After reading the previous two novels in this series by Anne Perry, I knew that I had to keep going, despite the general grimness and despair of the setting. After all, reading about life in the trenches of Belgium during World War I is not exactly a cheerful topic. But under the careful plotting of Anne Perry, best known for her ongoing mystery series set in Victorian England, I knew that I was in for some serious storytelling, and a mystery that would be certain not to leave me going eh! at the end.

The year is now 1916, and for three long years, Captain Joseph Reavley has been trying to give what comfort and aid to the men that serve with him in the British army. Forbidden to carry arms as a chaplain himself, he does what he can to save lives, and often risks his own to rescue the injured in the devastated no-man's-land beyond the trenches. But during one such rescue, he's badly wounded, enough to send him back home to convalesence.

Back home in the Cambridgeshire village that he grew up in, Joseph is continually reminded of the grim accident that resulted in the death of his parents. Carefully, he tries to gain some sort of meaning and balance back into his life, under the caring watch of his sister Hannah and her three children. Hannah has plenty of problems of her own, coping with the fact that her husband, a naval commander, serving aboard a destroyer at sea. We see through their eyes the terrible toll that the war is taking on the families around them, even in this pastoral setting.

Sons and husbands and brothers are missing or wounded or dead. The local vicar, Hallam Kerr, is quickly losing his faith and can't comfort anyone, always turning up on Joseph's doorstep in a blithering wreck. After only a few days home, Joseph has a dead body turn up nearby, shattering whatever peace he's managed to find.

Theo Blaine, a young scientist working at The Establishment, where a mystery weapon that will win the war for the Allies, is found brutally killed. His body has been badly mauled with a hay fork, and he is found by his wife, Lizzie, after the couple had an argument. There are very few leads, but everyone suspects that it must have been a German spy. Old tensions and rivalries spring up the village.

Which in turn leads to the other main plot of the story. Joseph and Hannah's brother Matthew is a member of the Intellegence Services in London. He's managed to find a double agent, Detta Hannasey, and he's trying to uncover who is behind tampered supplies from the Americans, and ruthlessly using Detta to uncover who is behind it all. The fact that Detta is a lovely and attractive young Irish woman doesn't hurt either, and despite his best efforts to distance himself, Matthew keeps finding himself attracted to her.

Even more shocking, Detta might have a connection with the mysterious Peacemaker, who seeks an Anglo-German alliance that will bring the world under the control of a domineering Kaiser. And who was responsible for the murder of John and Alys Reavley...

How all of this resolves itself is the main focus of the novel. Of course, we get to learn little more about who is the Peacemaker, but that plotline is a bit overshadowed this time. Instead, the two plots weave together nicely with plenty of real life details and introspection. Not only can Perry catch the mood of the time and place, she manages to keep the mental attitudes right for the times. Hannah finds the new role of women fitting into men's work and roles during the war frightening to face; Joseph questions his reputation for heroism and bravery, and Matthew has to decide how much and how far he will use another human being, a woman, to further the Allied win. This delicate dance of morality comes through in people's speech and their thoughts, but Perry is wise enough not to let the story bog down too far.

Another excellent touch is the use of real events. There is the Battle of Jutland to climax the novel, an aerial bombing of London from German zepplins, the Easter Uprising in Dublin, and other little snippets that give the story a solid base in history. It's an excellent touch that really helps to move the story along, and the feel of the war that changed the world forever. My only real complaint about this entry in the series is that the villain is revealed in a sort of deus ex machina fashion, and there wasn't enough clues or foreshadowing given to let the reader figure it out -- suddenly, the killer is revealed and I was left thinking Huh? Where did that come from? Other than that, it's an excellent read.

While there is a strong thread of anti-war sentiment in this, I really can't blame Perry for putting it in here. Some of the reviews that I've read have criticized her for doing so, but surely there must have been those on all sides of the war that questioned the reasoning behind it, and worked for a 'peace at any price' solution.

Several characters from previous novels appear, most notably Richard Mason from Shoulder the Sky, but alas, Judith, the fourth Reavley sibling isn't here at all. That's a pity, as she's one of the best characters that Perry has created.

Summing up, this one is worth the effort to get through, despite all of the grim details and at times, slow pace. It's a novel that not just re-creates a time of great suffering and courage, but also strives to put the reader inside of the character's heads. It's pretty obvious from this one that Perry feels strongly about this series, and it does have a beginning and end in sight, unlike her other mystery series. If the reader can handle the somewhat gory sequences that appear, it's a fine read, and certain to stir some serious thoughts in the reader's mind.

The trade paperback edition has an excerpt from the next book in the series, At Some Disputed Barricade. As with all of the books in this series, it's really necessary to read them in order, as many characters and events appear in the earlier volumes, and little space is given to backing things up and explaining.

Four stars overall.
Anne Perry's World War One novels:
No Graves As Yet
Shoulder the Sky
Angels in the Gloom
At Some Disputed Barricade
We Shall Not Sleep

Angels in the Gloom
Anne Perry
2005; Ballantine Books
ISBN 0-345-45657-2



Recommended: Yes