Hold Fast

Thomas Grey #1

by J.H. Gelernter

It’s 1803. The Napoleonic Wars are raging, Britain is on her heels, and His Majesty’s Secret Service has just lost its best agent, Thomas Grey. Deeply depressed by his wife’s untimely death, Grey resigns from the service and accepts an offer to join a lumber firm in Boston. But when a sea battle with a privateer forces the ship carrying him west to make port in neutral Portugal, Grey is approached with a counteroffer: become a wealthy man by selling out Britain’s spy network to France. The French take Grey for a disgruntled ex–naval officer, blithely unaware that Grey had lost his wife to an unlucky shot from a French cannon.

Now, after many years serving King and Country, Grey seizes the opportunity to fight a covert war of his own. He travels to Paris, and—playing the part of the invaluable turncoat the French believe him to be—proceeds to infiltrate the highest levels of Napoleon’s government. If he can outwit his handlers, outmatch his French counterparts, and outrun Napoleon’s secret police, Grey may just avenge his wife’s death and turn the tide of war in England’s favor. Bursting with action and intrigue, Hold Fast sends readers headlong into an unrelenting spy thriller.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Espionage, Adventure, Historical, Suspense, Thriller

256 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2013

About the author

J. H. Gelernter lives in Connecticut. He is the author of the Captain Grey novels, Hold Fast, Captain Grey's Gambit, and The Montevideo Brief.

Reviews

[Seth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though listing both Patrick O'Brian and Ian Flemming as influences this is more Bond than Aubrey, and might have been better if it had leaned even further in that direction. The action is decent, the setting interesting (and no big inconsistencies jumped up to detract from the story), and Grey is cut from the entertaining 007 cloth. Grey can fight, drink, gamble and woo with the best of them, though perhaps is a bit too good to be true (but since he is fictional that seems OK). The supporting cast is weak, led as it is by his dead wife who is present in flashbacks, and was essentially fridged off-screen before the novel opens to provide Grey some emotional complexity and vengeful motivation. The only other female with much of a speaking role exits immediately after declaring she'd no longer sleep with Grey. The object of Grey's hate is a Frenchman who turns out not to be terribly evil or terribly interesting, and would have been better as a full-on, cat-stroking Bond villain. It's a fairly slim, fast-moving book and the pace is something the author gets right, keeping things moving.

[Ineffable7980x · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine a historical novel about the war between the UK and Napoleon, and then insert Jason Bourne into it, less his high tech gadgets. That's essentially what this book is. It's a wonderful, refreshing entertainment. Preposterous in parts, moving in others, and chock full of interesting historical detail. This is the first book in a series, only two of which have so far been published. I am eager to start the second book, and anticipate future books as well. I enjoyed it that much.

Recommended.

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A desperate sea battle; a fortune risked on the turn of a card; a duel at the down with the loser...Patrick O'Brian meets James Bond

Sounds like it might be good, I thought...and it was. However, to enjoy this book, you have to suspend belief and go with it. Some of the antics that our main character, Thomas Grey, a special agent of His Majesty's Secret Service, finds himself in are just not reasonable. IMO.

Grey loses his wife during an act of war and finds himself deep in melancholy. He decides he is unable to continue his service and books a ship to America to join a cousin in business. He never makes it off the Continent and finds himself accepting an offer to spy on his King. Grey accepts the offer, but only to do the deed and report back to his King.

Napoleon is crushing Europe, and he desires the British Isles. There are plans for an invasion, and Grey has 2 things he needs to do. Find those plans and halt Napoleon, AND find and kill the captain of the French Ship who killed his wife.

This was a debut, and I am hopeful that Gelernter will learn from mistakes and continue to write a series on Captain Grey. He is a great character, with loads of potential. The author just needs to tone it down a bit. Superman, Grey is not!

Points to the author because I never once thought about DNF, I needed to follow Grey to the end. I am glad I did and will more than likely pick up book 2

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Wow!Wow! Every once in a while I read a book that I know will take the book world by storm and , like here, will be the first of a great series. Hold Fast is historical fiction at its finest-well written, complex( but not too complex) , great characters and a real sense of history without being heavy handed. Obviously, an homage to O’Brian and Fleming ( the author says so in his afterword), it just great. If you like historical fiction that will thrill you , this is the book for you. Can’t wait to read the next one.!

