James McGee (1)Rezensionen

this is a very good read. Perhaps a little too modern for some tastes, bearing in mind the regency period (think hollywood crime blockbuster without the cars), it's still a ripping good yarn - plenty of lowlives, pickpockets, bare knuckled fighting, submarines, spies, those damn Frenchies!

En los primeros años del siglo XIX proliferan por Londres los resucitadores, ladrones de cadáveres que surten de género a las escuelas de anatomía. Matthew Hawkwood, un runner de Bow Street, ha servido de enlace con los guerrilleros españoles durante la guerra contra Napoleón, pero su nueva misión se desarrollará en un escenario más tétrico que un país en guerra: los cementerios de Londres y el tristemente famoso manicomio de Bedlam. Cuando se producen las primeras muertes, Hawkwood tratará de cazar a los asesinos, pero pronto aparece una presa especialmente escurridiza. El coronel Hyde, un cirujano demente, cuya locura solo puede compararse a su brillantez, se ha escapado del manicomio Bedlam y su genio incomprendido tiene algo que demostrar... lo que sin duda significará más trabajo para los enterradores.

I have to declare to being a fan of James McGee. I waited a long time for this new book and it did not disappoint. The teeming, fetid stench of a criminal London in the early 1800's is vividly described. The gentry guarding their sordid activities, Hawkwood uses his contacts to thwart both the criminals and their titled masters. Excellent series and highly recommended.

Rebellion is based on a real-life attempted coup against Napoleon in 1812.
Matthew Hawkwood, a former military officer now a Bow Street Runner, has been sent to France by the Home Office. Napoleon and his Grand Army are in Moscow, and the country nearly bankrupt. He has been given no information as to his assignment but knows, if he fails, all help for, and knowledge of him will be withheld. When he learns of his assignment it is audacious, dangerous and may result either in Hawkwood helping change the course of history or, quite possibly, in his death.
Hawkwood goes to France disguised as a member of the French military, meets with people who want to see the end of Bonaparte (and not all of these are royalists), and, with the aid of fellow spies - both Scottish, works with the French dissidents to put into operation an audacious scheme to take control of Paris, thus taking control of the government, and the country itself.
The most remarkable thing about this book is revealed in the afterword, where the author tells us that virtually all of the characters in the main part of this story set in France during Napoleon's abortive invasion of Russia are historically accurate and that Hawkwood & co are woven into a real-life story. This makes the mixture of fact and fiction even more compelling.½

Rapscallion is James McGee's third Hawkwood novel. Hawkwood is a Bow Street Runner, very much in the vein of Sharpe - and those who enjoy Bernard Cornwall's writing will probably enjoy this too.
The Navy sent two officers out to investigate reports of a smuggling operation and the increase in the number of enemy prisoners who have escaped detention from their prison ships. The first investigator was found having drowned and the second has gone missing.

The Home Secretary now requests Bow Street Runners to the investigation and Matthew Hawkwood is assigned to go undercover aboard one of the ships. Conditions aboard ship are more horrendous that could be imagined and Hawkwood is soon fighting for his very life.

With each new McGee book, I am fascinated to see on what historical subject he will base his plot. The first book, "Ratcatcher," had to do with political plots and the security of the Royal Family. The second "Resurrectionist," was much darker and dealt with grave robbers. This third book focuses on the treatment of foreign prisoners of war and smuggling.

His period descriptions and historical detail make his books evocative and educational. This is high action and suspense at its best. Think Saturday matinee pirate movies. It is definitely plot, rather than character driven, but that doesn't make the characters any less interesting. Rather, it does mean you don't know whom to trust.

McGee's writing is incredibly visual, which is both good and a bit hard to deal with at time, and it is always engaging.
I look forward to the next book, and hope to see Lasseur again in the future as he is a great addition to the growing cast of characters.

Officer Matthew Harkwood, a Bow Street Runner (London's Foot Patrol), is charged with investigating the recent atrocities by the city's busy resurrectionists, gangs of men who plunder the dead to sell for medical research. In the course of looking into the macabre murder of a minister by a mental patient in the notorious Bedlam, Hawkwood discovers a nefarious plot by a surgeon that leads from the pubs of Smithfield to the highest echelons of government.
Based on actual people and events, the author recreates with chilling and authentic detail the grim realities of medical research in the era, when progressive surgeons imagine medical feats to preserve lives, though still far from the practices that might eventually accommodate their goals. McGee comfortably, almost off-handedly, lays out the vivid reality of resurrectionists and life in morgues and psychiatric facilities. He does not paint a picture of the genteel aristocratic residents of the period, but depicts the sights and smells of the slums of London - and it's not pleasant.
Hawkwood is a great character, both dark and likeable, as is the supporting cast, with quick-witted dialogue, a maintenance of suspense and barely a wasted page to break the pace. The historical context of the books is also well done; McGee has clearly done his research.
It's not for the faint-hearted, but it's a really good read. I enjoyed the first book in the series, and this will keep me following Hawkwood to his next adventure.

