The Strangler Vine

Starred review from January 5, 2015
Colonial India in 1837 comes alive in Carter’s superior fiction debut. Col. Patrick Buchanan, the chief military secretary of the Honorable East India Company in Calcutta, directs a former company officer, the Sherlock Holmes–like Jeremiah Blake, to search for Xavier Mountstuart, the author of popular romance fiction rumored to be based on fact, who disappeared after visiting the headquarters of the company’s thuggee department. The officer who runs this department is determined to rid the country of the threat from the murderous thuggee gangs. William Avery, a callow young company officer, is to accompany Blake. Buchanan warns Avery that while success will gain him whatever posting he desires, failure will doom him to end his days in the “most remote malarial hole in Bengal.” The quest takes some surprising turns, and Carter (Anthony Blunt: His Lives) is masterly at keeping the reader guessing what’s really going on. The final revelation is both jaw-dropping and plausible. Agent: Bill Hamilton, A.M. Heath (U.K.).

February 1, 2015
Exotically detailed and sprinkled with derring-do, Carter's historical novel follows an inscrutable old hand and a well-intentioned rookie on a quest that takes them deep into the heart of colonial India.Part manhunt for a controversial poet who has disappeared in feared Thuggee bandit country, part panorama of early Victorian India under the rule of the Honorable East India Company, British journalist Carter's debut is rooted in an impressively evoked period setting. The year is 1837, and the Indian subcontinent, ruled for profit by the British, is beginning to show signs of the discontent that will boil over as mutiny a couple of decades later. Ensign William Avery, an officer in the company's army, is in Calcutta waiting for his summons to a cavalry regiment when he is given an alternative mission: to support Jeremiah Blake, a company man who has gone native, on a secret mission to find Xavier Mountstuart, the famous Scottish writer whose latest book has fed into the mood of unrest and who has broken an agreement to leave India. Avery and Blake's journey is Carter's chance to unroll a swathe of colorful background detail, from bazaars and tiger hunts to spectacular feasts. And along the way, as Blake questions Avery's assumptions about company policy and the natives, a light is shed on the corrupt, exploitative core of colonialism. Action is intermittent until the book's later chapters, when an assassination attempt is followed by a capture, a chase, a double cross and a fight to the death. Avery and Blake are simultaneously transformed into "the toast of India" and given a tough lesson in political expediency. Making pleasing use of the developing bromance/adventure formula and a wealth of research, Carter delivers an engaging, skeptical, modern take on empire.

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Starred review from November 15, 2014
Shades of H. Rider Haggard and Rudyard Kipling! Fans of the old-school adventure genre, in which brave heroes plunge into an unspeakable wilderness, finding danger at every step, should rejoice. This isn't so much a mystery (though there is plenty of violence, the murder of a key character, and the disappearance of another one) as it is a stranger-in-a-strange land, the tiger-is-about-to-pounce yarn. Carter takes us into the India of 1837, where the Raj still rules and where a cult whose members are called Thugs artfully strangled their victims, and where the East India Company, which has a private army, is busy sucking the wealth out of the country. William Avery, a young ensign with the company in Calcutta, is there because of one Xavier Montstuart (based on an actual writer, Philip Meadows Taylor), whose romanticized versions of India stand in sharp contrast to the disease, the filth, and the corrupt British hierarchy that Avery encounters. Montstuart has gone missing after publishing an expos' of the British in Calcutta. Avery receives the assignment to go into the country to find the missing author. His guide is a Brit gone native, Jeremiah Blake, whose deductive powers are a nod to Sherlock Holmes. Carter includes very helpful historical notes and a glossary. An absolute corker of a read, with marvelous characterization and trenchant historical analysis.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

October 1, 2014

In 1937 India, disenchanted soldier William Avery and culturally acclimatized secret political agent Jeremiah Blake start by trying to find a missing writer and end up enmeshed in the dangerous Thuggee cult. Long-listed for the 2014 Baileys Women's Prize and short-listed for the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger Award; Carter has already done well with her nonfiction books, Anthony Blunt and George, Nicholas and Wilhelm.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from November 15, 2014

From the thrilling prolog to the satisfying conclusion, former journalist and nonfiction author Carter's (Anthony Blunt: His Lives) first foray into fiction hooks the reader into a ripping adventure ride, full of danger, conspiracy, and trickery. Young William Avery, a soldier in the service of the British East India Company in 1837 India, receives an unexpected assignment. He is to accompany Jeremiah Blake, a secret political agent with an astonishing talent for languages and Sherlock Holmesian disguises, on a mission to find the scandalous British writer Xavier Mountstuart, who is missing. Each twist and turn of the duo's journey draws them deeper into the mystery of the sinister Thuggee cult and closer to uncovering the shocking truth at the heart of the puzzle of Mountstuart's disappearance. VERDICT Carter's clever historical thriller is a winner. The details of life in 1830s India are enthralling, as is the history of the Thugs. Historical fiction fans who love action, adventure, and intrigue supported by incredible research will devour this novel, which was longlisted for the 2014 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction. [See Prepub Alert, 9/15/14.]--Barbara Clark-Greene, Groton P.L., CT

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2014

From the thrilling prolog to the satisfying conclusion, former journalist and nonfiction author Carter's (Anthony Blunt: His Lives) first foray into fiction hooks the reader into a ripping adventure ride, full of danger, conspiracy, and trickery. Young William Avery, a soldier in the service of the British East India Company in 1837 India, receives an unexpected assignment. He is to accompany Jeremiah Blake, a secret political agent with an astonishing talent for languages and Sherlock Holmesian disguises, on a mission to find the scandalous British writer Xavier Mountstuart, who is missing. Each twist and turn of the duo's journey draws them deeper into the mystery of the sinister Thuggee cult and closer to uncovering the shocking truth at the heart of the puzzle of Mountstuart's disappearance. VERDICT Carter's clever historical thriller is a winner. The details of life in 1830s India are enthralling, as is the history of the Thugs. Historical fiction fans who love action, adventure, and intrigue supported by incredible research will devour this novel, which was longlisted for the 2014 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction. [See Prepub Alert, 9/15/14.]--Barbara Clark-Greene, Groton P.L., CT

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.