The Black Tower

_The Black Tower_ by Louis Bayard is a very enjoyable historical fiction/mystery set in Paris and its environs during the period of the Bourban Bourbon Restoration, with numerous flashbacks to the Terror of the Revolution. It is a period of huge turmoil and horror for France, where hope and possibility were mingled with despair and the worst elements of the human heart. The story proper begins as the narrator, Dr. Hector Carpentier, recalls for us what is perhaps the most eventful period of his life. It is a time when he was struggling to find his place in a world full of both personal and political upheaval and whose most memorable event may have been his seemingly chance meeting with Eugène François Vidocq, the famous former show more criminal turned police investigator, considered by many to be the father of modern criminology. As Carpentier tells us:

I’m a man of a certain age – old enough to have been every kind of fool – and I find to my surprise that the only counsel I have to pass on is this: never let your name be found in a dead man’s trousers.

Unfortunately for him, Carpentier has fallen prey to just such an occurrence and as a result becomes enmeshed in an investigation involving murder and conspiracy that reaches to the highest levels of French society and threatens to engulf the nation in yet another political upheaval that could destroy what little remains of its tattered foundations. We learn, as events progress, that Louis-Charles the young son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, once thought to have perished in destitution while a prisoner in the eponymous Black Tower, may actually have survived and be in line to claim his rightful place as Louis XVII. Naturally there are many parties with a vested interest to see that this does not come about and the main story revolves around the efforts of Vidocq and Carpentier as they attempt to unravel the mystery of numerous bodies that keep accumulating in apparent connection to the afore-mentioned note bearing Hector’s name. As the mystery deepens and they are led to a strange and simple man going by the name of Charles Rapskeller who appears to be the centre of it all, the two men meet with greater resistance that threatens not only their lives, but the welfare of the nation.

Interspersed with the main narrative are sections from the diary of one of the former dauphin’s keepers. Written tersely in a sort of shorthand, they still manage to provide a bleak and moving picture of the horrors to which the former rulers of France were subjected. In both the flashbacks and the story proper Bayard excels at depicting characters that are people whose lives and circumstances are the result of the world around them and the events that have occurred in their lives. It is in these aspects that I think Bayard’s work shows its most compelling aspect. Regardless of how you feel about monarchy vs. democracy and the ‘realities’ of bringing about necessary political change, Bayard manages to compellingly show us that every action (or revolution) has a human cost. Ultimately this is a book that explores that human cost by taking a view of France from the Revolution to the Restoration and examining the impact of the turmoil of these events on individuals from the lowest to the highest levels of society (which flip-flopped throughout the period). It is in this personal examination of great political events and a concentration on well-drawn characters, without forgoing the complexity both of the people involved and the events into which they are thrown, that Bayard has his greatest success. Added to that is Bayard’s skill as a writer which makes the story move along at a brisk pace with many happy turns of phrase. All in all a very enjoyable reading experience. show less

The premise tugged at me because of The Man in the Iron Mask, the whole deal with Richard III and the princes in the tower and all those women who claimed to be Anastasia, Grand Duchess of Russia, and it is a little of all those. The inclusion of Vidocq adds a veneer of hard-boiled detective which is weird for this period (and locale) of history, but strangely it works. It balances the social striving that consumes a lot of the lives of everyone else, Hector included. And poor old Hector is in need of structure and stability, especially once he’s hit with the cyclone that is Vidocq. Oh is he ever the man out of his element. Eventually he gets up to speed though and proves an able “assistant” for the hard-driving Vidocq.