[Miles Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the sort of simple and easy and enjoyable novel I wish more people wort. Was it a transcendent piece of literature? Probably not but the history was good, the narrative moved along well, and it was simple good fun.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was going to be nautical and after reading the first few chapters we were headed to Boston. Wrong. Some serious course changes just like life. Despondent over the death of his soulmate, Captain Thomas Grey formerly of the Royal Marines and now in Her Majesty’s Secret Service tenders his resignation and heads off to Boston to start a new life. A truce ends and war starts. The French and the Irish get in the way. Body count. Gambling. Snooping. Tactics, cutting edge technology, and audacity that rivals a modern spy thriller. It’s James Bond circa the Napoleonic Wars.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was the perfect summer read. It had a wonderful plot, plenty of action without being heavy handed and kept my attention. Bravo!

[John McKenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hold Fast opens in England, in the year of our Lord, 1803 . . . a time when diplomacy is failing and war appears to be imminent between historic enemies Britain and France. Nevertheless, Captain Thomas Grey of the British Royal Marines tenders his resignation. He wants to accept a job in America and leave his career in naval intelligence, where he was the head of station in Malta and spied upon the Barbary pirates, who were wrecking havoc on merchant ships of all nations. But, as his ship returned to England from North Africa, it was attacked by a French warship and his wife, who was traveling with him, is killed. A year later, mourning and depressed, Grey finally decides to head for Boston and start his new life. Fate intercedes again however, and war is declared between the two old antagonists shortly after the vessel sets sail, and it too comes under fire from a French warship. It’s repulsed with the assistance of Grey, who’s lost none of his fighting skills with sword, rifle or pistol.
They put into port at Oporto, Portugal for repairs and the formation of a convoy for a safer voyage across the Atlantic. A couple of days later, while waiting in town, Grey is approached by an Irishman named Branson, who works for the French Intelligence Services as a recruiter. He assumes that Grey is disillusioned with his country, and offers a large sum of money for information. Grey agrees—not because he’s a turncoat—but because he sees an opportunity to help the English war effort and extract some revenge from an old enemy at the same time.
And so begins a rousing action-adventure tale, full of fighting, suspense, revenge, treachery and heroism, as well as some actual history. This novel will educate at the same time it entertains the reader and leave everyone looking forward to the next adventure of valiant Captain Thomas Grey!

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hold Fast is a historical fiction taking place in 1803 that kicks off with naval warfare and has a James Bond/Jason Bourne protagonist, Thomas Grey. I love the concept, especially tying in some historical accuracy. I had picked this book up as a suggestion, and was not disappointed.

I thoroughly appreciate the amount and pacing of Grey’s backstory. I think this book provided just enough to really understand the character without drowning the reader in pages of minutia.

I’m definitely going to pick up the next book in this series.

https://astrogeek.wixsite.com/localgr...

[Kate Shapiro · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm typically not a huge fan of dudes running around with swords stabbing one another and engaging in naval warfare. It's the kind of thing I typically zone out to, but not in Hold Fast. Thomas Grey was charming, the action scenes were well written (I astounded myself by following what was going on the deck of a ship while knowing exactly zero boating terms), and the thrilling plot made it so I couldn't put it down. I particularly enjoyed the more historical aspects of the book. I found myself learning a lot from the book, including how champagne is made. I hope to read more of Thomas Grey's story and hope for more kissing in the next book!

[Camellia Blue · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

I inherited an appetite for historical adventure fiction from my grandfather, and so picked up this first in a projected new series about a British naval intelligence officer during the Napoleonic era. Somewhat surprisingly we meet our hero, Thomas Grey, as he's tendering his resignation, selling his farm, and emigrating to Boston to start a new life, following the death of his wife. However, it doesn't take long for his plans to run awry, as his ship to America comes under French attack and he is forced ashore in Porto. Soon enough, he is knee-deep in Irish freedom fighters, and French machinations, and on a self-appointed mission to disrupt the perfidious Frenchies.

From the hand-to-hand fighting at sea, drama at the card table, 18th-century undercover ops, breaking into a heavily guarded secret building, bedding a pretty woman, and various fun gadgets, including a real-life Austrian air rifle, the book is a very fun time. Throughout, I also couldn't help but feel like it was a direct reimagining of James Bond via Bernard Cornwell's "Sharpe" series. Our hero can take a lot of damage (not to mention torture) while always keeping a witty tongue about him, and coming out on top. And while he's definitely got a warmer heart than Bond, he carries much of the same ambivalence about the job -- and whether or not there's any point to it. So I was not surprised to read in the afterword that the author very directly cites the Sharpe and Bond series as inspirations, along with Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey-Maturin series. Highly recommended for fans of any of those series.

