No Graves As Yet: A Novel of World War I (Hardcover)

by Anne Perry (Author) "It was a golden afternoon in late June, a perfect day for cricket..." (more)
Key Phrases: John Reavley, Mary Allard, Sebastian Allard (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
This absorbing mystery/spy thriller, set in tranquil Cambridge just before the onset of the Great War, marks a powerful start to bestseller Perry's much anticipated new series. In a lush and deceptively peaceful opening scene, college professor and chaplain Joseph Reavley is interrupted while watching a cricket game by his intelligence officer brother, Matthew, who reports the sudden death of their parents in a car crash. This horrifying news sets off a long but compelling investigation by the brothers that takes them across verdant summertime England, looking for a secret document that their father was trying to deliver to Matthew at the time of his death. Against a backdrop of ominous news from the continent, Perry artfully weaves connections between pacifist students at Cambridge, one of whom is also murdered, and German agents who may be planning "a conspiracy to ruin England and everything we stand for." The intrigue is further complicated by jilted lovers and jealous spouses at the university, all with grudges against an alleged blackmailer in their midst who may also be privy to exam cribbing and other illicit goings-on. Perry's title, a quotation from G.K. Chesterton, is a portent of the carnage that soon awaits the youth of England, yet by the final resolution of this gripping case, many graves have regrettably already been filled in Cambridge's serene churchyards.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
PRAISE FOR ANNE PERRY AND HER VICTORIAN NOVELS

?Intelligently written and historically fascinating.?
?The Wall Street Journal

?You can count on a Perry tale to be superior.?
?The San Diego Union-Tribune

?[A] master of crime fiction who rarely fails to deliver a strong story and a colorful cast of characters.?
?The Baltimore Sun

The Reavley Chronicles -- Review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; First Edition (stated) edition (August 26, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345456521
• ISBN-13: 978-0345456526
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (64 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #421,614 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars R.I.P., September 10, 2003

By	M. Ettinger (SF, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I trudged through this dull disappointment in disbelief - is this the same Anne Perry whose William Monk and Thomas Pitt novels delivered finely-drawn characters, incisive social commentary and intricate plots?

Here, the characters are cyphers; where personalities exist, they're delivered through overwrought histrionics or dull platitudes. None of Perry's fascinating insight into Victorian mores, gender roles and class issues survives the leap forward into 1914 - in this novel the lower classes are distinguished mostly by their use of "Oi" in referring to themselves, and - in the case of the initially intriguing police inspector dispatched to Cambridge University - witless incomprehension regarding the lofty sphere of British acedemia.
Perry must have been having a bad day when she wrote this - I couldn't help wondering whether she'd pulled this manuscript out from a pile of early attempts at fiction, perhaps to satisfy a contractual obligation.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deeply Moving Historical Novel, December 18, 2005

By	Anne McKenzie Hunter "thehunter8" (Cambridge, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: No Graves As Yet (World War One Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)

Anne Perry has developed great depth and skill since her early novels. I think if one is expecting simply a murder/detective mystery
one might be put off by the social and moral issues that are at
the center of this book. The glimpses of Cambridge University
and Britain's Intelligence Service in 1914 are wonderful. The
characters are so real that I cried several times practically from
the beginning of the book. I can't wait for the next book to arrive.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, September 10, 2003

By A Customer

I eagerly anticipated Anne Perry's new series set during World War I, but this muddled, ill-conceived mystery was a major disappointment. Perry's mysteries revolve around her characters as much as the plot, so the Reavleys are a surprisingly dull and unsympathetic bunch. These alleged Cambridge intellectuals use bad grammar and address each other in mawkish speeches which are ludicrous coming from stiff upper-lip 1914 Britons.

The real problem with No Graves as Yet is that the author failed to do enough research to truly bring this period of history to life. She seems unaware that Cambridge was a center of social and intellectual ferment and misses the opportunity to enliven her narrative and enlighten her readers with cameo appearances by historical figures such as Rupert Brooke. There's a lot of maundering about war and peace in No Graves as Yet, but Perry fails to portray the intense patriotism of the British people, which led even the most radical Socialists to join the army in 1914. The betrayal of that patriotism is the story of World War I and it's especially relevant to today's world. It's a shame that Perry chose to narrowly focus on her flimsy characters and murder plot instead of putting more history into this historical mystery.