We Shall Not Sleep

I was very disappointed in this book. I read the first three in the series, and eagerly waited for the last two, which were released almost simultaneously. In this fifth installment, the murder seemed almost gratuitous, and the revelation of the Peacemaker's identity was anticlimactic. He turns out to be someone who was suspected and then dismissed in an earlier book, but there is no explanation of where the Reavleys went wrong in their deductions. The conclusion seems rushed and the resolution of the various conflicts forced, as if the author was in a hurry to tie up the loose ends and provide a more-or-less happy ending within the required number of pages.
The series started out with so much promise, but by the end I felt that Perry show more should have written one really good novel instead of this series that loses steam at the end. show less

The first novel was definitely my favorite, but I have enjoyed all in this series. I love the Ms. Perry does not romanticize war, but shows the constant suffering and horror that these people lived through (I've seen photographs of people with Shell Shock... and I don't even want to imagine what they went through to give them that look in their eyes.)

Touching scene of the war finally coming to an end. Loose ends were tied up, sometimes a bit too neatly, but it was a wonderful series and I really loved the Reeve's siblings--the three main ones, particularly--and was glad things worked out for them.

I was impressed with this book. The end of WW1 had portents for the future of the world that I was not aware of. Perry`s characters were well delineated and her personal views crept into the story.

At last! Finished! What a drearily long read. Where was this author's editor? Who in the world thought she should take 5 volumes to tell a tale? Perhaps only in dragging it out to 5 volumes the reader was supposed to suffer the length of the interminable war as did all those punished by its ravages on their society? In any case, PLEASE--if you are tempted to take this series on, know that it really isn't worth your time.

Rather drawn out.

This was the fifth and final book in the series and I was glad that I had listened to at least one of the earlier books. I felt I needed some background to the The Peacemaker, a vital character who had previously been present only as an alias.

The three main characters are the Reavley brothers, Joseph, an army chaplain and Matthew, an intelligence officer, and their sister, Judith, an ambulance driver. Joseph and Judith are serving at the Western front but Matthew has been away from most of the action. He makes his way to the medical post where his siblings are, because he needs to bring a German, von Schenckendorff through the lines to reveal to the authorities in England, the identity of The Peacemaker.
Unfortunately show more their plans are thwarted by the ugly murder of a nurse at the medical station, which results in a murder trial and Matthew becoming implicated.
While the murder and its solution is unnecessarily drawn out, it is at least believable, but I found the journey home stretched belief,being too full of lucky coincidences.

I had previously listened to an abridged audio book version of Angels in the Gloom, number 3 in Anne Perry's WWI series. Being abridged, it contained all the pertinent facts without the drawn out explanations I found in the unabridged version of We Shall Not Sleep. In particular, the author really laboured the issue of soldiers returning home after the war - how would they readjust, and who would the women back home marry now their men had fallen?
My personal recommendation would be to listen to this series in abridged form, rather than in full. This will give the flavour of the war without the repetitions and drawn out explanations. show less

Wonderful series! I just love the way she writes this and the history is great. Too bad it has ended, I want to know what happens in the aftermath of the war...

Oddly, the great escape had very little urgency. It was sad -- poor little Belgium, indeed -- but not thrilling.