The Infidel Stain
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15
Ratings1
Average rating4
Blake and Avery investigate a serial killer stalking the streets of London in this stunning sequel to M. J. Carter’s lauded fiction debut, The Strangler Vine. London, 1841. Returned from their adventures in India, Jeremiah Blake and William Avery have both had their difficulties adapting to life in Victorian England. Moreover, time and distance have weakened the close bond between them, forged in the jungles of India. Then a shocking series of murders in the world of London’s gutter press forces them back together. The police seem mysteriously unwilling to investigate, then connections emerge between the murdered men and the growing and unpredictable movement demanding the right to vote for all. In the back streets of Drury Lane, among criminals, whores, pornographers, and missionaries, Blake and Avery must race against time to find the culprit before he kills again. But what if the murderer is being protected by some of the highest powers in the land?
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This takes place three years after Avery & Blake met and went adventuring in India. They're both back in England and, much to Avery's disappointment, they're back on a case. Disappointment because Avery would have wished that Blake had called for him but an an external forces was the one who effectuated the reunion. Generally I liked this, particularly because [a:Alex Wyndham 7238104 Alex Wyndham https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] delivers another fantastic audio, however I had some disappointment. REASONSA): There is a murder(s)/mystery but a giant bulk of the story reads more like literary fiction, dedicated to apprise the reader about early Victorian England and all it's complicated, Dickensian, serpentine history. All very interesting, truly, but unimportant to purported mystery.B): Blake remains an omniscient & inscrutable cypher. We know nothing about him. His thoughts are only occasionally made explicit, the why's we can only intuit. How he feels about Avery we can only extrapolate. Despite the passage of time and his experiences in India & Afghanistan Avery remains a bit of a naif, aimless & lost, and he moons over Blake like a mesmerized calf. I do appreciate that though a good man Avery is very much a man of his times and station. Maybe I read too much romance but I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping something develops between Avery & Blake in the next book. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that that's a strong incentive to go on, that and I already own Bk.3, which seems to be the last, but I'm prepared to disappointed.