[Sherry Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hold Fast had me spellbound and captivated through out the whole book! It’s with Agent Thomas losing his wife and he is devastated. His life has been turned upside down! I loved the characters and the historical storyline of the book. Very very good!!!

[Marshall Snyder · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun read - a Napoleonic James Bond!

[Kathleen Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yowsa! This is a swashbuckling historical thriller that adds a terrific hero to the canon. It's 1803 and Captain Thomas Gray's wife was killed when the ship they were sailing on was attacked by a French ship a year earlier. He's meant to go to Boston to work but finds himself caught up once again in the British-French conflict. He's once again on ship attacked by the French but this time he finds himself in Portugal where a French- Irish group tries to recruit him to work against the Crown. This leads him to penetrate the Napoleanic government. But wait, beyond the serious history (and some cameos from real people), he's gambling, dueling, and sailing. It's complex (but not too much so) and highly entertaining in a way I honestly didn't expect. The storytelling pulls you in and the writing pulls you along. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. For fans of historical fiction.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping for a James Bond or Dirk Pitt type thriller and that's not what I got. I was excited about the historical setting but it's not fully realized. The characters are have no arcs and are mostly one dimensional. The most disappointing thing about this novel was the villain. There are so many more adventure novels to read, you can just pass this one up.

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ein rasanter Abenteuerroman. Für meinen Geschmack ist das Tempo sogar etwas zu schnell und die Aneinanderreihung an Zufällen, aus denen die Geschichte entspringt sorgen für ordentlich Spannung, lassen mich allerdings an der Glaubwürdigkeit zweifeln.

Alles in allem aber ein spannender kurzweiliger historischer Seefahrtsroman.
James Bond trifft Patrick O'Brian trifft es wirklich ziemlich gut.

[Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love fiction set in the Napoleonic Wars, so I was intrigued when Hold Fast drifted across my reading list. As a fan of the Hornblower saga, I love the naval battles and maneuvers. With Captain Thomas Grey as the protagonist, I thought Hold Fast would be written in the same vein, but Grey is a spy rather than a sailor, and most of the action takes place on land.

Overall, the book wasn't bad. The plot moves steadily along, and Grey's motivations and changes of heart make sense in context. I do have some quibbles, however. (Spoilers ahead)

1) Missing antagonist. Grey bluffs his way to Paris with the goal of finding and killing the captain whose naval engagement killed his wife. This turns out to be one Captain d'Aumont... who is a genuinely decent and honorable man. Grey guiles his way into d'Aumont's society and eventually ends up as a guest in d'Aumont's home. While he is there, he discovers that Napoleon plans to invade England, and getting his hands on the plans from d'Aumont takes precedence over revenge. So Grey is set against d'Aumont (and effectively all of France) from that point on. But there is no personal force opposing him. He runs through a string of encounters trying to steal the plans and escape back to England, but these are set against a long string of effectively faceless flunkies.

2) Missing climax. The third act of the novel sees Gray rushing through a series of encounters - escape prison, break into the Military headquarters to steal Napoleon's plans, sneak into d'Aumont's home to complete his revenge, escape from Paris, buy passage on a wine-smuggling skiff, and outwit the French blockade. None of these moments has any higher stakes than the others, there is no antagonist to confront, no change or growth needed on Grey's part. It's just a string of adventures.

Gelernter wraps up the conflict with d'Aumont with, effectively, a deus ex machina. The readers recognize that d'Aumont is a decent person and revenge would be hollow. But Grey pursues it until he's cornered d'Aumont in his own apartment, ready to kill him. At that point, he finally realizes that he can't kill d'Aumont in cold blood and is prepared to let him go. But d'Aumont attacks Grey and is killed in the ensuing struggle. Grey gets his revenge with a clear conscience, but the reader gets the disappointment of a plot point tied up too simplisticly.

3) Missing physical realism. Injuries to various characters (particularly Grey) are always severe enough to move the plot in the desired direction, with no eye toward accuracy. As the most egregious example, Grey disarms Captain d'Aumont and tries to force him to open his safe. d'Aumont manages to stab Grey in the stomach with a cigar knife, and Grey more or less instantly passes out. Despite (apparently) losing so much blood that he faints and is unconscious for most of the next few days, Grey recovers enough upon waking up to survive torture and escape from prison, at which point he is able to engage in strenuous physical activity immediately.