A good Victorian mystery with plenty of ambiance and a main character that was easy for me to root for. There is a pretty explicit sex scene, but does turn out to be 'necessary' to the plot line later on. You can still skip the scene if you'd rather, just knowing that it happens will be enough. It can be bloody, and the author is not squeamish about the seedier aspects of life in Victorian London. This is not a 'feel good' romp through an imaginary Victorian London where everything comes up roses. This is a determined walk towards the elusive truth through a more realistic Victorian London, complete with economic and social disparity, appalling poverty and antipathy towards the poor, and of course standard greed and complicit cooperation between the 'law' and those criminals well off enough to buy themselves out of trouble.

The ratcatcher is after the unlawful fraternity of London and not rats. The hero Hawkwood is a Bow Street Runner with a military background similar to that of Sharpe if you know the books and series. In this book, he is involved in resolving how a naval ship suddenly blows up and sinks, which then leads him into a den of espionage and treason. This is all set during the Napoleonic war but entirely in and around London. This was a rollicking good read - and I devoured it in one sitting on a cold and wet Sunday afternoon.½

Review As ever McGee writes fluently and excitingly, but the most remarkable thing about this book is revealed in the afterword, where he tells us that virtually all of the characters in the main part of this story set in France during Napoleon's abortive invasion of Russia, are historically accurate and that Hawkwood & co are woven into a real life story. This makes the mixture of fact and fiction even more compelling than it was whilst I was reading it. The characterisation is excellent and the plot spellbinding. I love this series!

Well I finished Ratcatcher and I really wanted to like this book but it got to be more and more unbelievable as the story progressed.

The author refers to several events as "miracles" which got to be annoying after a while, with Hawkwood getting himself in impossible situations and being saved by a miracle. He should have been dead several times were it not for such miracles.

As a mystery it started out reasonably for the first 100 pages but it seemed all his clues seemed to come from bad guys about to kill him and telling him stuff about their actions. As a historical fiction, it lacked the descriptive feel of the various locations. He was kind of a minimalist, as he would describe the scene in short choppy sentences but you never really feel you are part of the scene.

Many names of historical significance are tossed about but they were not developed and not overly involved in the story other than to be there... sort of historical name dropping IMO.

I will not be reading the next in the series.

I haven't read any of the books in this series but felt reading this book which is number two it really didn't make much difference. Matthew Hawkwood is a Bow Street runner, ex army, very dashing, a Victorian Jack Reacher maybe.

In this outing hes out to solve murders that are somehow connected to the grave robbers. The book is very gory at times and I did squirm. Loved the descriptions and did feel like I was there in Bedlam myself.

I couldn't make my mind up if I was enjoying this book or not. I felt it was a slog at times and there wasn't a lot going on. When I feel like this I tend to see what other reviewers thought, and to see if its worth me continuing. I did read one lovely review with a mild spoiler, with warning and it did sort of tell me the why and why nots. I have to say from this point I have skipped to finish the book.

I'm not sure if I would seek out anymore books in this series. Loved the setting and time of place, liked the story line and Hawkwood himself, just got bored with the book.½

I may have been generous with my rating, but as I had just finished another historical mystery that was such slogging I was ready to enjoy a light, historical thriller. I've finally decided what my definition of a 'thriller' is... a book (or movie) in which you must suspend a great deal of belief because in real life the hero would have died three or four times. Hawkwood is saved at the last minute more than once, by himself or someone else, and of course he saves England as well. It wasn't the best, but certainly not the worst.½

Let's face it, if you read a book about bodysnatching, you have to expect a lot of 'yuck' factor. But I never felt that the gruesome details were being told just to be gruesome. This is just the way it was. I enjoyed this. Not everything that happened, but the way it was told.

I read and really enjoyed the first two books in the Hawkwood series a few years ago. I noticed book 4 in the series coming up on my reading list so I hastily acquired Rapscallions (book 3) on my kindle so a snot to lose the sequence. This was an excellent decision on my part.
The series is well written, well plotted and meticulously researched, dealing this time with prison ships and smuggling. I heartily recommend this book, the predecessors and, I expect, the successors.

Something to read to pass the time, but nothing engrossing. I had no problem putting it down if there was something else of interest to do. Storyline was decent, characters a little flat, and the title was a smidge misleading. Hawkwood is one of many Bow Street runners, which are basically cops of the slums. Though he is seen as the best one there, it's not like it's him against the city or anything.

I expected to enjoy this book far more than I did but that was because I had the wrong writer. This is the first McGee I have read and from an historical point of view it was very interesting indeed, with descriptions of Bedlam, the London slums and sewers and the state of medicine in the early Nineteenth Century.

Hawkwood, an ex army man, is a formidable character and called to investigate a murder in the notorious London Asylum: from there he is summoned to a church yard where a corpse is gruesomely displayed. Nothing seems to link the two at first but of course, fiction being less random than real life, its all part of the same plot, planned by an evil genius and executed by his no less evil henchmen, and women.

