The Poison Machine (A Hunt and Hooke Novel)

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The Poison Machine takes place a year after the end of the previous book, The Bloodless Boy and follows Harry Hunt, as he becomes estranged from his mentor, Robert Hooke, early in the book and gets involved in international mysteries and assassination plots. Harry Hunt has fallen out with Robert Hooke and is summoned to windswept Norfolk. Shoring up a riverbank some workers have discovered the skeleton of a dwarf - that of Captain Jeffrey Hudson, famously once given to Queen Henrietta Maria in a pie. Except no one knew he was dead, because someone has been impersonating him. The Audible narrator was not great. Though he was proficient with the numerous accents required of him, he droned on and on. I would listen for about 40 minutes, then realize I had no idea what was happening in the story. So, I would either re-listen, or play catch up at home with the physical book. This was not helped by the fact that numerous characters are introduced within each chapter and from chapter to chapter making a poor narrator a significant challenge. In the end, I gave this 3 stars (rather than 2) because anything less than 3 usually means it was consigned to my DNF list. Hunt and Fields travel to Paris, where they encounter peril, treachery, and even a flying man. Here they hear of a plot to kill the English Catholic Queen and her peers…

But with his task becoming more complicated at every turn, Harry’s investigations lead him far from London, across the sea to the dangerous streets of Paris in search of a missing man and a famous diamond. But with more than one party taking an interest in his mission, and with impostors, assassins and a threat to the Queen’s life to contend with, will Harry be able to escape this adventure with his life? As with the first book in the series, The Poison Machine effortlessly blends together fact and fiction, combining real events and real people with fictionalised and imagined scenarios, with Lloyd using his knowledge of Robert Hooke’s diary, the paper of the Royal Society, and his knowledge of the period (gained whilst studying for an MA in the History of Ideas) to create a detailed, complex, and evolving world that draws the reader in to the period and its many tensions. Those with knowledge of the period will be delighted by cameos from some illustrious figures, including Sir Issac Newton and Denis Papin, as well as references to the key scientific and philosophical debates of the period. The atmospheric feeling that runs through the entire book really draws you in to the seedy underworld of London in contrast to the opulence of the Queens Court.. I loved it. I am a bit of an Historical Novel geek and I lapped up every single word. Harry is a unstoppable force and is determined to get at the truth no matter what.

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At that time England, following the Restoration of the monarchy, was under the rule of King Charles II and his wife, Queen Catherine of Braganza. It was a period of great upheaval, where mistrust was very much rife. Queen Catherine was a Catholic who married King Charles II in 1662 as part of an alliance between England and Portugal. By no means a favourite, due to her religious beliefs, she was seen by some as relatively inconsequential, but as Hunt discovers, a covert operation is being undertaken to poison the Queen, alongside many of her Catholic cohorts, at a not-to-distant gathering in London. But in Norfolk, he finds that some Royal workers shoring up a riverbank have made a grim discovery — the skeleton of a dwarf. Harry is able to confirm that the skeleton is that of Captain Jeffrey Hudson, a prominent member of the court once famously given to the Queen in a pie. Except no one knew Hudson was dead, because another man had been impersonating him. London, 1679 —A year has passed since the sensational attempt to murder King Charles II, but London is still a viper’s nest of rumored Catholic conspiracies, and of plots against them in turn. When Harry Hunt — estranged from his mentor Robert Hooke — is summoned to the remote and windswept marshes of Norfolk, he is at first relieved to get away from the place. London, 1679 — A year has passed since the sensational attempt to murder King Charles II, but London is still a viper’s nest of rumoured Catholic conspiracies, and of plots against them in turn. When Harry Hunt — estranged from his mentor Robert Hooke — is summoned to the remote and windswept marshes of Norfolk, he is at first relieved to get away from the place.

I’d like to share more of the plot but the second half of the book is all unravelling the conspiracies and double-crossings and building to the big finish and it’s all simply too well-crafted to reveal any of that here. Wonderfully imagined and wonderfully written, this is an impeccable historical mystery… Superb!’ Lee Child A shame, because the basic story of the body found, the doppelganger missing and the quest for answers is good. The diamond in the cannonball is also good. Even the escape from the Bastille was pretty clever since it feeds into Harry's natural philosopher strengths. The return of a clever cipher, the French commissionaire that is a frenemy were all good themes. But the story could have used new characters for villains, without recycling and/or tainting the old and it would have been much stronger for it.

The Poison Machine

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.

I confess I was glad of the cast list at the start of the book as there are quite a few names to retain. However, following on from The Bloodless Boy, in The Poison Machine, the main characters become more distinct to the reader. I especially liked the development of Grace because she refuses to conform to the norms of the times. She’s a well balanced combination of strength and vulnerability that makes her feel all the more real. I’m not sure I could endure some of her adventures with quite such equanimity! However, there is a problem as someone else has been calling himself “Jeffrey Hudson” for a number of years. This man is presumed to be a French spy, who has now returned to France. Hmmm...this is a tough one. My enjoyment was a bit marred by the narrator of the Audible version of this book. I listened half the time and read the physical book the other half of the time. I'm married, with three splendid children and a very lovely wife, and I live in the Brecon Beacons.

Advance Praise

The book has different story paths and we go along with Harry on his as well as getting insight into the shady bad guys and their dastardly plans, murder/robbery and darker still. King, Queen and all manners of important people are throughout the book as well as a stint in one of the jails, ooft I really felt for the person at that point. The author really paints a vivid picture of the horrific conditions and depending on your imagination, quite boak worthy. Where the first book felt firmly grounded in typical mystery genre conventions, this leaned more towards thriller, which definitely impacted my enjoyment. For one, I don’t tend to enjoy thrillers in general, and for two, Lloyd once again showcased his knowledge of the era, which I loved in the first book, but here slowed the pace of what was trying to be big action sequences with plot twist after plot twist. I also struggled not seeing the interactions between Hunt and Hooke.