Customer Reviews

The Gabriel Hounds

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When Christy meets up with her second cousin, Charles, on a street called Straight in Damascus, she has no idea that her harmless foray into the Middle East will end behind a locked hareem door. As members of a well-to-do and filthy rich banking family, both Mansels are a little spoiled and very used to getting their own ways. Hence, it does not seem out of order or intrusive for them to look up great-aunt Harriet, an eccentric old lady who has shunned life in England while living like a pasha for almost a decade in a palace called Dar Ibrahim in the high Lebanon. On impulse, Christy goes solo to the palace, meeting an ecletic cast of characters straight out of the Arabian Nights. Strangest of all is her elderly aunt who has taken the pasha descriptor a little too seriously, dressing in male Arab garb and smoking a hookah. The backdrop, in true Stewart style, is drop-dead-gorgeous; the palace, its gardens, the prince's divan, the seraglio, the darkened corridors and treasure troves are all perfectly illumined for the reader by the author's rich use of language and a seemingly photogenic memory for even the smallest detail--the baying of the locked hounds as Christy wanders about the crumbling palace is just the thing to raise the hair off the back of any reader's neck, while the heady scents of herbs and flowers act as a profuse intoxicating calmative. Of course, there is a mystery which Christy unwittingly stumbles upon like all the other Stewart heroines. But, in this case, as well-off Christy is so very different from the working girls of the other novels, she meets mayham with an outraged aplomb which is marvelously comedic especially during the novels more crucial dramatic moments.
I listened to the audio version of this book read by Davinia Porter who has read other Stewart novels but somehow manages to get across Christy's spoiled yet kindly dispostion in a fresh style that makes the listener wish the reading would never end. There is romance, again underplayed in Stewart's signature style; as with all her male leads, the hero acts as a buttress to make sense out of Christy's spirited insights.
I recommend this whole-heartedly; the language is unsurpassed; the conjuring of the Middle East of the 60s romantic and whimsical.

With her usual magic, Mary Stewart brings to her readers resourceful and forthright young people involved in intricate webs of danger and intrigue in an exotic location. Mary Stewart's top-notch success is displayed in her fast-paced and action-packed sequences that never bore her readers. Each character and location of the action as it is played out is always vividly described with a superb and real sense of detail. It is because of this superb sense of detail that a half dozen reads may not even be enough for most of her novels.

From the back cover - "The Gabriel Hounds is rich with authenticity, warm and lively people, and a story line that will hold you fast till the very end. Against the exotic backdrop of the Middle East is unfolded the tale of Christy Mansel, a spirited young Englishwoman who pays an unexpected visit to an eccentric old aunt in a crumbling Arabian Nights palace in Lebanon. Christy does not know it, but the moment she passes through the gates of Dar Ibrahim she unwittingly sets in motion a dark sinister force that carries with it both terror and death."

Second cousins Christy and Charles Mansel, while on separate holidays, bump into each other on a street called Straight in Damascus. With the devil may care attitude of the wealthy and privileged, the two decide to look up Great Aunt Harriet, an infamous recluse holed up in her palace in the mountains outside of Beirut. Christy gets there first and after literally barging her way in soon finds herself in the midst of a seriously creepy palace right out of the Arabian Nights peopled with insolent servants, crumbling plaster, leaking roofs as well as the hounds who prowl the grounds at night like the spectral Gabriel hounds of the otherworld.

And that is really about all of the plot I am willing to give away - any more and I'd ruin it for you. Suffice it to say that Christy and Charles soon find themselves in the thick of things as they try to unravel the mystery surrounding their reclusive Aunt Harriet and the servants determined to keep her away from all visitors. I loved loved loved the way Stewart set the scenes, particularly the very spooky palace with the secret staircases, hidden doorways, crumbling plaster, a rusty nail breaking the silence as it falls, all topped off with a fabulous nail biting finish as the island in the midst of the Seraglio (harem) becomes the author's own take on Noah's Ark during a sinking ship. Despite being a bit too wealthy and spoiled, the banter between Christy and Charles was fun and refreshing and added the perfect zest to your basic heroine in peril needing to be rescued by the hero. Four stars.

"I met him in the street called Strait." This is the line that comes immediately to mind when I think of a Mary Stewart book....the first line of this book. This my favorite; however I love all her stories. The Merlin trilogy +1, Rose Cottage, Thornyhold, Touch Not the Cat, etc., etc., etc. Ms. Stewart writes to entertain and mystify and does a totally terrific job of both. I highly recommend all her books.

