Customer Reviews

The Great Impersonation

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I first read The Great Impersonation twenty-five years ago and the memory of that first reading still keeps me breathless each time I reread this masterful story. The characters are well drawn (although they are typical of the genre - Pre-WWI, English upper class, and "foreign" royalty), the pace is swift, and the plot is both simple and ingenious. Although I consider myself savvy when it comes to "thrillers", Oppenheim kept me in great suspense until the very last page. In subsequent years, I have read as many of Oppenheim's books and stories as I can get my hands on - about a dozen, obtained from used book stores - (he wrote hundreds - practically all of which are out of print), and these certainly vary in quality, but I can state, unequivocally, that The Great Impersonation is his best, and, in fact, one of the best stories of all time.

This is storytelling at its peak. Although a rather just-state-the-facts author, Oppenheim created a delightful story by doing just that: weaving facts into a web that cannot be deciphered until the final chapter. He led the reader through a seemingly straightforward spy novel, only dropping hints at what was to come. This is a great read for anyone who likes their classics served with a twist.

Terrific book, exciting, suspenseful, and I couldn't tell that it was written at that time. I read a lot of vintage mysteries -- many are good, but obviously done in a style not suited to today's reader. This could easily have been written today, it is suspenseful without being overly melodramatic. I read it straight through, it was that exciting.

And it's free. I'm going to download a lot of his other books as well.

This is the best of the many novels - over 180 - mostly international spy thriller type novels - which E P Oppenheim wrote from the Edwardian era into the 1940s. British writer Oppenheim was wildly popular - as popular as James Patterson is today. The reading public could not get enough of his books. They are still very good yarns by the man who has been called "The Prince of Storytellers".

In "The Great Impersonation", Oppenheim's plot hinges around two very similar looking gentlemen, one from Britain and the other from Germany. To make matters more challenging, they happen to be related. The reader is kept in suspense. Is the one masquerading as the other in order to undermine the rival nation? Are these suspicions founded or groundless?

International intrigue is the game, and the twist has to do with the protagonist of the story. Then again, perhaps the protagonist is the antagonist? It is up to the reader to try to figure it out.

Of course there is romance! Oppenheim always includes romance. Imagine the poor woman the man comes home to--is she really welcoming her long lost husband, or is it the cousin / enemy / imposter? She has her doubts, as do we. And there are rather shady characters of all kinds to keep the mystery going!

This is a great story, as other reviewers have noted, about possible mistaken identity or shall we say identity theft. How contemporary and timely! Snap it up and read it.

The slapdash reader might want to compare this book with the great works of literature, and that would be a mistake. Although he was British, Oppenheim was NOT a Dickens or Austen; read them if you want that kind of a story. Oppenheim was, however, a good writer who treated his readers to a plot that unfolded deftly, set in sophisticated, glamorous locales. Yes, Oppenheim was a product of his era and nationality-and sometimes those prejudices show through, but knowing that, the reader can proceed without allowing them to become unpleasant intrusions.

This and the others of his books are good for reading on the porch or beach on a lazy day, on a plane or train trip, or if you want to read a chapter before bedtime and actually remember what you read the next day. The storylines are easy to follow, the people have enough characterization to give you a mental picture of them, and now, with the distance of time, the books evoke an entire era.

With the elegant settings and cultured, but idiosyncratic characters, one wonders why some enterprising Hollywood producer has not made a recent film of this book? It would benefit from a "Tea with Mussolini" type cast, score and camerawork. (It was filmed, in the early days of sound, but it deserves a blockbuster treatment).

One of the readers says it reminds one of Agatha Christie. As a matter of fact, as reported by Christie scholars, E P Oppenheim was Miss Christie's chief role model when she began writing.

A friend of F Scott Fitzgerald, P G Wodehouse, and many other luminaries, E P Oppenheim frequented Monte Carlo, in which several of his best tales are set. But no matter the setting, they were always peopled with crowned heads traveling incognito, dubious anarchists, world class financiers, powerful generals, cabaret dancers, card sharps and shady international beauties - all thrown together in cafe society intrigue that hints at the possibility that much of this is...about real people E P knew, thinly veiled as fiction.

Of course, that is exactly what it is!

A note to parents of teens-If your son or daughter has an interest in Harry Potter books you could dangle a few Oppenheims in their direction. They have all the thrills and there is no need to be concerned about gratuitous language or situations. These are just good stories well told.