Violence: R
Sexuality: PG
Language: PG=13

[Lissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be honest, I was mostly swayed by the cover when I picked up this book. I ended up enjoying the story, but I didn't love it.

This is the author's first published book, so I try to give a little leeway when it's a debut.

I liked the character of Thomas Grey...to an extent. He was an interesting character, although he was too powered up to be believable. The man appears to have no faults at all, unless you count the tendré he has for his dead wife, Paulette. He can speak French like a native (to the point that he fools actual native Frenchmen regularly...hmmm), he can gamble (and win), he can fight with a variety of weapons (both designed and improvised), he can break into highly guarded buildings, he can woo women, &c, &c.

That isn't to say that I don't like overpowered characters at times. I enjoy Uhtred and Finan immensely in The Saxon Series by Bernard Cornwell, and I don't think anyone can reliably argue that they aren't overpowered. But Uhtred and Finan have flaws and rough parts of their characters that make them feel more genuine to me, and Thomas Grey is lacking that.

And I really don't like how women are treated in this book. Another reviewer (well, at least one) mentioned that the women are either portrayed as Madonnas or whores, and that is true. Paulette is perfect and saccharine, having absolutely no personality whatsoever. And d'Aubert's sister is treated as a whore, and one who must confess her sins to a priest after their hookup. None of the female characters (which are literally two, and one is dead) are realistic or fleshed out in any way.

Not that Thomas Grey is particularly fleshed out, either. The characters are all two-dimensional. And I have no idea why d'Aubert's sister, whose name I still cannot recall, that is how two-dimensional she was, was interested in Grey. He really didn't do much to entice her into bed, certainly. And the way he treated her afterwards, in both action and his thoughts, was kind of gross. He makes a point to tell himself that he hates bandying her name about to her brother, but he definitely does it with a little too relish to make that believable. And he also dismisses her and her feelings more than once in his thoughts. He's pretty much like "oh well, I've used her for what I want, into the rubbish she goes." And that made me like the main character less.

The character I liked most was Captain Jean-Anne d'Aubert, and I was actually sad when he died, because I thought him the best of them all.

The pacing felt off to me. I enjoyed the first two-thirds of the book (the build-up) much more than I did the last third of the book (when most of the action took place).

But I loved the historical setting, and I will most likely pick up the second book in the series just to see if the points I mentioned above improve.

[Tori · Rating 2 out of 5]

Minor spoilers ahead:

I picked this up for the beautiful cover and admit to being disappointed over the lack of naval setting. But ultimately it was the characters who let this story keep from reaching any potential. Grey's motivations don't convince me. He's depressed because his wife is dead (happens before the story starts so we don't know her). He wants to quit espionage and go to the States. But on the way he discovers a minor plot against England and decides to investigate (even though he swore off such work a chapter ago?). And then he randomly decides to get revenge by killing the man who's responsible for his wife's death.

But his wife died because she was sailing on a ship of war during wartime and died in regular combat. The revenge plot here is not against an evil man, but a soldier who did soldierly things and doesn't even know he killed her. Which isn't impossible to make work (with a lot more nuance and moral philosophizing than this book even thought of attempting), except Grey is always written as a very logical and calculating man. He should know that arguably his wife's death lies at his feet for bringing her into a warzone. Furthermore, the "villain" isn't even a jerk. He's a gentleman by the standards of the day. It makes it a very unsatisfying motive to be cringing at the main character's bad obsession against an arguably innocent person. No other character is given enough depth to be of comment.

The writing and structure itself was just okay. There were several flashbacks to Grey's wife but they had no bearing on the story so it felt weird to try and shove them in there. There's a lot of slow and unrelated conversations about botany and geology that derail from any "thriller" emotions the book claims to have. I've seen it said that he uses Patrick O'Brian and Ian Flemming as influences, and I'm just not sure it melds. O'Brian has very detailed, historically accurate naval stories that revel in the minutiae of the setting. I arguably haven't read Flemming, but James Bond is always presented as fast, dramatic, and over the top. In trying to do both this book fails to do either.

(Also, no bearing on my review of the actual book, but the dedication to "Elon "the Musket" Musk" saying "Please, someone, tell him I'm available to Darwin his Beagle" is by far one of the craziest dedications I ever did see.)

[Roxana · Rating 4 out of 5]

For any novel involved the Age of Sail, the Royal Navy, and/or the Napoleonic Wars, comparisons to Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series are both inevitable and, often, unflattering to the newer book. J.H. Gelernter's historical spy adventure, Hold Fast, is one of the few that can come out of such a comparison with its head held high.

