Nemesis by Rory Clements

3.5 Stars

This is the third book written by Rory Clements that centres around Tom Wilde, American Professor of History at Cambridge.  It picks up where Nucleus leaves off and features some familiar characters - Philip Eaton, beaten but unbowed and the divine Lydia Morris.  It also has, in common with the first two books, a propensity to wax lyrical about Tom's Rudge motorcycle and it's mighty 500cc engine.

Instead of being set just before World War II, this book sees the start of the conflict in 1939 and is a mixture of real people and events and the fictional.  To be honest, it is the fictional that are the most interesting, especially the rather charismatic and enigmatic Marcus Marfield.

The settings move from pre-war France back to Cambridge and some exploration of the surrounding fens.  In comparison to Nucleus it is a little bit of a damp squib, but still a pretty strong tale.  The beauty of the book is not so much it's plot - which, despite the turbulent times and the heinous actions contained within it seems to meander rather than punch through - but in the characters.

Despite all their failings Tom Wilde and Philip Eaton read like real flesh and blood upon the page.  Quite how a Professor of History and an MI6 Agent are wound so intrinsically is still a little bit baffling (and I've now read all 3 books in the series) but they are and it works well.  Every character in the book reacts in odd ways sometimes, but completely in keeping with their character at all times.  Perhaps the strongest is Lydia, undoubted bluestocking but all the better for it.

There is a lot of seemingly random connection making in the book which can be hard to swallow and some of the violence is, perhaps, of the extreme variety.  I did find myself having to read some sections a couple of times to figure out what on earth was going on as the language can be obfuscatory.  Well worth persevering with though and has a strange ring of truth to it (as all the best Historical Fiction should).

I RECEIVED A FREE COPY OF THIS BOOK FROM READERS FIRST IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW.