We Shall Not Sleep

World War I #5

by Anne Perry

After four long years, peace is finally in sight. But chaplain Joseph Reavley and his sister, Judith, an ambulance driver on the Western Front, are more hard pressed than ever. Behind the lines, violence is Soldiers are abusing German prisoners, a nurse has been raped and murdered, and the sinister ideologue called the Peacemaker now threatens to undermine the peace just as he did the war. Matthew, the third Reavley sibling and an intelligence expert, suddenly arrives at the front with startling The Peacemaker’s German counterpart has offered to go to England and expose his co-conspirator as a traitor. But with war still raging and prejudices inflamed, such a journey would be fraught with hazards, especially since the Peacemaker has secret informers everywhere, even on the battlefield. For richness of plot, character, and feeling, We Shall Not Sleep is unmatched. Anne Perry’s brilliantly orchestrated finale is a heartstopping tour de force, mesmerizing and totally satisfying.

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, World War I, War, Historical Mystery

Audio CD

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Anne Perry, born Juliet Hulme in England, lived in Scotland most of her life after serving five years in prison for murder (in New Zealand). A beloved mystery authoress, she is best known for her Thomas Pitt and William Monk series.

Her first novel, "The Cater Street Hangman", was published in 1979. Her works extend to several categories of genre fiction, including historical mysteries. Many of them feature recurring characters, most importantly Thomas Pitt and amnesiac private investigator William Monk, who first appeared in 1990, "The Face Of A Stranger".

Her story "Heroes," from the 1999 anthology Murder And Obsession, won the 2001 Edgar Award For Best Short Story. She was included as an entry in Ben Peek's Twenty-Six Lies / One Truth, a novel exploring the nature of truth in literature.

Series contributed to:
. Crime Through Time
. Perfectly Criminal
. Malice Domestic
. The World's Finest Mystery And Crime Stories
. Transgressions
. The Year's Finest Crime And Mystery Stories

Reviews

[Stephanie Pieck · Rating 5 out of 5]

The mark of an excellent author is that they can weave things into their stories that would be dismissed as gratuitous in anyone else's hands and get away with it. For instance: murder mysteries that include spies, at least according to pop culture cliché, have to include a getaway in a car of some kind, right? Well, ...
In this finale to her outstanding series, Perry once again sets up a devilish knot of a problem. A nurse is found brutally murdered at a casualty clearing station near Ypres, France. Joseph, the chaplain, is immediately asked to try and sort out who did it. The complication is that his brother, Matthew, is at the front with him instead of back in London, waiting for a German to cross over the British line to unmask the man who has been plotting since the opening of Book 1 to create a world-encompassing empire between England and Germany. Known as the Peacemaker, this figure is at the heart of all the tragedy that has pursued Joseph, Matthew, and their sisters--the murder of their parents, the murder of one of Joseph's star pupils at Cambridge, the murder of the colonel that Judith was falling in love with. It was because of the Peacemaker that Joseph went to war in the first place.
But with the murder of the nurse still unsolved, the Army is anxious to make an arrest. The investigating officer orders the casualty clearing station closed and won't let anyone enter or leave until the matter is resolved. And, in a final ironic twist, suspicion falls on Matthew.
The powerful heart that beats at the center of this series is the concepts of what make us human. Free will, love and compassion for fellow human beings, hope, courage. We cannot always understand why people behave the way they do, but we should never stand in judgment. Given the same circumstances, who is to say we wouldn't act similarly? And when all the ideas we cling to in order to keep our heads are stripped of their power, we are left with one simple thing: the need to share, to not be alone. In the age of instant messages and cyberfriends, thousands of "likes" and followers, this need is still present. The rush toward industrialization, efficiency, the corporatization and mechanization of so much of our lives certainly has benefits. But it also has the real possibility to desensitize us to ourselves. Life is hard, full of joy and pain so profound that it is often unbearable. To love, to be loved, to be mistaken--we need authors like Anne Perry to remind us of the beauty and power and importance of these things.
In bygone days, these themes would have been passed down by church and family and the education system. None of these old structures is what it was. Our lessons must reach us in ways that ensure they get learned. What better , then, than a series by a best-selling author that holds a mirror before us even as it tells a gripping tale. We can't look away, and even as we see the characters, we are also seeing ourselves. Honest, courageous, and unforgettable.

[Mary Ellen · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you are an Anne Perry fan, then probably you'll enjoy this series, since the things that bugged me about it the most were characteristic of one of her other books (from the series with a husband and wife, IIRC). I know there are many Anne Perry fans out there, so maybe it is just me.

However, I think this book would have to try the patience of even her stalwart fans. She was running out of steam, running out of plot, running out of things to say in general, but, alas, not running out of pages. This series could have been much better. Suggestions for improvement:

1. Make it a trilogy, not a pentalogy (learned that word for this review!). Resist the idea that you need a book for every year of the war. Alas, one year in the trenches was, horrifyingly, pretty much like all the others.

2. Develop the Master Conspiracy ["Peacemaker") plotline fully and first. It is (or should have been) the glue holding the books together. Make sure your readers actually know who the bad guy is when they get to the Big Reveal (which in this book is more like the Big Yawn).

3. Hire an editor who is not awed by your capacity to sell loads & loads of books.

4. Choose a less whiny main character who actually has different thoughts over time and who is not a sanctimonious bore. (Yes, I'm talking about you, Joseph Reavley!)

5. If people are supposed to be investigating a murder, or a series of murders, have them do something that actually leads to its solution, at least once in a while, rather than relying, over and over, on the lucky chance to bring the solution to light.

6. Read Wilson's Fourteen Points to avoid confusing his position with the French position at Versailles... especially before you write a book in which you make reference to Wilson's position, inaccurately, about a half-dozen times.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent ending to a great series. Beyond the murder mystery and the rich details of the period, and even beyond the great conflict created in the series, Anne Perry does a fantastic job of asking spiritual questions and providing gentle, potential answers. I was impressed throughout the books with the characters' very believable lack of faith in a God who would allow World War I to happen. It made me think about the events in my life that make me question if God is watching over me. Like the main characters, in whose minds we see this wrangling as well as the eventual solutions, I found myself seeing answers in small things and extending my faith where I had not thought to do so before and in doing so, finding peace, belief, and understanding.

The final redemptive act of the book takes place over the dead body of an innocent woman, killed because she was thought to be guilty, and Joseph must extend "redemption" to the people, but he can't. His speech that it takes time and effort to work through redemption for ourselves, but when we do God is on the other side waiting for us was a very personal and thought provoking moment for me as a reader. I know that God forgives. I know that He loves me. But I have to forgive myself in so many things to fully accept what the Atonement immediately provides. Anne Perry's novels are steps in understanding that path.

[Renny · Rating 5 out of 5]

We Shall Not Sleep (WWI Book#5)

The last book of this series is totally absorbing. As well as a dramatic story of a family stretched by tragedy, in fact, the scope of the entire series dives deeply into the depths and heights of the human condition with a history of the very real pain, as well as joy, interwoven into considerations of what makes us worth saving plus what drags our whole race into the mud.

[Marian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hesitate to judge, because it was the first book I've read by this author, and the last one in a series, BUT...I thought it was tedious and preachy. I know that's not fair of me. I picked it at random off the library shelf.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Set largely against the infinitely depressing backdrop of the trenches in the final weeks and days of WWI, this has a plot comprising, essentially, two detective mysteries and a thriller.

The first mystery is the savage murder -- sexually assaulted with a bayonet -- of one of the nurses at the particular frontline medical post that's the focus of the action. It becomes clear that the investigating cops (first a pair of civilian cops, then a pair of military ones) aren't hugely interested in making sure they have the right man, just in having a plausible suspect they can take away and hang so everyone can get on with their lives. Their first suspect is Matthew Reavley, a running character in Perry's series of WWI books, of which this is the last. Matthew is an Intelligence officer who has just arrived at the post (see below); his brother Joseph is the chaplain here and his sister Judith an ambulance driver. The three have been involved in solving mysteries before . . .