Hold Fast's hero is one Captain Thomas Grey, formerly of naval intelligence, and recently a widower. The loss of his brilliant and beloved wife provides the emotional drive for the story, as Grey is consistently motivated by his desire for revenge against the French captain whose ship was responsible for her death. In search of that revenge, as well as the possibility of a major intelligence coup against Bonaparte's France, Grey abandons his plan to retire to Boston, goes undercover in enemy territory, survives torture as well as plenty of duels and battles, and generally James Bonds around France. It's an exciting, swashbuckling tale from start to finish, and well worth the attention of fans of C.S. Forester, Bernard Cornwell, and of course Patrick O'Brian (with the note that it spends far more time on land than at sea, and bears more of a resemblance to Maturin's espionage escapades than Aubrey's naval battles). I can only hope it's the start of a new series, and that I'll be able to read more of Captain Grey's adventures in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and W.W. Norton & Company for the advance review copy!


Content warnings: Violence, death, war, torture, sexual assault.

[Kyle O’Keefe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was just okay. The action sequences were good, but they didn’t mean much ultimately because the characters were all so two dimensional. I did really enjoy the historical backdrop, and I enjoy when a story is historically accurate (or close to).

So Grey is supposed to be this James Bond badass but we don’t really see any of his badassery from before he tried to retire, so we’re just taking the authors word that he’s a badass. The result is that he does a lot of impossible sounding things that I wasn’t buying. The man has no weaknesses- he can gamble, he can fight, he can shoot, he can think on his feet and improvise in tough situations, he can get out of literally any jam almost immediately, and he can woo women with no effort. But we don’t actually know anything about him! His motivations were so simple and had no nuance, and he shows no emotion about killing people. He’s boring. They all are!

Then there’s the issue of women in the story. We have a classic whore-Madonna situation here. His dead wife is the perfect saintly woman, an innocent pretty lady taken too soon by the big bad Frenchmen. In the flashbacks she’s like nauseatingly perfect and sweet. Then we have the bad guys sister, who sleeps with grey (??? Why ???) and then keeps saying she sinned and goes to confession etc. And like why did he seduce her? To get information? In 1803? And we’re supposed to root for this guy????

My final gripe is that the cover didn’t really match up with the story and it was a cover buy for me soooo.

[Nynniaw · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hold Fast is neither outstanding nor tedious. Neither particularly memorable nor utterly disappointing.

Action is very much where the story shines, but also where it suffers the most, because Thomas is so much better than everyone, and this fact is very quickly established. Even outnumbered, just-tortured, he can easily manage to beat his foes. Only once does the pattern break and someone gets the better of him, and even then it is more a matter of surprise than of him being in any way less able than his opponent.

Thorough the story we are treated to flashbacks of an important personal nature, maybe as an attempt to add some layers to him as more than some superbly talented special agent, and to me these were the worst part of the book, not only not hosing any kind of connection with the present-time story, but also being rather boring on their own.

Finally, I found the ending just a little disappointing. The author seems to toy with delivering a more interesting finale, only to indulge in both predictability as well as taking the controversial show away from the character's hands, turning it into a self-defense, natural one, allowing Grey to do what he wanted to do all along, even after realising it was wrong, while giving him a get out of jail free excuse to do it without inner turmoil.

I wish thr author had been brave enough to either have the character do murder the supposed villain despite his reticence, or not do it all. Either of those would have been more interesting than what we got.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hold Fast is James Bond in the Napoleonic Wars. That includes pros and cons to the main character, Thomas Grey, in that he is dashing, capable, and a bit ruthless (with his own code of conduct to follow) though there is a bit of Bond's casual use of women tossed in that I could have done without.

Still, the action is exciting and the story is always moving from beat to beat with little down time. This does mean that some events are rather easily solved or any peril Grey faces isn't quite that perilous, but it fits the tone of the story and didn't bother me terribly. I found the back and forth flashbacks about his wife, for whom he seeks revenge in this story, to be an interesting way to flesh out the character and I liked that they usually only appeared when the character was asleep as a way to weave them in.

Overall, I had quite a bit of fun with this and I'm happy there are going to be more to read. I can see why folks make the O'Brien comparison due to the setting, though it doesn't really lean much farther into that direction beyond that. However, I'd absolutely recommend this to fans of Bernard Cornwell's work as it has the similar "action packed story wrapped with a layer of historical truth" feel that marks most of Cornwell's work (especially Sharpe).

