Anne Perry, We Shall Not Sleep

We Shall Not Sleep

Anne Perry

Ballantine, April 2007, $21.95, 304 pp.

ISBN 0345456602

The year is 1919 and the allies are taking back what they have lost to the German soldiers. The Reavley siblings all play different parts in this war but all are united on figuring out who was the man they call the Peacemaker. They call him that because he was maneuvering on creating an Anglo-German empire so that under their rule war could never break out. He failed but he is still trying to manipulate the outcome with England losing to Germany. If that fails too, he has hopes that he can get good terms for Germany in the armistice so that in a few years it will be a power once again.

Matthew Reaves gets word that one of the Peacemaker's top minions wants to meet with him and tell him and eventually the prime minister what is going on behind the scenes and who the Peacemaker is. They arrange to meet when Joseph, a chaplain in the trenches, is administering to his men. When Matthew arrives there he finds the man he comes to meet is injured and a nurse has been brutally mutilated, raped and killed and the policemen in charge arrests Matthew since he can't explain why he is there. His sister Judith, an ambulance driver, starts asking questions and eventually is able to keep her brother from prison. Time is running out but the three Reaves siblings must find out who the killer is if they want to see England safe and ferret out a traitor.

This is more than a mystery; it is a human epic that describes the affects of war on the line soldiers. As the war nears its end, people are wondering how they are going to fit into a world that is some much different than the one they have known before the war began. The mystery is top rate but it is the human drama that will move the hearts of the readers who empathize with the people adjusting to incredible societal changes. Anne Perry raises awareness as the audience will question their government's war decisions.

Harriet Klausner