Customer Reviews

Cain His Brother

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Today I read a used first edition that I bought, so part of my review is my memory of the first time I read it. Unlike some other mysteries I'd reread lately, I had no difficulty remembering the main points -- they made too strong an impression.

I thought I knew what was going on by page five. I was correct in one supposition, but the truth was far stranger than I'd imagined.

For a time it may seem that the typhoid epidemic in evil twin Caleb's stomping grounds is irrelevant, although interesting in itself if you care about medical history. I liked learning about Hester's version of oral rehydration therapy and blanched when I read about burning tobacco leaves for fumigation. Do not allow yourself to become impatient. It's all relevant and that will be revealed in due time.

Is Angus' wife, Genevieve, a cold-hearted accessory to his murder? Did Caleb murder Angus? Is Angus still alive? Why did the author give him the same name as one of the Pitts' cats? (You may ask, but you won't get an answer.) Since we have another Angus, will an Archie show up?

What about Lord Ravensbrook, who was guardian to the Stonefield brothers? What's his role in this tragedy? Mr. Niven was unwittingly ruined by his friend, Angus. Does he really hold no grudge?

Who is the lovely Drusilla and why is she seeking out William Monk? She's a member of Society, as he isn't. Certainly her many charms give Monk the opportunity to unfavorably compare Hester to her in his mind. Will he live to regret this or does Hester have a rival? Does Hester even care?

If you're a fan of Oliver Rathbone, don't worry. He'll have plenty to do during the trial scene. Hester isn't neglected, either. I thoroughly enjoyed her solution to one person's nasty little trap for our hero.

Contrary to what other reviewers have said, this book isn't confusing. While I admit to having been partially fooled the first time I read it, once a crucial point became clear, everything made perfect sense. I definitely recommend this novel.

I love Anne Perry's ability to twist and wind through a story and keep you hanging until the last pages. I also love her well researched novels that offer such exsquisite detail about Victorian London, especially the class differences (particularly in this book). Unfortunately I found the conclusion of this novel truly unoriginal and disappointing. The result it ended with was a thought that had ocurred to me earlier in the novel, but I doubted it just because of the lack of inspiration it required. I am more fond of the Monk/Latterly series than the Pitts series, and "Cain..." is one of the better stories among the Perry novels, but I would definitely read it knowing in advance that the ending doesn't compare with the rest of the story. If you want a truly excellent Anne Perry book, read "The Face of a Stranger" (the first Monk/Latterly novel). A great read.

Perry's Victorian London mystery, featuring the amnesiac ex-Inspector William Monk and the Florence Nightingale-trained nurse Hester Latterly, revolves around the disappearance of a model husband and father of five with a successful business.

Angus Stonefield disappears on a visit to his vicious and violent twin brother in the slums and Angus' lovely wife is convinced that this time Caleb - the twin - has murdered her husband. While investigating, Monk runs into Hester Latterly setting up a make-shift hospital to deal with a serious outbreak of typhoid in the filthy and overcrowded slums.

Hester and Monk's relationship remains tensely ambivalent and Monk's bitter interior monologues become tediously repetitious. This is a heavily padded novel with an overworked plot device but Perry's fans will enjoy her gritty depiction of hopeless poverty and stark class divisions.

This is the best book by this author that I have read so far.

Perry's writing style is unobtrusive, somewhat given to unclear pronouns, but generally solid.

I found it interesting that nothing seemed to differ between this setting, in 1859, and the setting of the author's Pitt novels, in the late 19th century, except that the Pitts have telephones. I wonder how authentic that is. I found no obvious errors, except that, in keeping with the rest of Perry's books, the women seem very independent for the period.

Perry has come up with what must be one of the best characterization hooks ever invented. William Monk suffers from amnesia. He has reason to think he was an unpleasant person, a person capable of wronging others, in the past. But... he can never know what, exactly, he did. I would have liked to see a few more original touches in his *current* character, but it's still a fascinating idea.

The plot of Cain his Brother is outstanding. A minor consistency error here and there does not detract from its drama. A man has murdered his twin brother -- or has he? I thought I had the secret figured out several times, but I was wrong. But when the answer was revealed, it made perfect sense. Perry sometimes has surprise twists out of nowhere at the end of her books, but this time she got it exactly right. I remained unclear on one thing --Ravenstone's motivation -- but that may be my oversight.

This is a very entertaining historical mystery which I strongly recommend.

I read the first five Monk books by Anne Perry several years ago. I enjoyed the initial premise, in which a detective suffers from complete amnesia and has to piece his life back together (something he still hasn't done here in book six). I brought this book on vacation to renew my acquaintance with the series. What a disappointment.

Jay Leno was making jokes about Evil Twin plots back in the early 80s. So for an author to dredge up that tired line again requires amazing skill to make it work. Unfortunately, Anne Perry is not up to the task. Honestly, I had the "twist" figured out by about page 20, and it took another 380 pages for her to let everyone else in on the big secret.