[Austin Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set during the early 19th century, this historical fiction YA novel is about a British spy who goes against his own government in efforts to avenge his wife’s unfortunate death. Filled with descriptive, exciting and suspenseful details, this story has the reader imagining sea worthy ship battles, corrupt governments and brave acts as being possible in recent past. Having created a character that readers can support, along with historical references and settings that take the reader away from reality, this novel would best accommodate a teen’s interest and reading level. There is advanced vocabulary and plot lines to follow throughout the story, but none the less, a tale of pirate-esque themes and colonial settings, makes for an awesome and rewarding read. This book is more of an entertainment read as it would not fit school curriculum as well as other historical fiction books, but examples of story details, themes and references could be drawn from this book and used as sources for other research.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This debut novel set in the Napoleonic Wars between France and England is a full-stop spy novel with elements of naval history. The technology elements were especially intriguing along with various naval battles, dueling and much after-dark investigations to find secret papers that could save England.

At first I was so struck by our hero's pluck, cool head in a crisis and incredible fortune while bullets are flying, I thought it was meant to be a slapstick comedy a la James Bond, or at the least a tongue-in-cheek study of an early 18th century superhero. But it's not, and there's plenty of sadness and loss due to danger, fighting and human nature--which is just as twisty now as it was then.

Certainly the action tropes are front and center in this fast-moving story. As a first volume in a proposed series, there's lots of room for character development as we get to know our new friend Captain Grey. I look forward to the next book in the series and to Mr. Gelernter's continued story-telling.

[Marsha Valance · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1803, British marine Capt. Thomas Grey decides to retire from British naval intelligenceto make a fresh start in the United States, where he has a work offer from a relative in Boston. A year earlier, Grey, who was then the head of station in Malta, was dispatched to North Africa to deal with Barbary pirates. On the voyage back to Malta, his wife was killed when their vessel came under French fire. Soon after Grey sets sail for Boston, his ship is attacked by the French, and his skill with both rifle and sword helps to fend off the assailants. The damaged ship docks in Oporto, Portugal, where agents for a French-Irish intelligence network, believing him to be alienated from his country, invite him to join them. Grey considers the network a threat to Britain's security and decides to gather what info he can, while fighting 2 duels, escaping from a dungeon, and avenging his wife's death. One of my favorite 1st mysteries read in 2021.

[Norman Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is described as being a blend of the Aubrey-Maturin books and the James Bond books, but it much more Bondish. Especially when Captain Thomas Grey puts on his best duds, goes into a casino, wins a fortune at cards, and announces his name as "Grey. Thomas Grey." Pretty on point there! Thank goodness, his (now deceased) wife is not named Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo.

It is an amusing story, quite short and easy reading. Grey will have to develop a little to become more interesting, but there is room to develop. The motive Grey has for undertaking the adventure in this book is rather shaky; treat it as a maguffin.

There are no other significant continuing characters in this book, other than the faithful retainers at his country home, and the loyal dog. I suppose Sir Edward Banks (this book's "M") will also develop some more, but I don't expect much.

I will probably read the next book in the series the next time I am looking for a break from more thoughtful books.

[Lisa Ladd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thomas Grey is my new fictional hero. A member of the British Secret Service in the turn of the 19th century, who attempts to leave his employer and move to America until he stumbles on information that could very well save Great Britain.

This fascinating novel takes the reader through several countries, and on a high seas adventure that is every bit as nail-biting as an O'Brian novel. Grey seems be a combination of Captain Jack Sparrow, James Bond, with a bit of Sherlock Holmes thrown in for good measure.

Gelernter invites his readers to journey through 1803 England, Portugal, France, even Malta. Combined with gambling, ship battles, and kidnapping armchair travelers should appreciate this fast paced thriller.
Unfortunately, this book will not be available for sale until May. But perhaps by then you can sit outside and join in the adventure. @wwnortonlibrary.

[Sully Augustine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read a library hardback over the past couple of evenings. I was glad to see the author acknowledge Ian Fleming and Patrick O'Brian in the endnote because the central character is a James Bond sort of spy who operates in a Napoleonic era Britain and France very reminiscent of O'Brian's Aubrey Maturin series. The skills of the spy and the nicety of his conduct and motivations are more than merely a bit over the top, but well within what is allowed in an escapist novel. The writing isn't to be compared with the sheer elegance and brilliant flashes of wit so often found in almost all of O'Brian's novels, but it compares reasonably well with that of Fleming as I remember his novels from a very long time ago.