The Eagle and the Viper

Starred review from January 25, 2021
What if The Day of the Jackal was set in 1801, and the target of the master assassin was Napoleon Bonaparte rather than Charles de Gaulle? That’s the fascinating premise of this standout novel by Estleman (the Amos Walker PI series), which draws inspiration from a real-life cabal, the Christmas Eve Plot of 1800. That scheme was the brainchild of Georges Cadoudal, a Royalist who sought to replace Napoleon with someone who could restore the Bourbons to the throne. When a plan to blow up Napoleon’s carriage goes awry, Cadoudal turns to an enigmatic killer with a penchant for utilizing literary aliases, such as Chaucer and Molière. The hit man’s painstaking preparations involve both careful disguises and developing an innovative and diabolical weapon. The suspense builds as those steps alternate with the increasingly frantic efforts by Joseph Fouché, Napoleon’s ruthless minister of police, to foil the plot. Historical figures like Fouché come fully to life. Estleman demonstrates that his versatility extends to mastery of multiple genres. Agent: Dominick Abel, Dominick Abel Literary.

February 15, 2021
Christmas Eve, 1800. A bomb explodes in a Paris street. It is an attempt on the life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Several bystanders are killed, but Bonaparte emerges unscathed. Basing his novel on these real events, and incorporating many real-life people as characters, the prolific Estleman (he's best known for the long-running Amos Walker mystery series) mixes historical fact and fiction together so seamlessly that it's impossible, unless you're a scholar of French history, to know where one leaves off and the other begins. This is a fine novel, rich in historical detail and boasting a clever plot. The story really begins with the failure of the assassination attempt, and the way that plot morphed into something with even more catastrophic implications. Estleman is one of our most versatile and reliable genre writers, from the acclaimed Walker series through the Valentino Hollywood capers and some of the most textured westerns currently being written. He can be counted on for robust characters and clever plotting, and he delivers both here in a first-rate historical thriller.

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