. . . and in the hunt for the identity of the Peacemaker, a hunt that I gather has continued since the start of the series. The Peacemaker predicted the horrors of WWI, and was determined to forestall them, even though that would mean selling out Britain to Germany so that the combined Anglo-German Empire could then go on to bring much of the rest of the world to heel. A few years before the outbreak of hostilities, Reavley pere discovered the treaty the Peacemaker wanted Edward VII to sign -- a treaty that would see the UK sold out from under the feet of the Brits -- and stole it, soon being murdered for his pains by the Peacemaker's thugs. There have been lots of Peacemaker-ordered murders since then, including many friends and loved ones of the Reavleys.

But now the Peacemaker's German counterpart has offered to deliver himself up to UK Intelligence and publicly reveal the Peacemaker's identity and treasonous plans. Intelligence officer Matthew is the one who gets the message, and he arranges for the German, von Schenckendorff, to come through the lines via the medical post where Joseph and Judith are working. Of course, this is all terribly hush hush, so Matthew, on being arrested for the murder of the nurse, can't explain why he's here at all. When proof is given that in fact he couldn't be the killer, the cops next pick up von Schenckendorff on suspicion . . . and again they can't be told why it's important they release him.

Finally the murder is solved. Alas, for me at least, the solution was a bit of a damp squib, relying on a twist that (to be fair) might well have been out of left field in 1918 but seemed a bit obvious to this 21st-century reader. By then we've been told the identity of the Peacemaker, and unfortunately for me that was a bit of a damp squib too: it might well have had more of an impact had I read the earlier novels in the series, but I hadn't. (There's nothing on the outside of this edition of the book to tell us it can't be read as a standalone. Hmmf.)

That leaves the adventure part, which involves the Hitchcockian madcap dash of our heroes with von Schenckendorff across war-torn Europe to try to gain an audience in London with Prime Minister Lloyd George. There's an outrageous coincidence and one piece of strange plotting. (One of the bad guys rescues our heroes from a Belgian lynch mob, then promptly readies to kill them himself. Why not just leave them to the lynch mob?) The finale, in which Lloyd George dishes out dispensations an' edicts an' stuff like the Great High Lord at the end of some epic fantasy trilogy, saw my suspended disbelief come crashing to the ground: Go forth, now, Frodo . . . er, Joseph . . . for thy work in these climes is done . . .

So far as my limited knowledge goes, the depiction of daily existence at the WWI frontline is authentic in its misery and horror, and it certainly inspired in me the requisite sense of claustrophobic paranoia. That's a big plus to take from this book. And the literariness of Perry's writing was refreshing -- even though sometimes it spills over into the dialogue, to deleterious effect. Overall, however, I felt the story itself let everything else down.

[Roman Clodia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally Perry's WW1 quintet of novels is brought to its emotional ending, but though I think these are hugely under-rated books, I was slightly disappointed with this book.

It's October 1918 on the Western Front and though the war is finally drawing towards an inevitable armistice, the violence and despair continues. In the midst of the carnage of Ypres a nurse is raped with a bayonet and horrifically mutilated before being left to die, and Joseph Reavley has to find her killer. Ideally it would be one of the surrendered German prisoners but he fears that the war has left its moral mark on the psyches of the men who have been taught and encouraged to kill, and he can't escape the idea that the rapist/murderer might be a man with whom he has shared the incomparable intimacy of the trenches for four long years.

At the same time Joseph's brother Matthew, an Intelligence officer, is finally drawing close to the man they have dubbed the Peacemaker, the man whose manipulations to prevent/stop the war have tipped him over into a monomania which has led him to murder and to become a traitor to his own country. Matthew himself is sent, for the first time, to the trenches of France and he too is drawn into the hunt for the rapist.

Perry does a fine job of making the rape a central part of the message of her book, making it a part of her statement and exploration of war, rather than an incident which happens against a simple backdrop of war. But though her evocations of the front line are superb, this is an oddly uneven book I felt, that stops and stalls rather than flowing from beginning to end.

The whole rape story is rather coyly handled, and the motivation left rather oblique (it was also fairly easy to guess the outcome quite a long way before Joseph). The uncovering of the Peacemaker too which has haunted the last four books before this felt like an anticlimax, and the ends were all tied up a little too neatly at the end.

