Hello Readers,
This week is Murray Bailey week we’ll be looking at The Ash
Carter Series, throwback reviews of The Kate Blakemore Series and I will end
the week looking at Map of the Dead. Disclaimer I have worked with Murray
before, I have been lucky enough to receive a collection of books from
Murray himself in exchange for honest reviews.
Anyone who has followed my blog for a while I know I messed
up with this series – I read the second book before the first (oh
well). I still stand by what I said in the review for Singapore Girl I didn’t
think it made that much difference within the narrative of this book however me
being nosey did make me wonder whether I was missing something vital.
Ash Carter is an ex-Military Police Captain is forced into
working for the British who were governing Singapore. However, when he arrives
in Singapore, he finds himself in the middle of a much bigger
problem. He is tasked with uncovering a plot to attack the island. He clashes
with the army and the navy and makes friends and enemies in both camps. The
story is clever and well written with more than enough action and plot twists
to maintain this readers interest. With fascinating realistic characters, with
a real sense of history and the time and place.
It's a touch slow in places but that's necessary to build
up the complex scenarios as Ash Carter gradually works out what is going on. By
halfway, it becomes a real page-turner. There is a lot going on with tensions
slowly building the politicians, Army and Chinese Secret Societies. Of course,
not everyone is who they appear to be, nor are their motives. Ash has to
quickly figure out who's good, who's bad and how to prevent an attack when you
don't know who the assailant is or when they'll attack. However, with
pressure from politicians and the army growing and watching is every move, Ash
has other plans he is more interested in finding out who killed his friend. Ash
doesn't suffer fools gladly and he is prepared to break the law to get the
information and the results that he wants.
I love that it was clear that Bailey has done a lot of
research into the time period and geographical social norms and locations have
been used brilliantly. The research on Singapore during the post-WWII era, the
atmosphere of the poor versus the wealthy of that time and the unease between
the Chinese and the Japanese was done respectfully and well thought out.
Murray has a wonderful talent while writing just when you
think you know how his books are going to end without giving anything away bam
it all unravels. There's a fabulous climax during the Chinese New Year's
celebrations and a very satisfying conclusion. The plot was quite complicated
and there were several twists along the way making the reader wonder just who
Ash could trust and who was really pulling the strings. I
loved all the twists and red herrings leading to a satisfying conclusion that
took me by surprise and left me wanting more so I picked up Singapore Girl and
reread it right away.
Ash
Carter Series
Singapore 52
Comments
Post a Comment