocolate was the way to go, and I put the book down in favour of hot chocolate in bed, with tiny marshmallows.
All in all, this is a really entertaining and interesting book, with a good helping of murder and some mystery, action and technology used to season it to taste. I loved reading this book, and would recommend it to anyone wanting a good read, which doesn't demand too much historical knowledge to understand!
Another great review, Maddie.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you enjoyed the novel.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for hosting today's blog tour stop.