Having said that, I think this is an emotional addition to WW1 fiction - perhaps a little too weighted by hindsight and a little too much sentimentality over the `lower classes', but still well worth reading. The heart is there but the execution falters slightly in comparison with the last novel, but that's still a small fault overall.

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Usually Anne writes Victorian mysteries such as her William Monk and Thomas and Charlotte Pitt novels, but in her We Shall Not Weep, a World War One novel, is the final book in this epic series featuring the heroic Reavley family. After four long years, peace is finally in sight. But, chaplain Joseph Reavley and his sister Judith, an ambulance driver on the Western Front, are more had pressed than ever. Behind the lines., violence is increasing: Soldiers are abusing German prisoners, a nurse has been raped and murdered, and the sinister ideologue called the Peacemaker now threatens to undermined the peace just as he did the war. Matthew, the third Reavley sibling and a intelligence expert, suddenly arrives at the front line with startling news. The Peacemaker's German counterpart has offered to go to England and expose his co-conspirator as a traitor. This journey will fraught with hazards, especially since the Peacemaker has secret informers everywhere. A good read about the atrocities of war and the courage to fight for right.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is the final weeks of the war: Judith and Joseph are still at the front, and Matthew is in London continuing his work with Secret Intelligence. One evening, late, Matthew has a visitor to his flat delivering a message that there is someone willing to cross the lines and come to England to help them expose the one they've called the Peacemaker. Matthew decides to take his word and proceeds up to the front (reuniting with Judith and Joseph) to then connect with Colonel Schenckendorff and make their way back to London before the Armistice. Of course, nothing is as simple as that.
A fitting conclusion to the series. More than one storyline developed through the series is wrapped up here. It would be interesting to review the other books now that I know the outcome to see how it was developed along the way. I will definitely go on and read other books by this author as I so thoroughly enjoyed these.

[Jan Mazzulla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anne Perry is not an author I usually read. That said, I have mowed my way through her First World War Series. One thing that can be said for Anne Perry is that her language in impeccable. You really feel the authenticity of her characters' voices, from the lowliest of farm workers to the most exalted in the realm. Is this series without fault? Not by any means, there are a few loud clunkers, but anyone who has done as much research as Ms. Perry and had been able to produce 5 superb books all featuring the same characters is to be commended. I highly recommend the entire series and wish that Ms. Perry would revisit the First World War with another family and another devilishly complex delightfully fascinating series.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent, satisfying ending to this five-part series. At first it seems that a crime on the front lines of WWI is just a distraction to keep up the action and suspense, but Perry masterfully makes it part of the larger story. The twists and turns and danger last just long enough; the winding-up occurs at exactly the right pace (when it so easily could have been rushed). Perry gets better and better--and she was so good to start!

[Leioa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esta última novela de la serie me ha gustado mucho, creo que reúne en una sola novela todas las facetas que me han gustado de la serie completa. Por un lado, volvemos a las trincheras y, en esta ocasión, conocemos un poco mejor la parte sanitaria, ya que la trama se inicia con el brutal asesinato de una enfermera. Por el otro, la novela cierra definitivamente la trama de espionaje que comenzó con el asesinato de los padres de los Reavley. En conjunto, me ha parecido una novela muy entretenida y llena de giros, he llegado a dudar incluso de personajes que, desde la primera novela, consideraba "buenos". En resumen, me ha gustado mucho, y la serie ha sido un gran descubrimiento. Nota: 8/10.

[Laura Edwards · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm not backing off what I stated in an earlier review. Judith ended up with Mason, so this book receives only 1 star. If a person had decent, loving parents like the Reavley's, the romance and thus the ending are completely implausible. If a man had a hand in the scheme resulting in the deaths of a person's parents (Richard Mason was one of the Peacemaker's most trusted underlings throughout the entire series. And he's unbelievably naïve if he never suspected the Peacemaker used violence to get his way. Heavy emphasis on unbelievably), I will agree extending forgiveness is a plausible and laudable act, but I have a hard time believing that person would then fall in love with and marry the man, forsaking family and country to go into exile with him. Completely ridiculous and implausible!

