Publisher's Weekly Review
It's May of 1884, and Scotland Yard has just been blown up, the latest attack in the Irish Republican Brotherhood's dynamiting campaign to force Home Rule. Young Welshman Thomas Llewelyn, apprentice to Scottish master detective Cyrus Barker, rushes to the scene of the crime with his mentor in this fast-paced, cleanly written follow-up to Some Danger Involved, Thomas's first historical crime novel featuring the intrepid duo. Despite the resistance of Scotland Yard's ineffective Special Irish Branch, Barker resolves to find and stop the radicals himself. His method: disguise and infiltration of the Fenian faction. Told from Llewelyn's keen and worshipful perspective, the tale traverses London and Europe and chronicles Barker and Llewelyn's undercover adventures and Barker's submersion in the character of German explosives expert Johannes van Rhyn. Llewelyn is brought into the thick of the action as van Rhyn's assistant, Thomas Penrith, an anarchist similarly skilled in bomb making. Together, they're initiated into the violent faction, called the Invincibles, while the younger double agent is enticed by the gorgeous redhead Maire O'Casey, sister of one of the terrorists. Can Llewelyn and Barker play along yet stop the Invincibles before they cripple the English government and bring down London's infrastructure? The action unfolds briskly, and Llewelyn's voice should appeal to boys of all ages. Agent, Maria Carvainis. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Victorian sleuths Barker and Llewelyn battle the fighting (mad) Irish. Enraged Irish dissidents want Home Rule, and they're prepared to obliterate half of London to make their point. They start with the newly minted Special Irish Branch, its headquarters in Scotland Yard reduced to rubble by an "infernal device." Clearly, the Irish Republican Brotherhood is responsible, but that hardly gets to the heart of the matter, since the IRB is a tower of fractious factions. How to zero in on the Scotland Yard dynamiters? Cyrus Barker, England's preeminent "enquiry agent"--don't call him detective--volunteers to go undercover. Accompanying him is his young assistant Thomas Llewelyn, late of Oxford University and Oxford Prison, the second on a bum rap. Barker poses as Johannes van Rhyn, internationally recognized bombardier; Llewelyn is disguised as one Thomas Penrith. Because bomb-making turns out to be a skill desperately needed and insufficiently mastered by the terrorists, the intrepid pair easily penetrates their defenses. Along the way, Thomas provides glimpses of Charles Parnell and a lovesick William Butler Yeats. More to the point, however, is the role played by a beautiful female dissident, a femme fatale whose effect on Thomas is nearly lethal in more ways than one. As in the sleuths' debut (Some Danger Involved, 2004), stick figures speak wooden dialogue amid beautifully rendered period settings. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Cyrus Barker, enquiry agent, and his increasingly able assistant, Thomas Llewelyn, attempt to stem terrorism and anarchy in Victoria's London in their second ingenious race toward certain calamity (after Some Danger Involved0 , 2004). This time the chameleon talents of the eccentric Pekinese-petting, tai chi-practicing "Guv'nor" are required to prevent Scotland Yard's new Special Irish Branch investigators from exacerbating an already flammable situation between the British Home Office and the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Their mission: to infiltrate and expose the faction responsible for bombing Scotland Yard and threatening to do worse if a home-rule bill is not put before the Parliament. And what better way to do so than to pose as bomb-making specialists? The two spies step into increasingly volatile situations, including a painful stick-fight initiation ceremony, bomb-making sessions, and a tricky affair of the heart. Thomas places his cast of likable even heroic characters within a complex political minefield and then waits for the explosion. Intense and insightful. --Jennifer Baker Copyright 2005 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Having created a pair of appealing protagonists who debuted in his Victorian London mystery Some Danger Involved, Thomas needed to look no further than May 30, 1884-when Scotland Yard was bombed by Irish nationalists-for an actual event around which to build his first sequel. Enquiry agent Cyrus Barker and his engaging young Welsh assistant, Thomas Llewelyn, set out to find the faction responsible by posing as German bomb expert Johannes van Rhyn and his assistant in order to infiltrate the cell-a risky business given the promise of more damage to come unless Home Rule is proposed. Complications ensue when lovely, spunky Maire O'Casey, the only woman in the cell, seems to turn her attentions from poet William Butler Yeats to Llewelyn, whose thoughts nearly turn to love. And then the return of an Irish bomb expert nearly foils the English pair's plans at the 11th hour. A successful blend of fiction and fact, this is-as expected-expertly researched and skillfully plotted, with satisfying amounts of emotion (with a growing friendship between Barker and Llewelyn) and suspense. For all mystery collections. [Thomas was profiled in "Shelf Life: Librarians Who Write," LJ 2/15/04.-Ed.]-Michele Leber, Arlington, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