Like any show more good piece of historical fiction, this book blends the real and the unreal so skilfully that it’s hard to distinguish. Hector Carpentier, his family and friends are wholly fictional, but the royal family and Vidocq are not and provide anchors of believability. Then there is Hector’s narration. He’s yanked out of his comfortable self-pity by Vidocq’s driving enthusiasm and persistence and his whole attitude of surrender, first to his circumstances then to the pull of the conspiracy theory. The way he tells the tale has the ring of truth. Most of it is conversational and there are no “as you know, Bob’s” at least none so glaring that I noticed. Luckily I knew enough about the French Revolution and Restoration to understand what was not explicitly explained. This time period really came alive for me in the broad strokes and in the details. The journal reports were especially squirm-inducing.

Why does the Aristocracy persist? Why do people who largely have been abused by it, seek to restore it? Why do most attempts to replace it fail? Why are humans so damned competitive and suspicious? Why do so few of us have deep compassion? Where does Vidocq get his wonderful toys? These are just some of the questions to turn over while you read about the missing would-be King of France. show less

I'm a man of a certain age—old enough to have been every kind of fool—and I find to my surprise that the only counsel I have to pass on is this: Never let your name be found in a dead man's trousers.

So begins the adventure of a lifetime for Hector Carpentier. Why was his name on the dead stranger's person? That's what the great Vidocq of the Sûreté would like to know. Vidocq's suspicions of Carpentier gradually becomes trust. Together the men begin to unravel a mystery with ties to the Revolution that its survivors in Restoration era Paris have tried hard to forget. Could it be possible that the dauphin, Louis XVII, survived his imprisonment in the Temple? Someone certainly thinks he's alive, and they're doing their best to make show more sure he doesn't stay that way.

I had no idea where Bayard was headed with this historical thriller. The story was perfectly paced. I never rushed ahead of the narrative to speculate about what would come next. Bayard found the right balance between suspense and humor and continually surprised me with both. This kind of historical mystery has long been popular with novelists. (Think of all the novels based on the premise that the Grand Duchess Anastasia survived the execution of the Russian Tsar's family.) Bayard's novel has to be among the best of this niche of literature. show less

There are few stories more heartbreaking than those of children punished for the crimes of their parents. For the children of deposed royalty, there may not even be a specific crime but just a need to destroy the line of inheritance. The Black Tower by Louis Bayard is based on the "lost dauphin", the young son of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, who supposedly died in the Black Tower at the age of ten after his parents were captured during the Revolution. There were hundreds of impostors later who claimed to be the now grown Louis XVII, actually spirited away before his reported death.

The Black Tower tells the story of a doctor, Hector Carpentier, who attended young Louis-Charles (Louis XVII) in the tower. Some of the story is told show more through the medical journal of Carpentier that details some of the actual purported mistreatments of the young boy. Carpentier's son, also Hector, is approached by a detective, Vidocq, when his name is found in a dead man's possession. It is of course actually his father that the man was looking for but the young doctor-in-training is intrigued and is pulled in to the investigation which leads to the discovery of the possible dauphin. This is a fantastic historical mystery with compelling characters and a real sense of loss. There is a heart-breaking scene between the would-be king and his older sister, the Duchess d'Angouleme.

I would love to know if Bayard plans on featuring Vidocq in another novel. He is a fantastic criminalist because he was once a criminal -- which is a very fascinating idea.

http://webereading.com/2009/03/never-let-your-name-be-found-in-dead.html show less

The French Revolution-- now a memory. However, memories are restirred in Louis Bayard's The Black Tower, wherein Dr. Hector Carpentier is embroiled in a mystery when he discovers a dead man bearing his name and address. Into the scene comes Inspector Vidocq, and together Carpentier and Vidocq are thrown into a series of events that takes them back to the bloody days of the revolution and the whereabouts of Louis XVII, the boy who would have been king of France.

I thought this book was delicious. I'm not too well-versed in mysteries and most of the mysteries I've read have been your typical British-manor types. So it was entirely refreshing to read a mystery set in France, and historical France at that. Bayard does a good job of show more recreating the era. His setting is impeccably well-researched and atmospheric. A lot of the time mysteries focus solely on the mystery so I appreciated the way Bayard focused on the whole package.

