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A master of suspense in a league of his own... It is January 1721. London is reeling from the effects of the greatest financial scandal of the age, the collapse of the South Sea Bubble. William Spandrel, a penniless mapmaker, is offered a discharge of his debts by Sir Theodore Janssen, a director of the South Sea Company, on one condition: he must secretly convey an important package to a friend of Janssen's, Ysbrand de Vries, in Amsterdam. The package safely delivered, Spandrel barely survives an attempt on his life, only to be blamed for the murder of de Vries himself. When de Vries's secretary, his English wife and the package go missing shortly afterwards, Spandrel realises that he has become a pawn in several people's games. British Government agents, and others, are on his trail, believing that the mysterious package contains secrets that could spark a revolution in England. Spandrel's only chance of survival is to recover the package and place its contents in the right hands. But whose are the right hands? And what exactly are the contents? Once again 'the master of suspense' draws the reader into a web of irresistible narrative, this time set in an age remote from our own, yet in some respects strangely familiar.… (más)
It's 1721, the great South Sea Bubble has collapsed**, and a mapmaker, heavily in debt, is persuaded by his debtor that he must travel to Holland and deliver a package. Turns out it contains a green book listing all those government officials who had been bribed to help investors make money from the bubble.
The Goddard books I have read all have some sort of multi-continent chase in them and this one is a whopper. It takes place in England, Holland, Switzerland, Germany and Italy as several groups pursue the rogues who stole the "green" book, which itself had been purloined. Shades of Louise de la Valliere and deception abounds on all sides with poor Spandrel caught in the middle. The Captain was my favorite character.
My only gripe with the book is that I had no sense of place. Here was a marvelous opportunity to present the results of research into traveling conditions, housing, how people lived, etc., in the early eighteenth century. Instead the focus seems solely on the characters and the chase. This may also be one of those books in which the audiobook narrator enhances the reading. Very well read.
A delve into the 18th century in this novel, set in 1721 during the South Sea Bubble scandal, the Enron of its day. William Spandrel in this case is Goddard's hero, sucked into events outside his knowledge or control whilst making a delivery to Amsterdam to discharge one of his debts. Up to Goddard's usual high standards of research and plotting in an interesting historical context. ( )
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
Do not combine with the book having the same title written by Robert B. Parker.
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▾Referencias
Referencias a esta obra en fuentes externas.
Wikipedia en inglés
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▾Descripciones del libro
A master of suspense in a league of his own... It is January 1721. London is reeling from the effects of the greatest financial scandal of the age, the collapse of the South Sea Bubble. William Spandrel, a penniless mapmaker, is offered a discharge of his debts by Sir Theodore Janssen, a director of the South Sea Company, on one condition: he must secretly convey an important package to a friend of Janssen's, Ysbrand de Vries, in Amsterdam. The package safely delivered, Spandrel barely survives an attempt on his life, only to be blamed for the murder of de Vries himself. When de Vries's secretary, his English wife and the package go missing shortly afterwards, Spandrel realises that he has become a pawn in several people's games. British Government agents, and others, are on his trail, believing that the mysterious package contains secrets that could spark a revolution in England. Spandrel's only chance of survival is to recover the package and place its contents in the right hands. But whose are the right hands? And what exactly are the contents? Once again 'the master of suspense' draws the reader into a web of irresistible narrative, this time set in an age remote from our own, yet in some respects strangely familiar.
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(3.54)
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The Goddard books I have read all have some sort of multi-continent chase in them and this one is a whopper. It takes place in England, Holland, Switzerland, Germany and Italy as several groups pursue the rogues who stole the "green" book, which itself had been purloined. Shades of Louise de la Valliere and deception abounds on all sides with poor Spandrel caught in the middle. The Captain was my favorite character.
My only gripe with the book is that I had no sense of place. Here was a marvelous opportunity to present the results of research into traveling conditions, housing, how people lived, etc., in the early eighteenth century. Instead the focus seems solely on the characters and the chase. This may also be one of those books in which the audiobook narrator enhances the reading. Very well read.
**The story of the South Seas bubble is fascinating and well-recounted in this wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Sea_Company. How little times have changed. (