Customer Reviews

At Some Disputed Barricade

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book continues to follow the Reavleys - Matthew, Judith, and Joseph. They are all involved in WWI - Matthew in Military Intelligence, Judith is an ambulance driver at the front, and Joseph is the chaplain for the troops also at the front. Their parents were murdered before the war, because they found a treaty that would make an alliance between England and Germany, creating a major world power from a mastermind called The Peacemaker, a man high up in the government.The first half of the book is a bit slow, but it has to, to explain the enormity of the war and the horror and slaughter. The story revolves around some troops who try to get their inept division leader who is causing more death and injury to his troops to stop. In an attempt to scare him into reality, these men hold a kangaroo court, but something goes awry. It is up to Joseph to find answers and get the men back to a semblance of normalcy.
BUT the 2nd half of the book sparkles!! While Mrs. Perry show the horror on the front, the filth and death and mustard gas, but she has yet to say anything about the flying aces of WWI - She vividly shows us dogfights and even has Joseph take part in one - he even crosses paths with the Red Baron! The brilliance of writing takes us there on the front and we feel the pain of war. There is one more book to this series, and although I am a fan of the Monk and Pitt series, I will miss this series -Perry creates a vivid picture of war.

Britain fought "The Great War" long before the U.S. entered the fight. Ms. Perry graphically shows the horrors of trench warfare. As an English and history teacher, I wish I had had a book like this available to enable me to awake in my students an interest in this part of the early 20th century. The author puts you right there with the soldiers and captures the attitudes -- the glue -- that held that country together. World War I was the tough-to-endure preparation that gave English men and women the stamina to withstand the continual bombings of World War II. You may feel that aspects of the book are romanticized, but no one who reads this book will fail to learn more about how the first 20 years of the last century shaped the 80 years that followed -- and continues even today. This series has been an education for me. Some may find parts of it slow moving, but I have relished every word.

This fourth book in Perry's World War I series is just as good as the three previous. In it we continue to follow the lives of the Reavely family. Matthew is still on the trail of the "Peacemaker", and still finds that he cannot trust anyone. Joseph is still in Flanders with his troops. But Joseph finds himself far out of his comfort zone as he actually goes behind enemy lines to bring some English deserters back to face a court-martial. Judith is still driving her ambulance. The characters in this series are so very strong, as are the plots. I know that I have learned a lot about this appalling war by reading this series. The book is set in the summer of 1917, and the troops have been fighting a war that has gone on for three long years. And the death tolls for all people in this war were staggering. This is a totally unforgettable series with a totally unforgettable family in the centre of all this war to end all wars. We see war, death, love, intrigue, loyalty and, not only these things, but a really good story that will keep your interest until the end of the series which is to be the next book. I think that looking back on it from this point in time, it has made me realize how very tragic this war was, and how little it really solved.

At Some Disputed Barricade by Anne Perry is the fourth book in her World War I series. The story features the Reavely siblings: Joseph, a chaplain with the troops in France; Matthew, working with Britain's Secret Service, Judith, an ambulance driver, and Hannah, a little mentioned wife of a navy captain. The first three siblings have been working for years to uncover the identity of the Peacemaker, a master manipulator who is trying to bring about peace at any cost and who killed the Reavely's parents at the beginning of the war. This not a series you can start reading in the middle and comprehend all of the twists and turns, but the series is fantastically written with a strong eye for detail and well-described characters. Perry does an elegant job of handling the pros and cons of war. Peacemaker's position is easy to sympathize with, but there is a cost to every war, and peace can have a heavier cost. Both Joseph and Judith struggle with weighty personal decisions and what true loyalty means. Joseph's faith has been wavering since the death of his wife, and the constant and senseless deaths of his men is shaking him to his core. Matthew's life is in danger as he comes closer to the identity of the Peacemaker. Perry's description of the French trenches is vivid and desparate; I can't imagine how a country could recover from such destruction. This series is a terrifically written study of what war does to individuals as well as countries. The last book in the series is coming out later this month.

