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Darmon Mysteries #3
Patriote Peril
Following the return of an empty carriage, Elizabeth Darmon begins a harrowing pursuit of her family's kidnappers. Alone, scared on the frontier of New Brunswick, she trails the kidnappers through deplorable conditions along the St. Lawrence River to Quebec City where she finds a woman posing as Elizabeth with another William. Near the scene of the abduction, her brother-in-law, Charles, recovers from a gunshot wound and is led to the Patriote Party's fanatical element of Reformers. He is swept into a rebellion, recruiting Americans at clandestine hunting lodges. Family members cross paths attempting to unravel conspiracy and murder before a tumultuous assault on the governor's palace. Historically accurate events provide non-stop suspense.
224 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2011
4 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
About the author
Thomas Thorpe
34 books47 followersThomas Thorpe was the Project Manager of NASAs highly successful Mars Global Surveyor Mission a spacecraft that orbited Mars for nine years, returning two hundred thousand images of the planet and relaying pictures from the Mars Rovers. Mr. Thorpe has published six historical mystery thrillers of the Darmon Mystery series about a couple from Kent that solves international crimes during the 1830s. These novels include: Message of the Pendant, The Forth Contention, The Patriote Peril, Fair Wind to Bahia, Desperate Crossing and Without Redemption. "
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 4, 2012
Mystery set at a time just after American Independence, Thomas Thorpe’s Patriote Peril combines well-researched Canadian history with a touch of mystery and a feisty Englishwoman on the trail. The long list of characters, meeting and separating on different paths, makes this a somewhat fragmented tale. And numerous mistaken or falsified identities add a farcical humor to some scenes. There’s an odd carelessness about life too, with Elizabeth eager to see her relatives all restored in good health after they disappear, but side-characters dealt death blows with mild abandon, as perhaps befits the era. Some truly evocative descriptions are paired with slow explanations of rapid action and the tension’s a little uncertain as it builds.
The plots and counterplots are all resolved in the end and Elizabeth, one suspects, will go on to investigate more mysteries elsewhere. Meanwhile I’ve learned a lot about Canada, the politics of independence and the finances of logging from this tale. Sometimes confusing and disorientating, sometimes overly carefully explained, the story’s somewhat uneven but pleasantly intriguing and informative. And the presence of a strong female protagonist in many of the scenes is certainly enjoyable.
Disclosure: I received a free ecopy of this novel from the author in exchange for my honest review. I’m just sorry it took me so long to get around to it.
The plots and counterplots are all resolved in the end and Elizabeth, one suspects, will go on to investigate more mysteries elsewhere. Meanwhile I’ve learned a lot about Canada, the politics of independence and the finances of logging from this tale. Sometimes confusing and disorientating, sometimes overly carefully explained, the story’s somewhat uneven but pleasantly intriguing and informative. And the presence of a strong female protagonist in many of the scenes is certainly enjoyable.
Disclosure: I received a free ecopy of this novel from the author in exchange for my honest review. I’m just sorry it took me so long to get around to it.
November 26, 2011
This is a mystery/political thriller set in 1830s Canada. It's also part of Thorpe's Darmon Mystery series.
Elizabeth Darmon, her husband William, and sister and brother-in-law Emily and Charles Bagwell, have traveled to Canada to visit Elizabeth and Emily's other sister, Victoria, and her husband Richard Hudson, at the hunting lodge Richard built two years ago. During their visit, Richard takes his wife and guests off on a carriage ride to see some of the local sites, but Elizabeth has a headache and remains at the Lodge. The carriage comes back empty.
Elizabeth gets a horse from the stable and goes off to look for her relatives, while telling a stable hand to go to the nearest town and alert the authorities. When she cannot find them, she returns to the Lodge, only to find that it has burned down in the few hours she's been gone, and if any servants survived, they are not in evidence. Elizabeth is off on a wild and harrowing hunt to find her apparently kidnapped family.
And the reader is off on a haphazard and sometimes confusing tale of struggles for survival in the wilderness, political intrigue, commercial fraud, murder, and mistaken identities. Elizabeth arrives in Quebec City to find that a man and woman are impersonating her and her husband. William, Emily, and Victoria are stranded on an island in Lake Champlain with no shelter and little in the way of supplies. Charles, shot in the initial attack and left for dead, is alive, but has completely lost his memory of everything prior to the moment he wakes up, wounded, in the snow. William swims to shore, intending to bring back help for Emily and Victoria, discovers a Canadien plot against the colonial government, and by the time he returns his sisters-in-law are gone. Charles, of course, gets caught up in the plot.
