Captain Cut-Throat
(1955)
1955 Hamish Hamilton blurb:
'Let us be masters of the Straits for six hours, and we shall be
masters of the world.'
That was what Napoleon Bonaparte had written to Admiral
Latouche-Tréville. In August, 1805, the Grand Army was
posed at Boulogne for the invasion of England. Napoleon's star
was rising, his stratagems seemed to have succeeded. The British
fleets had been lured away to the Mediterranean and the West Indies,
leaving the coast defenceless.
The hour had come. Why didn't the Emperor invade?
Napoleon, it is true, had worries that his opponents well knew, from
both republicans and old royalists, and rebellious generals threatening
mutiny. And now, as tension grew, there was a terror by night.
'Yours sincerely—Captain Cut-throat.'
At the Boulogne Camp some unknown person, who seemed all but invisible
even in full light, was murdering sentries and leaving behind only that
mocking message. Soldiers who did not fear battle could
nevertheless fear a solitary death. Captain Cut-throat might be
the weapon of someone inciting the only danger which might defeat
Napoleon's plans. Even so, an invasion would have been worth all
the risk if only...
That 'if' is the theme of a sensational melodrama whic is also a
problem in human emotions. Its characters move against a rich
historical background: Alan Hepburn, captured agent of the British
Foreign Office, forced against his will on the track of Captain
Cut-throat; Madeleine, his French wife, who believed he had deserted
her; Ida de St. Elme, a lady of great talents in several directions;
Joseph Fouché, the red-haired and satanic Minister of Police,
whose real views and devious plans no man can ever fathom.
These are only a few of the people in a crowded scene which
reconstructs with vividness and historical fidelity the suspense of
those last days when secret services played against each other in the
dark, and the gamble must be taken one way or the other. The
author of The Devil in Velvet
has never written so powerful a story.
My review:
An adventure / espionage thriller
set during the Napoleonic Wars, on the eve of the invasion of
Britain. Plenty of tension and action, including a splendid scene
at the Field of Balloons, and a lightning-fast and razor-sharp duel of
wits between the hero and Joseph Fouché culminating in the
staggering revelation of Captain Cut-throat's identity. There is,
however, far more riding and rescuing than ratiocination, so the book
does not really compare with the more detection-oriented historical
novels.
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