Blurb
Redriffe, London, Wednesday 27 April 1603.
A gunpowder mill explodes, causing death and destruction.
A passer-by becomes involved in helping victims but is recognised and arrested – for he is a wanted man.
The arresting officer is Spymaster Robert Poley, Queen Elizabeth’s Chief Intelligencer under Francis Walsingham and now King James’s under Robert Cecil.
The fugitive is the Catholic Robert Catesby.
Catesby is imprisoned. On his release, he secretly begins to recruit a group of desperate associates. Some form of a plot – and an act of violence – is afoot.
Poley turns his attention towards the conspirators. His intelligencers target an expert in gunpowder and explosives.
His name? Guy Fawkes.
And so a desperate game of cat and mouse unfolds as Poley races to discover exactly what the conspirators are planning.
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
My Review
Perhaps the intended explosion from the Gunpowder Plot wasn’t quite the near miss we were taught to believe. Or was it? All things considered, the authorities certainly had their hands full trying to piece together the most current conspiracy against King James, especially when they weren’t sure they had identified the most important culprits. Without the famous letter warning Monteagle not to go to Parliament, would they have focused their efforts in the right place? By all indications, maybe not. It’s a great puzzle. There were a lot of threads to follow in this book, and a lot of characters. I admit I had a little trouble following it all, myself. But one thing’s for sure: Guy Fawkes kept us on the “straight and narrow”, so to speak. Although the whole plot revolved around him and his expertise with gunpowder, Guy was a surprisingly sympathetic character, not without a conscience. He knew that the explosion would destroy much of Westminster, and take out innocent Catholics as well as Protestants. And his temporary landlady added to his sense of horror, such as the moment she gaily talked about the upcoming crowd who would gather on the fateful day:
Her words and gestures made it easy for him to imagine the tiers of temporary – and flimsy – seats also packed with men and women who would receive the full power of the blast which would blow them back into the tavern behind them. But the tavern would no longer be there – only its blazing ruins. And the erstwhile occupants of the tiered benches no longer people; no longer coherent bodies any more than their seats or the walls beside them were anything more than splinters and rubble. He had seen it all often enough to know precisely how it would be. All those spectators, those beside them, those behind them, all just so much minced meat and bone-shards thrown against whatever walls were still standing. The slaughter was likely to be utterly devastating.
Honoring his commitment, Guy Fawkes did not back out of his terrible contract, much though he found himself conflicted. Apparently none of his other co-conspirators were bothered nearly as much, and the plans went on while more and more helpers were added to the list of people sworn to secrecy. At the same time, we follow the intelligence gatherers all the way up to Cecil himself, who walked a fine line between being too suspicious and not suspicious enough. After all, King James was not the most understanding monarch. The lead-up to November 5 was long and complicated, and I learned a lot about the back story. I was disappointed Tonkin had not written an author’s note at the end, for I would have liked to have known where his research ended and speculation began. Regardless, it was a good read and I enjoyed it.
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BZW7SGDQ/
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