And the identity of the Peacemaker was anti-climatic. We never really got to know the character of Sandwell, so I hardly cared that it was him. Much more gut-wrenching would have been Shanley Corcoran (whom I suspected at first until he was arrested in a different plot) or even Aidan Thyer, the master at St. John's, whom Joseph trusted and respected. Who cares that it was Sandwell? Hardly a loss. And the fact so much of the book focused on the Peacemaker made it less enjoyable.

Poor Lizzie suffered so much in this book, too. The pain and humiliation of rape. Then, she ended up killing the Peacemaker's man while returning to England, suffering further mental anguish. On to the subject of the murder case and the other rape in the book. I had a problem with it throughout. With the type of vicious assault poor Sarah endured, wouldn't she be screaming at the top of her lungs with a most inhuman cry? Why didn't anyone hear her? Unbelievable!!

Also, the part where Matthew decided to take Mason into his confidence makes him look incredibly stupid. After all his care over the past four years, the first person outside his family he dares to trust is one of the men closest to his enemy. Oh, but who cares! Mason is in love with Judith! What rot!

Only a token appearance by Hannah at the end of the book. Why bother? The one saving grace to this book? Joseph did not turn his back on Lizzie, though I never thought he would. Loved the scene after Monique died and he pondered all his feelings and heartbreak with poignancy and he also realized blaming the baby Lizzie carried would be unjust.

A very disappointing end to an otherwise good series.

[Mark Adkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the fifth and final book of the World War One series by Anne Perry. I was a bit disappointed with this book. I think my disappointment with the book has to do more with how the series ends and not with the actual book. If you have been reading the series you know that while each book has it's own mystery there is an overarching mystery throughout the series involving the mysterious Peacemaker and his goals. It was the conclusion to this story plot that I felt the book let me down.

Spoilers
Here I will talk about things in the book that I had issues with:

- At the end of the book Judith falls in love with Mason and plans to leave England to be with him in the United States. Now Mason worked for the Peacemaker, the man that was responsible for her parents death and caused so much misery. I just did not find it plausible that she could forgive hime that easily and give up everything to be with him.
- The identity of the Peacemaker was revealed and it was really anti-climatic, the Peacemaker turned out to be Sandwell. Unfortunately Sandwell was not developed at all in this series so you have no real knowledge of him and this meant that you don't really have any emotional stake in him so him being the big bad enemy meant was not shocking.
- On the way to England they come upon a bunch of locals taking revenge on a women that they suspect had been collaborating with the Germans. Now these things happened in real life but the way the author fit it in to the story just made me think think that the Author had a checklist of things that happened in World War One and she had to fit them in. Then to make the women being Monique, a French resistance fighter that Joseph had met in a previous book was just too unbelievable.

Now I still liked the book and do recommend it (and the series in general) and I think that it is because i liked the series so much that I felt disappointed with how the series ended, I thought the author could have done better.

[Felicity · Rating 2 out of 5]

This series has been disappointing for me in general. We Shall Not Sleep shares some of the small, consistent flaws of the whole -- overuse of the same details to establish place and atmosphere, overwrought characters -- but has some others as well.

This book takes place at the end of World War I, and I found various characters' extreme prescience hard to credit -- their easy predictions about the European economy and the probability of Germany becoming belligerent again struck me as anachronistically accurate. There's also a sort of plot discontinuity at one point where one character is cleared of suspicion and another is elevated to prime suspect all at once, in summary rather than in scene. It's never made clear why this one character, out of a group of men with similar characteristics and a shared alibi, is considered the obvious culprit (besides that it drives the plot).

The end struck me as discordant with the values of the whole, and I was left with the impression that the peace talks were going to be hunky-dory -- no sense of the punitive sanctions that would in fact burden and embitter Germany and set the stage for Hitler's rise to power.

The book contains a decent mystery and was interesting enough to finish -- especially after having invested time in the whole series -- but I really don't recommend it or this series. If you want a good historical mystery, pick up the author's Pitt or Monk books.

