Part 1 of a trilogy plus prequel, set around the 1919 Paris peace conference. First book I finished of Goddard. I'm sorry to say, but I won't be interested in parts 2 and 3. It is a typical Flashman type thriller – boyish, adventurous, goodies against baddies, stumbling from one coincidental meeting to the next chance encounter that are prosaically worked through to unravel an elaborate plot that would quite befit a ‘great game’ type nineteenth century adventure story.

What is about? Two young men, the Lordish Maxted, former RFC fighter pilot, and his mechanic Sam, get embroiled in Paris with all kinds of diplomatic actors and secret service operators. The reason for this descend on Paris? Maxted’s presumed father, a diplomat operating in the margins of the British delegation with former postings in Rio, Tokyo and Petersburg, has been found dead in front of his mistress’ apartment. Accidental fall or murder? All signs point at murder and Maxted refuses to give in to the flimsy accident story. That’s the start of a goose chase involving Chinese boxes with secret letters, bank deposits, hidden American instructions on ignoring Wilson’s 14 point plan, a commitment of Japan to switch allegiance during the war from the Allies to the axis (never actually received by the Kaiser), and a scheming German master spy and Japan-hired assassin. A lot remains unclear, but part 1 unveils an extensive network of spies in the pay of the German master spy. Maxted our hero gets shot once (without fatal consequences), fucks one Russian beauty (later turns out to be a spy as well), escapes death with help of a mysterious arab, kills the assassin hired by the Japanese legation, has some doubts regarding his parentage, etc etc. Boring. ( )

When Sir Henry Maxted is found dead in Paris right before the meeting for the Treaty of Versailles, his son, James, investigates the mysterious death, leading him into a perilous world of international espionage and double- and triple-crosses.

This was an interesting and somewhat complicated story of James “Max” investigating the suspicious suicide of his diplomat father. I liked Max who was a WWI vet who saw a lot of terrible things and is not easily intimidated but is sometimes a bit reckless. Although not really suspenseful, I enjoyed the writing style and the story kept me interested throughout. ( )

It says on the cover of the book that it is brilliant, but I wouldn’t agree; it is however very readable.

Max is a skilled pilot and was in the RAF during the war. His mechanic, Sam, who is a good friend, is perhaps the only person he can really trust.

Max’s father, Sir Henry Maxted, died in Paris after falling off a roof, the death being declared an accident.

Max goes to Paris to find out what really happened, and that is what the book is about.

It all takes place in 1919 just after the end of the First World War.

The book is especially interesting if the reader is familiar with Paris – if not, he/she can refer to a map at the beginning.

There are many characters involved, and I couldn’t always recall who was who.

There is Brigham, who is an old friend of Max’s mother whom he doesn’t really like and whom he suspects may be his real father.

Sir Henry was a diplomat and involved in important world affairs, so there could have been reasons to have him disposed of. And why was he up on the roof?

There is Sir Ashley, Max’s elder brother, who is not a very pleasant character.

It turns out that the elderly Sir Henry was in love with a woman called Corinne, and Max gets to meet her.

One thing I found unsatisfactory about the book was that it didn’t give us the ending of the story. To obtain the ending you have to read another book.

I can see Goddard has written many books and I may try to get hold of some of them.

At any rate, this one is worth reading, though, as stated, it is a bit frustrating one doesn’t get the ending ( )

I really enjoyed reading this - it is an almost theatrical combo of genres all rolled into one action packed story.

Like others i protested (not silently) at the all caps cliff hanger and then used even worse language when I realized the next two in the triology were not available for my kindle ereader - which taught me something abt my new expectation for books that I'd like to share and talk about a bit:


if I have to spend proportionally more time seeking a book out, finding a good vendor, waiting for the book to arrive, and using a not so perfect book light to read, then I'm starting to expect more out of it than writing distributed as an ebook.

Those non-books are going to have to be 'worth my while' much more so than a book that is easy to locate, purchase or borrow and read electronically - and that's a shame bcs it used to be that my reader's effort to find and even wait for a book was part of the fun of the anticipation of reading, now it's a roadblock ?

It used to be that my reader's effort counted so little against the author's many hrs that I usually felt I had little ground to stand on when it came to complaining abt how hard a book was to find, or how long the wait was between books written in series - but now when we can binge watch whole series on tv and they are even sometimes being first released 'complete' my expectation has shifted -

readers, like film and tv viewers, are expecting (and getting) instant gratification from e-delivery most of the time - it's changing how we read and what we're willing to read.

I still have a couple stacks of print books going from bookstores and libraries that contribute to my to-read pile, but that alone doesn't make me immune from the feeling that if a book's harder to get, that somehow it better be worth it in a new way that requires it to meet higher standards for writing and entertainment (so subjective) than ever before . . . ( )

Shelfari Description:
A thrilling espionage story set in Paris after the First World War, full of classic Goddard double crosses and triple twists. 1919. The eyes of the world are on the city of Paris where diplomats, politicians, spies and opportunists have gathered to discuss the fate of Germany in the aftermath of the cataclysm that was the First World War. In such circumstances, the last thing the British diplomatic community need is the untimely death of one of their delegation. So when Sir Henry Maxted falls from the roof of his mistress’ apartment block in mysterious circumstances, their first instinct is to sanitize any unexplained aspects to his death. But his son ex Royal Flying Corps ace, James ‘Max’ Maxted, has other ideas. He resolves to get to the bottom of Sir Henry’s death - even if it does mean disturbing the impression of harmonious calm which the negotiating teams have worked so hard to maintain. In a city where nations are jostling for position at the crossroads of history and stakes are very high, it is difficult to tell who is a friend and who is a foe. And Max will soon discover how much he needs friends.

My Thoughts:
I enjoyed this far more than I thought I would seeing that Historical Fiction isn't usually something I like. At first I thought it was a bit overly descriptive, but quickly got over that and settled into the amazing adventure. I will most definitely continue the series. ( )