The Consequences of Fear

I always enjoy hearing from Maisie Dobbs. The 16th book in the series was a good story, but I do wish the characters would stop drinking, and serving each other a cup of tea in every fourth paragraph. It got a little tiresome. But I do look forward to the next one. Why do all the Brits move to California (Winspear)? Is Britain really so awful?

Maisie Dobbs always delivers. I love these novels. The only thing that bothered me was that the bombings in the last book were so real and you felt the danger. Here bombings were mentioned but you didn't feel they were happening. It was like everyone was ignoring it. I know from reading The Splendid and the Vile that people did ignore the bombings to go on with their lives, but it still bothered me. I always wonder if each book is the end and then something happens and we know another book will be needed. Same with this one.

WOW! What a wonderful new-to-me series to find. I had been reading the book blurbs on each new book as it was released – and they sounded like great stories – but I put off trying one because I thought it was still too close to ‘contemporary’ to suit me. I read very little that isn’t set in the Victorian or earlier eras. As I am becoming more and more disillusioned with the ‘woke’ historical romance books that are being written, I decided to branch out with more and more historical mysteries. This one is absolutely wonderful. I loved Maisie Dobbs – and YAY for me – I started with the book where Maisie gets married. The writing is excellent and the story and plotting are near perfect. What really brings the story home show more though, is the descriptions of life in WWII London during the blitzes. I absolutely felt as if I was running right along with Freddie as the bombs were dropping.

Freddie Hackett is twelve-years-old and is proud that he has been chosen as a message runner for the government. He is, of course, afraid of the bombs dropping, but those aren’t any scarier than his home life. If he keeps his father in enough coins to stay at the bar, maybe he and his mother won’t be beaten tonight. Freddie is a gifted runner who might be in the Olympics someday and as his feet are flying and he turns a corner toward his destination, he sees something unthinkable. Two men are in a fight, so he backs into a small doorway of a bombed-out home so the men cannot see him. When one takes a knife out and murders the other, Freddie loses his stomach contents. He remains quiet and still long after it is over – and then, shaking, he goes on his way to the delivery. He gets a really good look at the murderer – and guess who answers the door.

The police aren’t particularly interested in the murder Freddie reports, but Freddie is frightened, so he looks elsewhere for someone to help. That person is Maisie Dobbs. Maisie immediately believes the story Freddie is telling and begins an investigation despite her government office boss telling her to leave it be. As Maisie digs deeper and deeper into the case, she comes to learn that there are political implications to solving the crime. That, of course, doesn’t deter Maisie and she keeps going. She not only has to find the murderer, but she also has to keep Freddie, his mom, and his sister safe.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I’m so sorry I took so long to decide to give the series a try. Now, I just have to make time in my schedule to go back and read the first fifteen books. I can’t think of a single thing I’d change about the book – except I think it might be fun to have Mark more involved in Maisie’s case. I’m very happy to recommend this book!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. show less

I started book 1 with a friend and we were able to read the first 5 books. I read this last book over what would have been her birthday.

Great book for thinking about being ruled by fear or fear getting in the way or of not being at all ruled by fear. The subject felt very close to home for me so extra meaningful. I suspect I’m nearly alone here but I sometimes do get tired of nothing but happy endings in novels. Of course, in this book they come hard won and honestly and they’re not unrealistic so I don’t have major quibbles with them at all. My partly negative feelings are more a reflection of my own life, not of the book’s story which is superb, and my primary feelings of even the endings are actually positive.

This book #16 show more had an excellent mystery and particularly wonderful additional characters. As usual, I enjoyed all the returning/regular characters.

As with all of these books there is much that is amusing even though the books aren’t comedic.

This book has two dog deaths, dogs I loved from previous books. Luckily there is a new dog too.

Ever since the Return to Munich book there has been at least one American character. I hate the way the narrator of the audiobooks does an American accent. I never read just an audiobook but I sometimes listen at the same time as reading an e-book or a paper book. Since book 6 I’ve read most of these with e-books with audio books accompanying.

As usual the author’s note/extras at the end are wonderful.

Some quotes I liked:

“Children should always be believed until proven otherwise.”

“Fear was the scariest of emotions and it nestled there, growing ever stronger and sprouting shoots, a seed in the fertile soil of doubt.”

“Never let fears get in the way of happiness, because fear can lead to such irrational reasoning, and we can make dreadful mistakes, saying things we can’t take back.”

“And as she grieved, she realized that she had never trusted the world to keep herself or those she loved safe. From the moment of her mother’s death, she had known that terror could be around the next corner at any moment. Had there ever been a time when she felt the clutch of fear in her gut loosen its grip, so that she could have faith in the future?”

“And fear is really the most omnipresent of emotions, isn’t it? Fear and panic can be crippling for all concerned.”

“Hatred, revenge—they’re just as bad as trying to protect yourself from more hurt—they can make you brittle inside. And if you’re brittle, you break. One way or another, you break.”

“I believe it’s called ‘irrational reasoning.’ It’s what happens to people when they’re scared”

“It’s funny how things work out, isn’t it? I mean, it’s like dominoes—you touch one and then the others start to go, and sometimes they fall in the right direction and one person knows another and it all opens up like a flower.”

Is this the last Maisie Dobbs book? If so I’ll miss this series but feel I will feel satisfied having gotten to read all of the books. If it’s not the end I’ll look forward to future books and hope that I’ll be able to read them. A friend who read it recently thought this would be the last book because of the way it ended, and I’ve seen others make the same conjecture, but I can easily imagine this series continuing. I do see a book scheduled to be published in 2022, [book:A Sunlit Weapon|57355070], that doesn’t necessarily look like another Maisie Dobbs book. I’m curious about it and have shelved it on my to read shelf.

The tearing up of the letter killed me but 4-1/2 stars rounded up. show less

Maisie Dobbs has her hands full balancing work and family life with her adopted daughter. Her routine has her spending the first part of the week in London, juggling her private investigation business and her war work for an intelligence agency, assessing the psychological fitness and readiness of agents being trained to infiltrate occupied France. Her latest investigation crosses over into her intelligence work. A young boy who works as a courier for the government has witnessed a murder while delivering a message during an air raid, and he turns to Maisie for help. The trail leads to members of the French resistance.

The plot relies on too many coincidences, and the murder takes a back seat to intelligence operations. The developments show more in Maisie’s personal life are the highlight of the book. Maisie consoles her daughter, Anna, and her best friend, Priscilla, as they face the loss of those dear to them, and Maisie and her beau, American diplomat Mark Scott reach a crossroad in their relationship. show less

Maisie Dobbs is now working for the SOE under Robbie MacFarlane giving agents a psychological assessment prior to their deployment overseas. She's also investigating a murder that young Freddie Hackett witnessed while running messages across London. With agents being killed and going missing, and MacFarlane putting up roadblocks to her investigation, Maisie's stress levels are rising and it's trickling over into her personal life and relationship with American Mark Scott. Not one of Winspear's best works, but still a quick enjoyable read with historical interest.

Maisie Dobbs is one of my all time favorite heroines. Her thoughtful approach to her life has actually inspired me on occasion. I knew what was coming at some point in this story, authors can play with small details of history, but something as consequential as the bombing of Pearl Harbor isn’t one of those things. As the tale progressed, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t worry that the reader’s time with Maisie was coming to a close as a result of the changes in her personal and professional life, but my hope truly is that there are more adventures for we readers with Maisie and her family. Like Maisie said, there is hope.