Robert J. Lloyd (2)

I liked this quite a bit. I don't know the history of The Royal Society, Robert Hooke or this era in great detail but it left me wanting to explore more. I found the characters all interesting with some invested emotion for them as the story progressed. My feeling is that it was well researched and that I was experiencing the London society of the times. There are some artistic liberties of course, that the author admits to, and the story has some action/thriller movie feel to it now and then. But there are enough unexpected turns and realism to make it a very good read.… (mere)

This is an accomplished debut effort. Set in London in the 1670s, Robert Hooke and Harry Hunt of the Royal Society are asked to help with the investigation into macabre murders with a distinctively scientific bent. Fittingly, given the protagonists, the story focuses as much on the 'why' as the 'who' of the story, and the place and time (with all the unsettling legacy of the Civil War and the Great Fire of London) is well drawn without miring the book in detail. The writing style suits the book well and gives a period feel without becoming archaic in tone.… (mere)

The Poison Machine is a follow-up to Robert J. Lloyd's The Bloodless Boy. Like the first volume in the series, it's set during the English restoration. The Poison Machine, however, moves from London—the scene of the previous volume—to the fens where a skeletonized corpse has been uncovered, and then to Paris.

The skeleton is that of Captain Jeffrey Hudson, a little person. But Hudson, or at least someone claiming to be him, but who is about a foot taller than Hudson was, has been living in the area since being freed from slavers. This Hudson explains his growth on the diet of fish he consumed in Africa.

The trip to Paris, an attempt to track down the faux Hudson, is undertaken by Harry Hunt, assistant to the scientist Robert Hook and Hunt's long-time friend Col. Fields, who fought on the side of Parliament in the Civil War. The two aren't just looking for Hudson. They're now looking for an enormous diamond that the first, shorter Hudson may have had on his person when he was killed. There may also be a plot afoot to kill the English queen and other well-known Catholics and poisoning seems to be epidemic in France. Once Hunt and Field arrive in Paris, all sorts of things begin to happen. I won't relate those here because, dear reader, the real fun is in the reading.

I had my doubts about The Poison Machine in the beginning. It took almost half to book for the plot to build up enough that I reached the just-one-more-chapter state of engagement. But said point was reached, and I found myself racing through the book's second half. If you enjoy historical mysteries enough to put up with an initial slow burn, you'll have no trouble enjoying this title.

The Poison Machine lacked two elements that I had particularly enjoyed in The Bloodless Boy. First, Hooke's role in this title is limited, and I missed having a chance to spend time with Hooke as imagined by Lloyd. Second, while The Poison Machine was built around political intrigues of the time, it's presentation of those politics wasn't particularly nuanced. I'm hoping that subsequent volumes will give readers more of Hooke and of period politics.

Even with these minor complaints, I still find Hunt and Hooke a very promising historical mystery series and am eager for the release of volume three (I'm assuming there will be one). The plot twists are significant, and, as I noted above, one becomes more and more engaged as the title progresses.

I received a free elctronic review copy of this title from the publisher; the opinions are my own.… (mere)

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The Bloodless Boy by Robert J. Lloyd is a historical fiction mystery taking place in London, 1678, the first in the Harry Hunt Adventures series. Mr. Lloyd is an English author; this is his first novel.

A dead young boy is found on the Fleet Rive, London 1678. The boy is drained of blood, and furthermore, has numbers inscribed on his skin.

Justice of Peace for Westminster, Sir Edmund Bury Godfrey blames chiefly the Catholics and enlists famous polymath Robert Hooke to help. Together with his assistant, Harry Hunt, Hooke attempts to solve the puzzle, all the while a plot against King Charles II is at hand.

Certainly, the first thingI noticed about The Bloodless Boy by Robert J. Lloyd was the language. The author wrote in the way English was spoken at the time, by intelligent people. This is one of those books written with intelligence, who don’t underestimate the reader. And I’m not ashamed to say I had to look words up. Thank goodness to e-Readers.

Mr. Lloyd evokes the atmosphere and spirit of Restoration London with the shadows of the Civil Wars still looming large. Harry Hunt, the protagonist and Hooke’s assistant, is too young to remember them but Hooke isn’t. The wars play a silent, but significant part in the setting of the novel as the conflicts’ physical, cultural, economic, and psychological burdens are always present.

The characters are vivid and flushed out, interesting, as well as intelligent. While I’ve heard of several of the historical figures (Hooke, King Charles II, and of course Isaac Newton), others, like Lord Shaftesbury were new to me.

Surprisingly with all the great characters and writing, the plot is story-driven. While the main characters immediately grabbed my attention, it was quickly abandoned to introduce new characters, detailed scientific methods, and facts which did not add to the story.

This is an ambitious story, however. It encompasses a mystery, scientific advances, politics, history, as well as historical figures which come to life. As many other historical fiction books, I enjoyed not only the narrative, but learning new facts as well.… (mere)