The Game

Review 1: This is the seventh book by Ms. King in the Mary Russell series. It is every bit as sumptuous as its cover. It contains her usual cast of eccentrics placed in lovingly constructed scenery with a complex plot and brisk direction. It is a thoroughly enjoyable adventure story with a good deal of the fascination of its inspiration, Rudyard Kipling's Kim.

Each of the books in this series has its own flavor. For example, The Beekeeper's Apprentice is the most Sherlockian, with all the traditional deductions and observations, while Justice Hall is an intense drama of complex and layered personalities. The deep introspection of A Letter of Mary and O Jerusalem contrasts with the English Gothic of The Moor and the modernist A Monstrous Regiment of Women. These books are all different, interesting and well written. The latest in the series maintains the string.

All these tales feature Mary Russell, a brilliant and growing identity with charm and a fascination of her own. In the background is the comforting presence of Sherlock himself, watching and marveling at this unique individual grown from the troubled girl he met on the Downs years ago.

Each book brings new aspects of "Russell" to the light, mostly by placing her in a variety of superb backgrounds. The author has a genius for creating illuminating moments and for swiftly drawing beautiful portraits of both people and places in a few, vivid words. Her prose recalls Roger Zelazny's ability to insert gemlike vignettes in the midst of otherwise furious action tales.

The Game is rousing good adventure story set in India with all the traditional characters; the varied population of India and the Grand Trunk Road, wily Pathans, treacherous dacoits, a cheeky beggar boy, an inscrutable rajah and a dedicated British spymaster. For good measure, some new characters are added to the mix; a rich American Communist, some Indian flappers, a match-making mama, sinister dwarves, a recuperating Mycroft, and, of course, the Irish Buddhist himself, Kimball O'Hara.

The point of her books is usually not the mystery to be solved, but rather the trip to the solution and the people met along the way. So it is with The Game. The mystery is not really a mystery and the story is artfully contrived to maneuver the characters to illustrate their natures, not to dazzle the reader with a complex plot. It's fun, but no intellectual challenge and it is one of the least "Sherlockian" of all the series. The Master symbolically reprises his earlier trip to Tibet, this time with Russell, searching for the missing O'Hara, his companion on the earlier trip. The journey, not the destination.

Reviewed by: Philip K. Jones, March 2004

[Referring to the paperback edition, price approx $7]

Review 2: This is a very good book by Laurie R. King. It is set in 1924 and the plot is that Mycroft Holmes gets an indication that Kim is alive and held captive in India. Thus Sherlock Holmes and wife go to the rescue as Kipling would have desired (for the unnamed SIS.)

A most interesting blend of Kipling and Doyle involving intelligence, pig sticking and biting social commentary. This is a most amusing romp through India, the Empire, etc. A classic novel.

Reviewed by: Dick M., 2005