If you read this one, and like it, find and read my personal favorite "The Prodigals of Monte Carlo" next. It is about a man who has everything, who is given only a few months to live by his Harley Street physician. He asks his three best friends, leaders in various professions, what they would do, given such a death sentence-and then acts on some of their suggestions. Intelligent indulgence and altruism meet in a story that has Oppenheim's usual mix of romance and intrigue.

If you find this review helpful, please take a look at some of my other reviews ranging from fiction, biography, history and religion to art and architecture. Happy reading!

Through the years there are always certain books that one never forgets, for whatever reason,and often through the last sixty years I remember "The Great Impersonation" which I read at the age of 15. Not a difficult read, yet it holds its reader until the last page. The intrigue and the characters all fit so well that I feel, though not a classic per se, it is a skillful story not to be ignored by any reader. In fact, I am buying a couple of copies for the newer generation so it can be enjoyed for years to come.

I will concede two things to this novel: The author had me fooled and despite a terrible opening, I wanted to know what happened, but this book doesn't know what it is: not quite a Victorian gothic romance, nor a geopolitical thriller, it was hardly at all informative on the historic events leading up to the Great War, and the baronet was essentially wooden, as if that was enough to fool the English and Germans around him that he was one man or the other. I do not mind reading for light entertainment, but there were too many highly improbable threads, not enough plot, nor full fledged characters facing real moral conflicts. It is worse than modern pulp fiction.

This 1925 story begins with Sir Everard Dominey wandering lost through German East Africa, and finding an outpost commanded by Sigismund Devinter, a school mate at Eton (now Leopold Baron von Ragastein). There is a remarkable resemblance between these two, and they tell each other their life stories. Both were exiled after killing a man over a woman. But the German Baron plans to kill Dominey and return to England in his stead. This will allow undercover work during the coming war to crush England! The Baron travels to meet Seaman in South Africa and find the wealth needed to carry out the impersonation.

People notice some differences in the returned Sir Edward, who cleans up the mess he left behind. His wife gets proper care and begins to recover from her long illness. "Dominey" runs into the Baroness whose husband he killed in that duel; she is not fooled and now wants to marry. "Dominey" can do nothing as this could reveal his secret and overturn his life as an English country squire. A visitor brings a warning from Africa, then disappears from his room! There is the conflict between those who warn against a war with Germany and those who seek peace. But the conflict between Austria and Servia begins; countries mobilize for war, ending the hopes for peace. At the end the impersonation is unmasked. The backgrounds provide a description of life for the English gentry and their villagers that will disappear in a generation (it reminds me of Agatha Christie's stories).

The story concerns espionage just prior to World War 1. Dominey has led a dissolute life in Africa after possibly killing the unrequited suitor of his wife. He meets a vigoroous and vital German officer who had schooled with him in England and who physically resembles him. The German plots to kill him in the African bush and take his place, return to England, and rise through society to gain sensitive a political position for the upcoming conflict in Europe.
The implausible parts are many: That after only 10-11 years no one can more than barely suspect (voice, face, scars, mannerisms) that there may be an impersonation; that the vindictive mother of Dominey's wife's suitor would spend 10 years with the wife for the sole purpose of keeping her insane; and so on. To tell more would be a spoiler, but common sense rails against some parts of the plot line. During the entire story there are only two issues: 1)will the impersonation hold up? 2)who is the real "Dominey"? The answer to the first question is obvious, though I couldn't believe the impersonation. For the answer to the second, I was hoping for a marvelous ironic twist but it turned out to be almost obvious (note the expression "the mischief" used by Dominey).
This novel was made into a movie 3 times before 1940, and that is not surprising because it reminds me of one of the B-movie suspense melodramas that tickled the fancy of those days - with their stilted cardboard characters. Compared to other impersonation novels like, for example, A Tale of Two Cities with its social comments, etched characterizations, and great action, this novel pales. The concept of impersonation certainly was not original with Oppenheim. Even The Prince and The Pauper had more depth and meaning to it than this book.
The bottom line is this. I read this book because I heard it was one of his best, if not his best. I had read The Grassleyes Mystery and thought it was junk. I was disappointed even in this novel. I realize Oppenheim was popular in his day. Many other writers have had their day and then rightly faded into obscurity. There has to be a reason why my public library has only 3 of his novels and they are "in the storage basement" while Christie, Dickens, Hammett, Marsh, and even lesser writers are on the main book shelves. That does not mean that there are not great authors from the past who deserve to be read more today. In this regard, I would recommend any one of the wonderful detective mysteries of the less-than-prolific Anna Katherine Green.

one of the best books ever done on spys, the prose is quaint and interesting considering the date written (1925). Wonderful plot and even a love story. One of my all time favorites.