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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"It is a Pandora's box, and it has been opened.", May 4, 2005
Will Thomas continues his winning streak in "To Kingdom Come," a wonderfully entertaining and well-researched mystery featuring Cyrus Barker and his young Welsh assistant, Thomas Llewelyn. Mr. Gladstone is the Prime Minister of England and the Irish are clamoring for Home Rule. A militant faction sets off a series of bombs, and an explosion blows out a piece of Scotland Yard's Criminal Investigation Division. Cyrus Barker, who is a Private Enquiry Agent, volunteers to locate and infiltrate the group responsible for the bombing. Reluctantly, Mr. Robert Anderson of the Home Office agrees to Barker's "mad scheme to hoodwink the Irish." Cyrus Barker disguises himself as the reclusive Johannes van Rhyn, a German explosives expert. Barker uses his wide range of contacts to find the most militant of the Irish anarchists, known as the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and he feigns sympathy with their cause. As van Rhyn, Barker offers to help the Brotherhood build more effective and deadlier bombs. In the process, both Cyrus and Thomas risk their lives to prevent this desperate group from committing further acts of violence. Will Thomas beautifully evokes the language, class distinctions, and political infighting of England in the late 1800's. It's all here, from Charles Parnell living the high life with his English mistress to William Butler Yeats writing poetry for Maire O'Casey, the sister of one of the anarchists. There is subtle humor, authentic atmosphere, colorful dialogue, a touch of romance, and an instructive history lesson about terrorism in Victorian England. Cyrus Barker and Thomas Llewelyn are marvelous characters. Barker has a private chef prepare his gourmet meals, but he is willing to "live rough" when he is on a case. He is a master of disguise, foreign accents, and hand-to-hand combat (including stick fighting) and he has useful underworld connections. Llewelyn screws up his courage and follows the lead of his fearless and adventurous boss. He knows that if the militants discover their true identity, he and Barker are as good as dead. Still, Thomas owes his life to his mentor, and he is willing to carry out Barker's orders, whatever the consequences. I love the "father-son" relationship between the gruff and laconic Cyrus and the callow Llewelyn. I recommend that you read Will Thomas's first book, "Some Danger Involved" before you pick up this excellent sequel. Fans of Victorian mysteries will thoroughly enjoy this evocative, exciting, and beautifully written novel.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
terrific Baker Victorian mystery, May 25, 2005
In 1884 London Enquiry Agent Cyrus Baker and his assistant Thomas Llewelyn are practicing martial arts exercises when they hear the explosion. Feeling they may be able to help, the two rush to the devastating scene of the Scotland Yard wing containing the newly formed Criminal Investigation Department Special Irish branch. As they assist the surgeon with field operations, the twosome learn of another bomb exploding at the Junior Carleton Club. The police brass at the Yard assumes both blasts were the work of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a radical group willing to murder innocent civilians to foster a free Irish state. Inspector Poole informs Baker and Llewelyn that several other bombs were found before they ignited. Believing that the narrow focus on SIB is going to prove false, Baker quietly spreads the word that he and his associate are explosive experts to see who they can reel in. Not long afterward, the Invisibles want to employ them in a plan to explode London in TO KINGDOM COME. The latest Baker Victorian mystery is a terrific historical tale that uses the bias between the Scotland Yard leadership and SIB to provide insight to the beginning of the Irish issue that still haunts the Isles. The efforts to uncover and stop the Invisibles are cleverly developed to provide a fabulous thriller, but also shed addition light on the late ninetieth century. Baker is a fine sleuth while his assistant who narrates the tale is his Watson except much more innocent in worldly affairs. There will be no doubting Thomas that this is one of the best historical series on the market today. Harriet Klausner
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Solid, entertaining writing promises a great series ahead, July 24, 2006
An author's second novel is a very important thing. If his first was successful and/or critically acclaimed, the second proves whether the achievement of the first was a fluke. A reader can determine whether the things she liked about the first novel are truly characteristic of the author's style and intent. I found "To Kingdom Come" a very satisfying book, because it confirmed to me my enthusiasm for "Some Danger Involved" and my hopes for the future of the Cyrus Barker-Thomas Llewelyn series were not misplaced. In "To Kingdom Come," Will Thomas has again taken the reasonably familiar setting of late-1800s London and then overlaid it with the more unfamiliar one of Irish revolutionaries and a sort of Celtic underground in London and Liverpool. Unlike the high-society, upper class murders so many mystery-writers build their London-themed mysteries around, Will Thomas seems to have a fascination with the foreign, the outsiders, and others whose blood is distinctly not blue. All this makes for refreshing stories that are both easy to settle in with (Cyrus Barker's London, after all, is Sherlock Holmes' too, chronologically speaking) and full of color and detail that are new and unfamiliar. Peeking ahead into the just-released third novel "The Limehouse Text," I see we have still more of this to look forward to. Second novels, too, have the advantage that an author has already established the basic outlines of his characters, their personalities, backstories, and how they behave. "Some Danger Involved," naturally, was heavy on introducing us to Barker and Llewelyn, and the actual murder mystery had to share space with that. This is less necessary in "To Kingdom Come," and so we have more room to focus on the story itself. And a good story it is, too, with a surprising contemporary element: terrorist bombs exploding simultaneously in several London locations. Of course, the characters aren't stagnant: we learn a little more about Barker's mysterious background, and Thomas Llewelyn continues to develop as an interesting and sympathetic narrator. I was pleased to be able to leap from Will Thomas' first novel right into his second, and am glad to say "The Limehouse Text" is on the top of my next-to-read pile. This second novel reassured me that my judgment about Thomas' novels, and his promise as a novelist, wasn't in error. That makes for a nice little feeling of personal satisfaction on top of the great deal of satisfaction I got from the novel itself.
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