Besides the big plot snore, around page 200 Perry inserts a completely unrelated plot, having to do with Monk's personal life. It's as though Perry realized her book was turning out short, so she inserted a 100-page novella to pad it out. Once it is resolved, we return to the main plot as though nothing happened.

Monk's relationship with Hester consists of the two of them being as nasty as possible to each other every time they talk. It's tiresome and unrealistic. The stock characters have just become cardboard cutouts that Perry manipulates with annoying predictability.

I'm tired of reading comments about how "realistic" her Victorian stories are. To me, it seems as if she writes with a few books of Victorian information on her desk, and refers to them every time she needs to describe a costume, or find a name for a street. Honestly, people, if you want to read something that evokes the Victorian Age, read Dickens, Trollope, Wilkie Collins. Yes, some of their plots are corny, but they were fresh at the time and are certainly a match for the faux Victoriana of Anne Perry. And if you had already read Robert Louis Stevenson, as I had, you would also have figured this plot out by page 20.

Anne Perry really out did herself in this one. Keeps you guessing up to the end.

Genevieve Stonefield's husband, Angus, has been missing for several days when the worried woman seeks help from private inquiry agent and former police inspector William Monk. Angus, a devoted family man and successful businessman, went into London's slums in answer to a summons from his twin brother, Caleb - a man his complete opposite in everything but appearance. Angus is impeccably ethical; Caleb has no ethics. Angus is kind and patient; Caleb terrifies most of the people who know him. Many times Angus has returned home after visiting his twin with physical injuries, and Genevieve tells Monk that she knows her husband deeply fears his brother. But the tie of twinhood is more powerful than that fear, and Angus never refuses to go when Caleb calls for him. But this time, Angus has been gone so long that his wife fears Caleb has killed him at last. Leaving her a widow without any way to claim that status legally; and therefore without any way to assert authority over his business, which will quickly fail without him, or to claim income she needs to support her five children.

Meanwhile, former Crimean War nurse Hester Latterly and Lady Callandra Daviot - Monk's patron - set up a makeshift hospital in an old slum warehouse as a typhoid epidemic rages. Hester, who has helped Monk with more than one case despite the way they irritate each other, quickly learns a great deal about Caleb Stone (as he calls himself); and when Lady Ravensbrook, second wife of the uncle who raised Angus and Caleb, falls ill while helping to nurse typhoid victims, Hester moves into the Ravensbrook household to care for her. Which gives Nurse Latterly access to other puzzling aspects of the Stonefield twins' lives...especially after Genevieve begins helping Hester care for her patient.

Well written and well plotted, but I did find the ending a disappointment. I still want to know (spoiler alert - stop reading if you don't want to know!) exactly how Lord Ravensbrook came to know his nephew's secret, and whether he merely concealed it over the years or actively enabled it. For me the story felt cut off just when it could have become most interesting. A terrific read in all other ways.

--Reviewed by Nina M. Osier, author of 2005 science fiction EPPIE winner "Regs"

Good Service from this provider. Book came in the condition advertized. Book came quickly. I would purchase from them again.

When you read a good mystery, there is an after-pleasure as you think back about the parts that did not make sense when they first appeared, and now that you know what really happened, they fall into place. In "Cain His Brother" the reverse happens. Things that might have made sense with a different ending, now can not possibly do so.

We begin with a missing man, a twin. Even with that much information, a solution that proved to be the right one crossed my mind. When the problem is resolved, it turns out - indeed hinges on the fact - that a major character knew the secret from the very beginning and could easily have saved everyone a lot of heartache and more by simply revealing it. His motivation for not doing so is flimsy at best, and he seems to have set himself up for the messiest possible outcome.

Two subplots interrupt the flow of this insubstntial narrative. One, about typhoid patients in the Limehouse of London, does at least put Hester Latterly (perhaps a more interesting character than William Monk, the "detective") in a position to make contacts in the area of the putative crime. The other, about a beautiful woman who tries to disgrace Monk, does not connect with the rest of the book, and remains motiveless. Is Ms Perry trying to hook us into a saga?

It is hard (all, right, it's impossible) to read an Anne Perry novel since 1992, and her exposure as Juliet Hulme, without looking for subtext. Here we have a child born to wealth who has an evil side, another born to poverty who forms an attachment to someone with wealth and status, and two people locked in a compulsive, violent relationship. Sometimes one wishes Ms Perry would stick to costume drama or science fiction.

But I give this three stars for the Victorian setting and the nuances of class and style. That aspect is marred by a completely anachronistic use of first (or as they would have said, "Christian") names by people who barely know each other - as likely as men in the 1950s to hug. At one point, where a man seems to give away more intimacy than is appropriate, we are left wondering whether the lapse from propriety is his or the author's. Ms Perry does not write convincingly of the mentality of men: Monk is far too sensitive to colours, textures and the aspects of beauty that women cultivate to appeal to other women, and not driven enough by base passions.

Ms. Perry never disappoints. You feel as if you are actually a part of Society whenever you read one of her mysteries: she has a master's grasp of that time periods social mores.