Explosive [Paperback]

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Tedious historical romance, December 29, 2007
By Helen Hancox "Auntie Helen" (Essex, England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This story weaves a code-breaking plot around the genuine historical event of the composition by Beethoven of his Eroica symphony, originally dedicated to Napoleon but changed at the last minute when Napoleon declared himself emperor. The author has used the Beethoven's composition to provide a background to her story in which the Duke of Wellington is after the secret formula for a new explosive, dynamite that he knows is embedded in the score. Only two people have the skills and knowledge to decode it - the daughter of a mathematician and an English spy. The mathematician's daughter is named Devon Caravelle, a most unlikely name for a lady of the Regency period, and the spy is Gray Dalton, Marquess of Blackburn, although Gray, too, doesn't sound at all like an English name; the author really should have done a little more basic research. A French Comte, who is actually in possession of the score but is unable to decode it, also wants to find out the secret of the explosive so that Napoleon, imprisoned following the battle of Waterloo, can be released and can continue his empire building. The story is an England vs France race to find and decode the manuscript in order to head off Napoleon's plans a third time.

Unfortunately the book isn't exciting, despite the potential in the plot. We know that one character has the score at the beginning of the story and that two other characters are needed to decode it; the entire rest of the book seems to be made up of machinations between the three people, with occasional scenes with Wellington, the Marquess of Blackburn's spurned mistress Susannah Treadwell and a few other people. There's little action, no interesting events and the dialogue is tedious and unrealistic for the time period. The first half of the book feels rather aimless with the Marquess and Devon meeting, telling each other they need the Eroica score to be extracted from Devon's french lover the Comte, and casting smouldering looks at each other before leaping into bed; the second half was just trying to find the score and avoid the baddies. The situations and dialogue all seemed rather unlikely, as did the expectation that Devon, or even the Marquess, would be able to seduce the score from the man who has it - le Comte de Maupassat - and in fact that anyone could bind someone else to them just through sex.

The historical details of Beethoven's composition of the score have been researched but apart from that most of the book didn't feel particularly accurate. The characters call each other by their first names very early on in the story and there seems little consideration of the social mores of the time when our characters carry out their actions. Characterisation in this story isn't very convincing either. Blackburn is a spymaster and does seem suitably divorced from his own feelings and right and wrong, although of course at the end he turns into a wonderful monogamous reformed rake. Devon (that bizarre name rankled every time) just seemed weak and irritating and, despite being a famous pianist, barely seems to need to practise. The only really interesting character was the Duke of Wellington who pops up briefly.

This was a boring and disappointing book which was a real struggle to finish. It's definitely only one for fans of Charlotte Mede and if this is the standard of her writing I certainly won't become one of those!

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2008

This story weaves a code-breaking plot around the genuine historical event of the composition by Beethoven of his Eroica symphony, originally dedicated to Napoleon but changed at the last minute when Napoleon declared himself emperor. The author has used the Beethoven's composition to provide a background to her story in which the Duke of Wellington is after the secret formula for a new explosive, dynamite, that he knows is embedded in the score. Only two people have the skills and knowledge to decode it - Devon Caravelle, the daughter of a mathematician and Gray Dalton, Marquess of Blackburn, an English spy. This was the first problem with the book - the name Devon for a woman is completely wrong for the Regency period, and Gray as a man's first name is also extremely unlikely for this setting; the author really should have done a little more basic research as every time I read the names Devon or Gray I found myself thinking "No, what a terrible mistake!" A French Comte, who is actually in possession of the score but is unable to decode it, also wants to find out the secret of the explosive so that Napoleon, imprisoned following the battle of Waterloo, can be released and can continue his empire building. The story is an England vs France race to find and decode the manuscript in order to head off Napoleon's plans a third time.

Unfortunately the book isn't exciting, despite the potential in the plot. We know that one character has the score at the beginning of the story and that two other characters are needed to decode it; the entire rest of the book seems to be made up of machinations between the three people, with occasional scenes with Wellington, the Marquess of Blackburn's spurned mistress Susannah Treadwell and a few other people. There's little action, no interesting events and the dialogue is tedious and unrealistic for the time period. The first half of the book feels rather aimless with the Marquess and Devon meeting, telling each other they need the Eroica score to be extracted from Devon's french lover the Comte, and casting smouldering looks at each other before leaping into bed; the second half was just trying to find the score and avoid the baddies. The situations and dialogue all seemed rather unlikely, as did the expectation that Devon, or even the Marquess, would be able to seduce the score from the man who has it - le Comte de Maupassat - and in fact that anyone could bind someone else to them just through sex.

The historical details of Beethoven's composition of the score have been researched but apart from that most of the book didn't feel particularly accurate. The characters call each other by their first names very early on in the story and there seems little consideration of the social mores of the time when our characters carry out their actions. Characterisation in this story isn't very convincing either. Blackburn is a spymaster and does seem suitably divorced from his own feelings and right and wrong, although of course at the end he turns into a wonderful monogamous reformed rake. Devon (that bizarre name rankled every time) just seemed weak and irritating and, despite being a famous pianist, barely seems to need to practise. The only really interesting character was the Duke of Wellington who pops up briefly.

This was a boring and disappointing book which was a real struggle to finish. It's definitely only one for fans of Charlotte Mede and if this is the standard of her writing I certainly won't become one of those!

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2007