One of the differences between fiction and real life is that fiction makes sense. Patriote Peril adheres a little too closely to real life's freedom to not make any sense. There are too many coincidences, people just miss each other too often, too many cases of mistaken identity. Charles Bagwell does the medically unlikely but not impossible thing of losing his entire memory, all knowledge of his identity and past life. Then another blow to the head causes him to remember his past life but not anything since leaving England--just when it will cause maximum confusion and result in him doing the plot-required "wrong thing." Then another blow on the head returns him to only remembering events since he woke up wounded in the snow...
It's an adequate read; I wasn't tempted to throw it against the wall or anything. It also has the virtue of looking at a period and a region Americans don't read about much.
It's a lightweight fun read, but not to be read if you're in a critical mood or looking for something of real substance.
I received a free electronic galley from the author.
Elizabeth Darmon, her husband William, and sister and brother-in-law Emily and Charles Bagwell, have traveled to Canada to visit Elizabeth and Emily's other sister, Victoria, and her husband Richard Hudson, at the hunting lodge Richard built two years ago. During their visit, Richard takes his wife and guests off on a carriage ride to see some of the local sites, but Elizabeth has a headache and remains at the Lodge. The carriage comes back empty.
Elizabeth gets a horse from the stable and goes off to look for her relatives, while telling a stable hand to go to the nearest town and alert the authorities. When she cannot find them, she returns to the Lodge, only to find that it has burned down in the few hours she's been gone, and if any servants survived, they are not in evidence. Elizabeth is off on a wild and harrowing hunt to find her apparently kidnapped family.
And the reader is off on a haphazard and sometimes confusing tale of struggles for survival in the wilderness, political intrigue, commercial fraud, murder, and mistaken identities. Elizabeth arrives in Quebec City to find that a man and woman are impersonating her and her husband. William, Emily, and Victoria are stranded on an island in Lake Champlain with no shelter and little in the way of supplies. Charles, shot in the initial attack and left for dead, is alive, but has completely lost his memory of everything prior to the moment he wakes up, wounded, in the snow. William swims to shore, intending to bring back help for Emily and Victoria, discovers a Canadien plot against the colonial government, and by the time he returns his sisters-in-law are gone. Charles, of course, gets caught up in the plot.
One of the differences between fiction and real life is that fiction makes sense. Patriote Peril adheres a little too closely to real life's freedom to not make any sense. There are too many coincidences, people just miss each other too often, too many cases of mistaken identity. Charles Bagwell does the medically unlikely but not impossible thing of losing his entire memory, all knowledge of his identity and past life. Then another blow to the head causes him to remember his past life but not anything since leaving England--just when it will cause maximum confusion and result in him doing the plot-required "wrong thing." Then another blow on the head returns him to only remembering events since he woke up wounded in the snow...
It's an adequate read; I wasn't tempted to throw it against the wall or anything. It also has the virtue of looking at a period and a region Americans don't read about much.
It's a lightweight fun read, but not to be read if you're in a critical mood or looking for something of real substance.
I received a free electronic galley from the author.
January 21, 2012
I received this book for free in exchange for a review.
Many historical fiction fans have grumbled when authors take it upon themselves to be creative with history when writing their books. That will not be the case with Patriote Peril by Thomas Thorpe. Using "historically accurate events" Thorpe offers the 3rd installment in the Darmon Mysteries series with plenty of character background for those of us who didn't start the series with the first book. There's nothing more frustrating than reading a series and trying to guess at what might have happened in past books.
While this is historical fiction, it is also a mystery with a style comparable to the mysteries of yesteryear. Not to be confused with a contemporary suspense novel, which is a more fast-paced, high intensity read. Peril takes you along with Elizabeth Darmon as she tries to piece together what happened to her family and why. Sort of like a jigsaw puzzle, little pieces are left about here and there for the reader (and Elizabeth of course) to stick together to see the picture that emerges.
This is no small feat for Elizabeth as she finds herself without family or friends, in a strange country, and all alone. In the 1800's that was not an acceptable thing for a lady, but she must persevere in order to find out what has happened to her husband, sister, brother, and brother-in-law.
Many historical fiction fans have grumbled when authors take it upon themselves to be creative with history when writing their books. That will not be the case with Patriote Peril by Thomas Thorpe. Using "historically accurate events" Thorpe offers the 3rd installment in the Darmon Mysteries series with plenty of character background for those of us who didn't start the series with the first book. There's nothing more frustrating than reading a series and trying to guess at what might have happened in past books.
While this is historical fiction, it is also a mystery with a style comparable to the mysteries of yesteryear. Not to be confused with a contemporary suspense novel, which is a more fast-paced, high intensity read. Peril takes you along with Elizabeth Darmon as she tries to piece together what happened to her family and why. Sort of like a jigsaw puzzle, little pieces are left about here and there for the reader (and Elizabeth of course) to stick together to see the picture that emerges.