Anne Perry has added to her impressive collection of writing with this historical World War One series.

The story of the English Reavley family is chronicled through the eyes of Joseph, a chaplain stationed in battle, Matthew who works in intelligence, and their sister. Judith, who is an ambulance driver. The premise is that there is a secret conspiracy to bring on peace by forging a union between England and Germany. Led by "The Peacemaker" it would undo all that has been fought for throughout the many years of war. The Reavleys must discover the identity of the man who not only threatens the nation in which they live but who was also responsible for the death of their parents.


Each book in the series develops a different storyline within the basic premise. In the forth one, At Some Disputed Barricade, Joseph must intervene when the men in his company are charged with the murder of their inept commanding officer. In the final entry, We Shall Not Sleep, Matthew is accused of a viscous crime he did not commit. The plots of each are an involved story that interact with the search for "The Peacemaker." It is not necessary to read the whole series or read them in order but it would strongly add to the readers' satisfaction and understanding of the books.

It is the writing of Anne Perry that carries this series. Her historical knowledge to be able to accurately base a fictional account within the context of a very real war is impressive. Her descriptive writing ability to portray the settings, from the heat and carnage of the front to the peace of the English countryside or the grimness of the cities, is outstanding. Her scenes of men living deep within in the trenches, living and fighting in mud that covered them from head to toe are as eloquent picture of hell as can be written. She again proves herself to be a master storyteller, historian and writer.

In this fourth installment of her much-loved World War I mystery series centering on the intrigue and escapades of the Reavley family, Anne Perry brings her considerable creative writing talents to this historical setting once again.

The story opens in mid-July 1917 on the Western Front. It has been three years of latrines, corpses and poison gas for Chaplain Joseph Reavley. The war has dragged on longer than anyone predicted, and Joseph has had to write too many condolence letters to surviving family members. The losses have been overwhelming. Even Cambridgeshires, his boyhood region, has lost many of their young men. And though Joseph has tended to the troops to the best of his abilities, morale is declining --- and there is even talk of mutiny.

When a respected major is killed in action, an incompetent Major Northrup fills his place. Northrup ignores the warnings of the experienced soldiers under his command and sends more men to an unnecessary end. His death follows shortly, but it's murder. When Northrup's father, an English general, demands that justice be carried out, Joseph is delegated to discover the truth and uncover the murderer.

Joseph's brother, Matthew, is also struggling with his own challenges. A major in the Secret Intelligence Service in England, Matthew is still trying to deal with his role in ending the life of the Peacemaker --- the man who engineered the death of his parents while enroute to deliver a secret document to Matthew. The document was a draft of a proposed treaty between King Edward and Kaiser Wilhelm, masterminded by the Peacemaker and a few select others to create an English/German alliance that would rule the Western world.

However, when a Junior Cabinet Minister who is being blackmailed informs Matthew of a plot that could have been organized only by the Peacemaker, Matthew is shaken by the realization that the Peacemaker is alive and has a larger network of operatives working than previously thought. Knowing that the Peacemaker will surely have another grand plan for England and Germany, Matthew sets out to uncover him again. Though he manages to survive attempts on his life, Matthew is still in grave danger.

Back on the continent, Joseph continues to investigate the murder of Major Northrup, which leads him to evidence of a "Kangaroo Court." Twelve soldiers under Northrup's command had put Northrup on trial for his incompetence and ignorance, hoping to convince the major to change. But someone killed him instead. The soldiers are arrested and held for trial. Joseph's sister, Judith, an ambulance driver on the Western front, is angst-ridden over the potential court martial and execution. She aids in the escape for all but one of the 12 indicted soldiers.

As Joseph prepares to find the escaped men and bring them home, he uncovers who killed the major. The court-martial trial is scheduled to proceed in spite of the circumstances of the war and what has been discovered. The headquarters in London request that Joseph represent the accused men. Even though an army legal officer reminds Joseph that he knows "the trenches, the army, the reality of life and death and loyalty and what it means to be part of regiment," Joseph still doubts his legal abilities. But he begins to discover a way to defend the soldiers and comes to realize that it's all about having faith and making sure it endures regardless of place or time.