Pat Schulte, Ft Myers, FL

The Gabriel Hounds, a wonderful blend of romance and suspense by master storyteller Mary Stewart, is like taking a magic carpet ride. It is a fast-paced tale set in the exotic locale of Lebanon and Syria in the 1960s.

Christy Mansel, spoiled darling of a filthy rich English banking family, runs into her cousin Charles in a Damascus bazaar while on a tour of the Middle East. They were raised together, although it has been a few years since they've seen each other. Charles -- equally rich and spoiled (and handsome) in his brand-new Porsche -- convinces Christy to leave her tour early and spend a few days sightseeing with him. From there talk turns to their eccentric Great Aunt Harriet, who has lived for years in a villa not far away, and they decide to pay her a visit. When they do reach her outlandish and remote villa things are even stranger then they could have imagined, and they find they have stumbled into the middle of a spider's web in which they become increasingly entangled.

The Gabriel Hounds is a fast read, not just because it is short but because Stewart weaves an action-packed and compelling tale that keeps the pages turning. Her writing is tight, with never a word wasted, and she paints wonderfully descriptive pictures of the various settings. The dialogue in this book is especially good -- the interactions between Christy and Charles are witty and sparkling and amazingly not dated, and the romantic element is smooth, subtle and understated.

For a wonderful read that will transport you for a day or two into an exotic locale worlds away, you can't beat this one.

Ms.Stewarts language and descriptive skills never fail her in this tale of the mysterious East which comes complete with an eccentric old Englishwoman living in self imposed exile and an Arabian nights style crumbling palace. However the events that take place are highly implausible and leave one wishing for the gripping suspense and drama of Ms.Stewart's other novels like'Madam,Will you talk','Touch not the cat','airs above the ground' etc.The unlikeliness of the events and their quick occurence are typical of the stereotype attached to Eastern lands,and characterization is very sketchy but the Mary Stewart style is there.I especially enjoy her practice of having a preceding quotation from a poem for each chapter that captures the mood.A good read for a gloomy afternoon.

I have the rest of Mary Stewart's books, but this one couldn't be found so I thought I'd look online. Very pleased to have the book; it's light reading, and perhaps a bit dated but I was quite prepared for that. Many of my books come from charity or junk shops so the condition was irrelevant, but it was in good shape and although it cost more than I usually pay for second hand paperbacks I was glad to have it.

Mary Stewart's books are a treasure and a must for your personal library. Service from The Book Man was excellent.

Christy Mansell is on a pleasure trip to Damascus when she meets her cousin Charles. Their great-aunt Harriet lives in the High Lebanon, where she plays a sort of Lady Hester Stanhope role, living in a decrepit old palace secluded from everything. There's an unspoken rule that nobody is allowed to visit her, but Christy decides to pay her great-aunt an unexpected visit. Met with resistance at first by Harriet's doctor, Christy gains entry into the palace, but she and her cousin soon discover that not all is as it seems.

Christy Mansell is typical of Mary Stewart's heroines; she's young and spunky, and used to doing whatever she pleases. Under any other writer, this sort of thing might get annoying, but somehow Stewart manages to make each of her heroines unique. Also expected is the romance aspect of the book, which I wasn't quite as satisfied with as I was with the rest of the book, but enjoyed nonetheless. The romance story lines of Mary Stewart's books are always gentle and understated.

As with all of her novels, The Gabriel Hounds moves at a tight, rapid pace; I don't know how Mary Stewart ever did it, but her books are always infused with the right amount of suspense. And yet, the outcome of the story totally came as a surprise. It's this combination of the expected and the unexpected that make Mary Stewart's books so appealing.

I first became acquainted with this wonderful thriller in an American paperback version and have read it often enough to be very familiar with the story. I just bought a first edition hardback version and was surprised to note several differences between the old and newer versions. I don't know if these were inserted for an American audience, or if Ms. Stewart revised the original copy. In the first edition, Charles is a first cousin, son of the other identical twin. Perhaps this consanguinity made some readers squeamish, hence(in later editions)the relationship is outlined as a more distant cousin adopted by the protagonist's uncle. The other items changed in subsequent editions are some ugly, racist adjectives used to describe the doctor and the servant Halide. Still love the book, but it's interesting that these few things were changed in later editions - American tastes or just good taste?