[Alys · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am sorry to say good-bye to the series, but I shall probably never say good-bye to the characters. Yes, I know she returns to observations and themes that first appeared in the Cater Street Hangman but now with decades of ever deepening understanding of some of the deepest aspects of human life and decision making these books psychological thrillers. The tension did not let up till the very last page. There is her supreme talent, to build a sweeping vision out of the bits and pieces in everyday brutal realities. I don't want to retell the story, instead I will simply remark that there is something heartbreakingly lovely in ordinary common decency against the background of Ypres on the way back to Germany. Perry's use of landscape rewrites 'light in the darkness', but also unflinchingly darkness in the light.

Finally, I shan't be able to re-read these books for years. They are etched into my own memory. Given the number of books, and range of subjects I tend to blur the odd mystery series into a harmonious but erroneous whole. With these, I find myself re-reading vigorously to straighten out what happened, when and who by. Not because I'm trying to solve the mystery, but because she makes us believe in real people, and to want to understand what is going on in their heads and hearts.

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last in the series about the Reaveley family. This one brings Judith, Matthew, and Joseph together in one place as the World War draws to a close. The war's end is only months a way and German soldiers are crossing the lines and surrendering. Violence towards them is erupting as soldiers, suffering loss and privation, let go and seek revenge. Joseph has refused promotion so he can remain with his men.

Matthew receives word that a German officer, the German counterpart of the Peacemaker, is going to surrender and travel to London to give evidence to the Prime Minister. So Matthew ends up in the same station as Judith and Joseph. The officer appears but before they can leave, a brutal crime happens. A nurse is killed and mutilated and left for dead in a pile of medical waste. She's violated with a bayonet and left out as garbage.

The three siblings race to solve the mystery, all are suspect even their friends.

A good book, drawing the series to a satisfactory close. Some things may be implausible but after so many pages, words, and events, it's satisfying to have it all tied up, if not in a bow, with hope!

[Correen · Rating 4 out of 5]

From her WWI series, this book solves the question of the mastermind behind a plot to dominate the world on the pretext of stopping all war. The question was at what price could the world be free of war? Was the plot to end war really about peace, power, or just a cessation of killing? Other questions that arise throughout this series include: Would a God allow the horrors of war? Can love remain intact following the horrors of wartime experience? How can men and women who lived through the battles adjust to everyday life again? How can society rebuild when a sizable percentage of their youth and talent is gone?

I liked this book even though I listened to it with faulty information that my computer read on the CDs. That was challenging but the story came through in spite of a jumble.

[Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I began reading this Anne Perry series, I was intrigued by the author's premise and enjoyed the characters she had created. However as I completed each of the five volumes, I became increasingly frustrated and annoyed. I persisted only because I wanted to know the identity of the Peacemaker. The author's penchant for creating unbelievable crises to impede the search for the Peacemaker and her willingness to throw a sequence of deux ex machina into her plots to either resolve or complicate the crises became almost unbearably irritating. At bottom she was too lazy to stay the course with her original story line.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah, I've at last come to the final book of Anne Perry's World War I series. We come to know who the Peacemaker is. We solve some concomittant horrific crimes close to the battlefield! Hate to say goodbye!

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't think any of these books were very good and this was the worst. It seemed like she ran out of time and energy and just finished it up quick and lazy.

[Susie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story. As usual she has written a good twisted tale. I even had trouble figuring out who did it.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished the final book (CD) in the 5 book series. I thoroughly enjoyed it, although the descriptions of the war were difficult to listen to. Fascinating history imbedded in this series.

[Vida · Rating 4 out of 5]

WWI brought about so many changes, some good some not so good. In this final installment of Anne Perry’s WWI series we once again see the horror of war and feel a sense of futility and despair it brought about and the depravity it can lead to. Another murder for a reason most consider frivolous, though not to the perpetrator. Now everyone must work to find the guilty party so the “Peacemaker” can be exposed. We finally know who but will he be unmasked.
Along with the disallusion the war brings there is a resolution that knowing things have changed brings to the main characters. To look down the road, knowing what the reader knows, would they say it was worth it. Each has their hope for the future and has to move forward as best they can.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Previous book in the series was wonderful. This one could have been a novella.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed views on this series. It's a historically-based fiction/mystery based in World War One England. The weakest parts of the stories are the mysteries, so if you are reading for a good mystery, this is not the place to come. The historical context is good, but the focus on the mystery takes a bit away from it. I learned a lot on British POV of WW1, but I didn't really get immersed into the time period like really good historical novels will cause me to do. Everything that is said and done feels very modern. So I wouldn't recommend it as a great place to go for a historical fiction novel.