Anne Perry's ability to plot an intriguing mystery series is never more adept than it is here. Her flair as a writer brings to life the story of the Reavley family as every member faces the catastrophes that World War I brings to their lives. She delves deep into the hearts of her characters and their anguish as they struggle with good and evil, and the atrocities of war.

--- Reviewed by Jennifer McCord

"I have a rendezvous with Death
At some disputed barricade."
- Alan Seeger

At Some Disputed Barricade by Anne Perry is the fourth book in Perry's World War I mystery series. The series centers around the Reavely family. Their parents were killed before the start of the war. An apparent car accident turns out to be a murder instead. The man who ordered the murder is known only as the Peacemaker and the family is driven to find his identity.

Since his parents' death, Chaplain Joseph Reavely has taken over as the head of the family. He gave up his teaching job at Cambridge to serve as an army chaplain on the front lines. Hannah has moved back to the family home to wait out the war while her husband Archie is at sea. Matthew Reavely is continuing his work in the Secret Intelligence Service and the youngest family member, Judith, is using her driving skills on the front lines to drive ambulances.

It is 1917 and every one is beginning to realize the war will not be over by Christmas. Moral is at an all-time low. In this fourth installment disaster ensues when their much-loved commanding officer is killed on the Western Front in the Battle of Passchendaele and replaced by an inexperienced, incompetent young major. The new major is killed and Joseph Reavely discovers it was not by enemy fire. Twelve men are charged with mutiny. Judith cannot stand by and watch them hang so she risks her own life to help them escape.

Joseph believes that only one of the twelve charged men is actually guilty of the murder. He is ordered to apprehend them and chases them across Switzerland and into enemy territory in order to prove their innocence.

This is a gripping tale. The thread of patriotism and war makes it a very relevant read for today even though it is set almost 100 years ago. This book can stand alone, but I recommend reading the whole series. Begin with No Graves As Yet and don't stop till you get to At Some Disputed Barricade.

Armchair Interviews says: A wonderful story wonderfully told.

Whether men are hurtling over the ridge into battle or contemplating God's existence in a war-torn world, every page grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go. Eerily echoing today's world, the reader is thrown into the reality of war and the intrigue behind it and, at the same time, drawn into the characters' lives with almost embarassing clarity. What more can we ask from our fiction?
Eleanor Sullivan, author of Assumed Dead.

I love this series, I really do. Anne Perry's writing is evocative and wraps you in the time period from the beginning. I think she captures the thoughts, feelings, and passions of the period with details and nunances that stay with you after the book is done. I also love history and have walked the battlefields of Ypres and Verdun, so I know the history is as good as the writing. So why only 4 stars when the book deserves 5? This book is the weaker of the ones I've read so far because it is the mostly poorly edited. In one paragraph for example it is the farmer and his daughter but in the next it is the wife and not the daughter. At one point the season is early spring but in the next scene it is mid-summer. There enough of these lapses, some serious enough that I stopped reading to check that my copy wasn't missing a scene or a page to warrent the loss of a star - if only to make the publisher notice. This volume is not as tight as the previous books but all these faults are minor and should have been fixed in editing.

While I have always loved her Monk and Pitt series', I hated the first three installments of this World War I series, finding them turgid and uninteresting. I continued reading this series only because I have liked the other novels and short stories by this author so much. And persistence paid off, because this work finally started to approach the excellent level of her other series'. Unlike the other entries, the dialogue here was taut and sparing, and the plot was suspenseful and quick-moving. I couldn't wait to turn the pages to get to the next twist. This is definitely the best, by far, in this series and gives me hope for a big finish in book 5, coming soon, which will be the finale. A definite must read for Perry fans, even if, like me, they haven't liked this series thus far.