The premise of the mystery is also intriguing. Like Anastasia, another lost royal, the fate of Louis XVII is tantalizingly mysterious. The mystery is clever, twisting and winding in ways one wouldn't necessarily expect it to go. I think Louis Bayard has created a fantastic adventure with Vidocq and The Black Tower. I look forward to reading more. show less

This is a book that grabs you from sentence one and doesn't let go until the end. Louis Bayard has accomplished something rare in historical fiction: using a first person account, he manages to put the reader in a time and place, in this case 19th century Paris, without resorting to long descriptions the narrator wouldn't bother to make. His Paris comes alive organically, with all of its characters -- from the poor living in rat-infested squalor, to the petite bourgeousie, the nobility, and criminals and royalty -- and describes the smells, the monuments, the political climate, the weather and so many other period details so as to make you feel like you are there. That he also writes beautifully and has crafted a story that unfolds show more exquisitely and at a perfect pace makes this a great read and one I will want to return to again and again.

The narrator in question is Hector Carpentier, a doctor of sorts, who has frittered away his family's cash and whose mother has turned their home into a boarding house. He is drafted into helping solve a murder by feared police inspector Vidocq, an actual historical character, and in the process discovers that Louis-Charles (Louis the 17th), the son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, believed killed as a child by revolutionaries under Napoleon, may still be alive.

While the real star of the book is Restoration Paris itself, Vidocq is a close second in all his animal ferocity and uncanny brilliance. Think a French Sherlock Holmes with an edge. The supporting characters are fleshed out beautifully, both men and women, rich and poor, and I'm not describing them because their identity and characters unfold with the twists and turns in the story and are best savored without knowing too much going in. Every time I thought the story had nowhere to go, it went somewhere new, and the characters continued to develop in their complexity and nuance. show less

The Black Tower is a what-could-have-been murder mystery. Set in 1818, not long after Napoleon had been deposed and the French monarchy reinstated, the novel begins when a man is found murdered in the streets of Paris, carrying a calling card with Dr. Hector Carpentier’s name on it.

Enter Eugene Francois Vidocq, one of the most legendary and feared detectives of the early 19th century (and such an influence that Victor Hugo modeled both Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert on him; a Wikipedia search on Vidocq reveals that he is credited with introducing record-keeping, criminology, and ballistics to the field of criminal investigation). Vidocq has just established the very first plainclothes police force, said to be composed of some very show more dangerous ex-cons. It’s into this world, where the line between the law and crime is smudged, that Dr. Hector Carpentier enters.

On the surface, the dead man, Leblanc, and Carpentier have nothing in common. But the mystery soon leads Carpentier and Vidocq into a dangerous search into the secrets of the murdered royal family—and entertain the thought that Louis-Charles, the son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and who was imprisoned for many long months, might still be alive.

I’m always skeptical of historical fiction that’s written in the first person—but surprisingly, Louis Bayard manages to make it work in this book. The Parisian underworld is sufficiently creepy, and Carpentier, plays a perfect (albeit watered-down) Dr. Watson to Vidocq’s Sherlock Holmes. I just loved inspector Vidocq, for his razor-sharp wit and ability to transform into another character through disguise. He’s arrogant and cocky (and not above strutting like a peacock when someone compliments him!), but very sure of his abilities as an investigator. He's also sarcastic. One of my favorite quotes from this novel:

And then his voice shifts into a sharper register.
"Of course, if you don't have the stomach for this work..."
"I have the stomach," I answer, lifting my head towards his. "It so happens
I have a heart, too."
"Oh, yes," he says, breezily. "I've got one of those myself. I keep it in a
box somewhere."

There’s a hefty amount of political intrigue and espionage in this novel, made even juicier by the idea that the son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette might have still been alive in 1818, long after a time period which everyone wished to forget. The novel is well-written; not a word is wasted here. It’s a fast-paced and utterly convincing novel. show less