by Jo Walton

We fast forward to 1960. Carmichael is the head of the Watch, and using an “Inner Watch” smuggling undesirables out of England. All the while Elvira has grown into a young woman and is being prepared to be presented to the Queen.

All of this as a peace summit is going to happen in London, riots are becoming more common over the practice of shipping people to the Continent without trial, and Elvira gets swept up in a riot and naively finds herself grouped with a faction that wants to bring back the King…Edward VIII. Who will tell on whom and who will survive as the fascists turn on each other?

Carmichael remains an enigma, a closeted, gay man in charge of state security. He reminds a bit of Canaris – playing games within the system while trying to not get caught. The ending makes one wonder, why someone just didn’t do before then. But perhaps the situation needed to reach a crisis point? Good, but the previous book was slightly better.

316 Pages

4/5