This is no small feat for Elizabeth as she finds herself without family or friends, in a strange country, and all alone. In the 1800's that was not an acceptable thing for a lady, but she must persevere in order to find out what has happened to her husband, sister, brother, and brother-in-law.
April 9, 2012
"Patriote Peril" was sent to me by the author, Thomas Thorpe, to read and review for him. It is a relatively short book, 214 pages, but it is filled with exciting situations, mystery and the feel of treading through the wilderness of the early 1800's in Canada. In my youth, I used to make believe I was a pioneer, so this book was right up my alley. It is the story of an English family who spends the summer together at the home of one of the daughters, Victoria, married to a Canadian, Richard Hudson. The story begins when 5 members of the family go on an outing and are ambushed and kidnapped. The 6th member, Elizabeth, had stayed behind and, upon realizing the others' fate, sets out to find them. All sorts of twists happen in this story, but what I liked most about it was the way the author told part of the story from one character's perception, then retold the same events from a different charater's perception adding to what the reader already knew. In this way, the author leads the reader along. As I stated above, there are several twists within the story and especially a big one at the end. So, if you like historical fiction AND you like mysteries and figuring out the chain of events, this book is for you. I really enjoyed it.
February 16, 2012
By chance, Elizabeth Darmon escapes being kidnapped with the rest of her family and then a fire at the remote home in New Brunswick, Halifax, she's been visiting. Alone and far away from her native England, Elizabeth sets out through the rough and wild frontier country out to find her relatives and discover why they've been victimized this way and learns about the political disputes being waged in this new country.
Packed with historical detail, Patriote Peril will undoubtedly appeal to Canadian frontier history buffs. At times the details about the history and politics overwhelmed the plot, which was quite complex with many abrupt shifts in perspective. I enjoyed Elizabeth's viewpoint the most, and found the rapid changes somewhat confusing. The depiction of Indians as painted savages seemed dubious to me. Also, one of the characters suffers a gunshot wound to the head and supposedly has severe amnesia, yet he ends up a folk hero for his role in foiling an assassination. Overall, not my cup of tea, though it started out fairly well.
Packed with historical detail, Patriote Peril will undoubtedly appeal to Canadian frontier history buffs. At times the details about the history and politics overwhelmed the plot, which was quite complex with many abrupt shifts in perspective. I enjoyed Elizabeth's viewpoint the most, and found the rapid changes somewhat confusing. The depiction of Indians as painted savages seemed dubious to me. Also, one of the characters suffers a gunshot wound to the head and supposedly has severe amnesia, yet he ends up a folk hero for his role in foiling an assassination. Overall, not my cup of tea, though it started out fairly well.
August 16, 2012
Patriote Peril is the story of Elizabeth Darmon and how she struggles to reunite her family after they have been kidnapped and trust in the middle of a revolution in Canada in the early part of the 19th century.
Elizabeth, her husband, sisters and brothers-in-law are in Canada. During this time her family is kidnapped and she endeavours to find the culprits and bring her family back to safety. This book is well written and has a lot of action. Elizabeth is quite the daring woman. I was quite impressed by her character. Nothing in this book is predictable nor it goes according to plan. But, all does happens so conveniently. I mean people just find each other in the middle of nowhere Canada. In just the middle of the wilderness and little islets in the middle of the ocean.
Other than the all-so-convenient occurrences, this was a pretty interesting book and I enjoyed it.
Disclosure: I received a free copy of this novel from the author in exchange for my honest review.
Elizabeth, her husband, sisters and brothers-in-law are in Canada. During this time her family is kidnapped and she endeavours to find the culprits and bring her family back to safety. This book is well written and has a lot of action. Elizabeth is quite the daring woman. I was quite impressed by her character. Nothing in this book is predictable nor it goes according to plan. But, all does happens so conveniently. I mean people just find each other in the middle of nowhere Canada. In just the middle of the wilderness and little islets in the middle of the ocean.
Other than the all-so-convenient occurrences, this was a pretty interesting book and I enjoyed it.
Disclosure: I received a free copy of this novel from the author in exchange for my honest review.
April 3, 2016
Another great book by Thomas Thorpe. He really knows how to write an Adventure and Thriller that is entertaining from start to finish. Even though this is book 3 in the series, you could still read this as a stand- alone story and still really enjoy it. Elizabeth recovers quite well from her initial shock of finding blood in the carriage returning from the Grand Falls, instead of her family. She doesn’t take long to snap into action and start investigating what has happened to them. Along the way Elisabeth has to contend with her brother in law getting shot, and then Indians and wolves attacking her. One of the things I like about this Author’s books, is the some of the history he puts into his stories. It gives you a bit of insight on what it would be like back in the 1800’s. This one was hard to put down, and it is certainly worth a read.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews