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Katharine P. (Boulder, CO)
Pirates! Snakes! The Napoleonic Wars! Oh My!
Swashbuckling is not really my thing, and I don't know the difference between a sloop and a frigate, a weather deck, quarter deck or poop deck, but Captain Thomas Grey's adventures on the high seas had me rather captivated, after I got over the author's penchant the use of multiple subordinate clauses. Mayhap he imitates the speech of the fine gentlemen of whom he writes?
In The Montevideo Brief, third in the Thomas Grey series, as an agent in His Majesty's Secret Service, he is tasked with intercepting Spanish frigates loaded with treasure to fund an alliance between France and Spain against England. In the first, Hold Fast, he goes undercover (to avenge his wife's unfortunate death from a French shot to the bow of an English ship), and in the second book in the series, Captain Grey's Gambit, he attends a chess tournament in Frankfurt in order to assist a French defector, who, at the last minute, decides he can't leave without his daughter.
In this book, he attends Beethoven concert, plays court tennis, is captured by pirates, and runs through a bedroom, tosses a gold brick to a French prostitute, and asks her to spend it well.
The action never stops, and the chapters are short and end in a cliffhanger. (He does, once, actually, hang from a cliff.) Jack Reacher meets Rudyard Kipling? Or James Bond meets Patrick O'Brien.
J. H. Gelernter knows history, especially the Napoleonic Wars, during which all three books occur. His historical note confirms the authenticity of his characters and storyline. I learned about sailors' toasts (to the ships at sea!) and all manner gentlemanly rules of conduct. Ahoy, come aboard and sail the high seas. Grey will be headed back to Gibraltar, where he will report to an American named James Madison.
Tracy_B
The Montevideo Brief
This was not a book that I would normally like. I gave it a try anyway. Character development was good. A real historical experience.
Jessy
Not a hit for me
It’s hard to turn down a book the promises pirates, treasure, international intrigue, and a 19th century James Bond. But unfortunately this third installment of the Thomas Grey series didn’t land for me. Maybe if I knew the character from prior installments, Grey would have felt more robustly developed to me, but as it was, he seemed to have a combination of deus ex machina ability (or luck) to always speak the language, carry out the physical feat, or run into the right person or information to solve a problem and biographical fact of having been a British marine. The tone shifts within the book - told in third person, but with frequent asides that sometimes seemed to be in Grey’s mind, and sometimes seemed to break the fourth wall to the reader by explaining something Grey would have known - kept me from feeling really lost in the story. Unfortunately, what should have been a page turning adventure was a bit of a slog for me to get through. Not a book for me, but another reader might enjoy, especially if they’ve read and liked Gelernter’s prior novels.
Molly_A
Montevideo Brief Is Brief, Thankfully
When I first heard about Montevideo Brief, I was excited about the premise of the story: Spain and France secretly plotting to declare war on Britain while funded by a hidden treasure fleet in Uruguay. However, as time wore on, I found myself just wanting to get to the end of the book.
First, the bad points: the language is very flowery and very in-step with the time period (I think, I am not an expert on 19th century languages), giving the narration and conversations a heavily nuanced, grandiose feel. Also, the characters are stereotypically stuffy and uninteresting, and their circumstances are predictable. I did not read the previous books in the series, but this book did not make me want to read them. Now, the good points: the storyline flowed very well, and I didn't have to keep track of multiple-narrator chapters that flip back and forth between many characters, which seem so popular right now. The background surrounding the characters was well-fleshed out, so I felt like I could hear the ships' cannons and taste the salt of the ocean.
If you are looking for an easy read that blends James Bond with 19th century war and piracy as the setting, this is not a bad read. However, if you want something different from the predictable narrative of this type of story, you should keep looking.
Andrea_B
Arrr! Thar Be Booty Beneath All the Details
The Montevideo Brief is an adventure tale bursting with early nineteenth century colonial intrigue, naval history, and recreational culture. Unfortunately, the story is so overly focused on accurate details that it feels contrived and leads to distraction. While not the light and riveting read that I was expecting, it is educational and enjoyable.
Helia R. (Goodlettsville, TN)
I shouldn't be reviewing this novel. Or maybe I should?
Thomas Grey is a renowned spy in Britain's Secret Service at the beginning of the nineteenth century. He is a daring hero with impeccable ethics, a thousand talents, and charm to boot. It's up to him to prevent Spain from allying with France and declaring war on Britain, and over the course of a little over two hundred fast-paced and often exhilarating pages, he delivers. The writing is great and the historical facts are meticulously researched; knowing nothing about nineteenth-century naval warfare I was nevertheless impressed by the writer's extensive knowledge of historic vessels, munitions, and general seafaring logistics.
If this novel wasn't for me, it's because I spent much of my youth following the exploits of white, male saviors, and now that (finally!) different, previously marginalized perspectives are available, (from the wives of the heroes; the victims of colonization; lowly pirates pressed into service, etc.) I prefer catching up with those. Not this perfectly fine book's fault. Just a reminder that the expansion of the big tent of literature doesn't mean the obliteration of old forms. In a perfect world, we can all co-exist together.
Nancy_Read
Descriptions Better Than the Plot
This book starts out with some good descriptive passages about Beethoven's Third Symphony, French tennis as it originally was, dueling codes at the beginning of the 19th century, the Barbary pirates. Unfortunately, after that the book becomes a fairly typical swashbuckling adventure story complete with pirates, naval battles, explosions, gunfights and secret treaties.
I found the adventure story fairly predictable and not particularly gripping. On the other hand, the book is fairly short and good for a quick read without much substance.
Samantha H. (Golden, CO)
A Lackluster Adventure
To begin with I should confess that I have not read the first two books in the series. I do like a good seafaring adventure, but "The Montevideo Brief" fell short. The plot was slow to develop, the prose was stilted, and the characters were shallow and uninteresting.
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