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Loading... The Strangler Vine (edition 2015)by M.J. Carter
Work InformationThe Strangler Vine by M. J. Carter
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Will definitely try the next one. Reminiscent of Kipling. Nice road story with a dashing innocent young hero and an older but wiser one. Had a number of dangerous adventures and a fair plot. ( ) There isn't much of a mystery in this novel. I would say it is an atmospheric mystery where the setting is predominant over the action. We mostly read about the customs, sights and sounds of India. While I love India fiction, I also want a story. There is a murder to solve but it takes second place to the setting.
[T]he Strangler Vine” is more than just a picturesque quest through exotic lands. Carter makes a subtle critique of how fact and fiction, myth and history intertwine. The quest takes some surprising turns, and Carter (Anthony Blunt: His Lives) is masterly at keeping the reader guessing what’s really going on. The final revelation is both jaw-dropping and plausible. It’s a great read, white tigers and all. As well as being a rattling good yarn in the traditions of GA Henty or Rudyard Kipling, this is also a well-informed and enlightened modern book that has a properly sceptical view of imperialist propaganda. I do not remember when I enjoyed a novel more than this. Belongs to SeriesBlake & Avery (1) AwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
India, 1937: William Avery is a young soldier with few prospects except rotting away in campaigns in India; Jeremiah Blake is a secret political agent gone native, a genius at languages and disguises, disenchanted with the whole ethos of British rule, but who cannot resist the challenge of an unresolved mystery. What starts as a wild goose chase for this unlikely pair-trying to track down a missing writer who lifts the lid on Calcutta society-becomes very much more sinister as Blake and Avery get sucked into the mysterious Thugee cult and it's even more ominous suppression. There are shades of Heart of Darkness, sly references to Conan Doyle, that bring brilliantly to life the India of the 1830s with its urban squalor, glamorous princely courts and bazaars, and the ambiguous presence of the British overlords-the officers of the East India Company-who have their own predatory ambitions beyond London's oversight. No library descriptions found.
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.92Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 2000-LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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