The odd thing that I really did like was the more faith-based writing. It was surprising, but in researching the author, I found out she was converted to the LDS church after being convicted of murder at the age of 16. (Look her up, this is a fascinating part of her...) Her main character in this series is initially a Bible Language scholar at Cambridge, who later becomes an army chaplain. How he ponders and addresses the presence of God and faith in such a terrible context (the western front of WW1) is fascinating. Perry is by no means heavy handed with her approach, and she avoids the platitudes so many people use to explain God's role in hard times. In fact, I was surprised that Perry considers herself a part of any Christian faith based on her characters' responses. This made the books very true and more interesting than the story and writing alone did.

My overall verdict is that the books are readable and enjoyable. But I have much more time on my hands to read than most people. So if your time is limited, and your to-read list is long, go ahead and skip this series.

[Susan Kirk · Rating 4 out of 5]

We Shall Not Sleep (WWI, # 5) concludes the 5-book series about World War One, giving us a glimpse of the end of the war and the Reavley family's future. I loved the way Perry took a family of four children, removed their parents, and showed multiple aspects of the war through the lives of those four. Joseph Reavley is a chaplin at the front, Judith is an ambulance drive, Matthew is in the intelligence service, and Hannah is at home watching her children and awaiting the return of her naval officer husband.

Each book in the series had a mystery and all five books continued a mystery about the Peacemaker, a anonymous meddler who wanted peace at a terrible cost to the honor of the British. Finding his identity is a suspenseful part of each book in the series. The first book begins just before war is declared, the middle three books take place during the war, and the last book ends the war.

I enjoyed the entire series, but it became a bit long through the middle. How many times can one read about rats, mud, trenches, and the stench of dead bodies? Those descriptions are repeated throughout. I think the series could have been done in fewer books. However, the total futility and the loss of life in this war are dramatically described over and over. And when the war ends, an entire generation of young men and old is gone. To think we were stupid enough to let this all happen again because of the treaty terms is beyond understanding.

[Paola F. · Rating 4 out of 5]

El quinto y último libro de esta saga, me gusto bastante... en general todos me gustaron, pero este al ser el que terminaba la historia de los hermanos Reavley y se descubría al personaje que estaba detrás de todo el complot, tenia el plus que los demás no tenían.
Al igual que los otros cuatro libros, empieza lentamente a situarte en el contexto histórico y físico de los personajes y después la historia fluye rápidamente y te deja sin querer despegarte del libro.
Recomendada toda la saga.

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

With a sinister "Peacemaker" threatening the world even as WWI ends, the three Reavley siblings (a chaplain, an ambulance driver, and an intelligence officer) combine forces to deliver a high ranking German officer but are waylaid by a murder near the front lines at Ypres--a murder gruesome even to those accustomed to the wholesale slaughter of trench warfare. Their personal lives are inextricably bound into the plot and the subplot. Throughout the novel there is much beautifully written philosophizing about war and its devastation on the body and on the spirit of soldiers and civilians, but my favorite, prophetic lines come from the German officer: "Great men use power as little of possible. It takes supreme humility to allow others to disagree and to make their own mistakes. The right to be wrong is worth dying to protect, because without it all our virtues are empty. What we have not paid for slips through our fingers, because we do not value it enough to do what is necessary to keep it" (page 512 --large print version of novel).

[Janet Mahlum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book, very good writing. Spies, rape, murder and a race to uncover the villain before the war ends. I completely missed the murderer. But, once revealed and thinking back on what I had read, I realized it should have been obvious. I was as guilty of snap judgment as the investigators. Once again Anne Perry's depth of understanding amazed me. A favorite quote from the book: "No matter how much you loved someone, you could not alter who you were in order to be comfortable with them. If you loved the right person, it should make you stronger, braver, gentler, perhaps eventually wiser. It should never make you deny your intelligence or forsake your integrity. What were you worth if you would do that?" I have read only the last two of the four-part series. I found each book to be a stand alone.