Body snatching, amazingly, was not a crime initially, as long as the corpse was stripped of all clothes - even the shroud - or jewellery, since taking those was 'theft'. Bodies were usually taken for medical schools, and good teeth were prized by dentists for dentures. But there's a new buyer in London who is not satisfied with even the most freshly disinterred corpse: for his purposes, he needs them alive.

Matthew Hawkwood soon realises his adversary is a [supposedly] dead man, and one who has some very powerful allies at that. In the end - SPOILER ALERT - the mad scheme to revive his long dead daughter using the fresh blood and organs of other girls is foiled and, despite making some enemies, Hawkwood emerges victorious.

Not an easy or enjoyable read but a very interesting one.

A Victorian James Bond... or just the n-th attempt at distracting the readers with period colour and detail so that they don't throw the book away?

If this was the case, didn't work for me. The characters are uninteresting, the period/place (London during the Napoleonic period) is not completely new, and introducing character X so that we can be "shocked" to find out that s/he is really Y trying to cheat the main character into doing Z is not exactly riveting.

There is a sequel. I think I'll pass.

If Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe had retired back to England and joined the Bow Street Runners, these books would be about him. That's a compliment.

McGee seems to have set himself a task of writing 4 different types of novel within the historical fiction genre. This one was based on French 19th century fiction (Hawkwood uses the pseudonym Dumas) and was by far the slowest of the four. Still readable though.

'Bon chance!' Indeed!

Captured by the French in Portugal, and taken before Marshall Marmont, an English Intelligence officer (in uniform) is ill treated despite have given his parole. Enroute from Salamanca, in the Pyrenees the officer escapes.
Three years later, 1812, Bonaparte has decided to move on Russia leaving certain Parisian factors seeing this as an opportunity to end his regime.
Bow Street Runner Matthew Hawkwood is about to be thrust into the political turmoil of Paris. It seems tension seethes below the facade of acceptance of Bonaparte as Emperor. The British want to cash in on it.
A storm at sea as Hawkwood is crossing the English Channel was a realistically terrifying picture. I was there with Hawkwood staring out into the night at the watery inferno, lit by lightening, holding on afraid at the unholy magnitude of the sea at storm.
Disguised as an American in Paris, Hawkwood meets up with an old friend. Life certainly takes an even more interesting turn as the mission and old friends combine.
I liken Harkwood to other reluctant hero's like Bernard Cornwall's Sharpe or C.S. Forster's Horatio Hornblower. Englishman cut from the same cloth who have a duty to King and country to perform.
Action packed, historically accurate, stimulating and a grand adventure. A bonus for me is that the historical background brings gravitas to my understanding of the political times and conditions behind the regency romances of which I'm so fond.
Sharply written, this thriller had me on the edge.

A NetGalley ARC

Spy gets himself condemned to a prison ship to track down French prisoners who are escaping.

Adventure novel set in the time of the Napoleonic Wars and featuring an ex-army man of extensive past who is now one of 7 Bow Street runners working for the British crown. Murder, intrigue, a honey trap, and violent encounters carry the action from the dark and filthy streets of London to the ballroom of a nefarious aristocrat who entertains agents of France bent on destroying a British ship along with her Prince, utilizing the terrifying invention of the American, Robert Fulton – a submersible armed with a torpedo.

The atmosphere of early 19th C. England is palpable, the history accurate, the hero enigmatic, the villains worthy, and the good guys intelligent enough to keep me turning the pages. Better than I expeted but not a series I’ll pursue.½

The fourth book in the continuing adventures of Matthew Hawkwood finds our hero being seconded from his normal London beat to an agency for the Home Office. They have a mission that requires his unique talents and want him to go to Paris to see if the planned operation is feasible and to provide assistance if it is. When he finally gets to the French capital, let's just say that his travel plans were a little disrupted, he discovers that his contact is an old colleague that he thought never to see again. The plan of action? With France at war in Spain and Napoleon planning to invade Russia the time might be right to stage a coup and install a new regime that might be more favourable to a peaceful co-existence with England.

When you pick up a book to continue a series you, as a reader, have certain expectations of what you're going to get. By the fourth book in that series those expectations are pretty much set in stone. So what happens when the latest book takes things in a new direction is that it gives the reader a feeling of being let down. No matter how good of a story the writer provides there will always be a sense of disappointment over what has been altered. So what has changed in this new instalment? The first three books were fast paced action/adventure stories set in or around London that follow the former soldier turned Bow Street runner with occasional assistance from recurring subsidiary characters. This one, while there are some elements of this early on soon degenerates into a slow building political intrigue that doesn't centre around the titular character of the series and being based upon actual events (with most of the featured characters being real-life people) so if you already know the outcome of the event then the majority of the suspense has already been removed.

All that being said, this is not a bad story. Just not the one I quite expected. If it had been written with a different lead character then I would probably mark it a bit higher. The historical research by the author is once again very good and he does give examples for further reading for those that may be interested to learn more of the period and events portrayed.

A "bodice ripper" almost certainly writen by a woman.½

Potential to be good tale, but totally spoiled by over the top violence, horror and blatant sexual abuse. Sensationalism for its own sake adds nothing to the story. I am too old to be shocked, but really do not need this.½