The Empire of Night

August 25, 2014
Set on the cusp of America’s involvement in WWI, Butler’s exciting third Christopher Marlowe Cobb novel (after 2013’s The Star of Istanbul) finds the American journalist-turned-spy not only deep in enemy territory in Berlin but paired with an unlikely ally: his mother, famed stage actress Isabel Cobb. Both mother and son target Sir Albert Stockman, a member of the British parliament whose German ancestry makes him a potential spy. As Isabel woos Stockman with her gender-bending performance of Hamlet in London and Berlin, Cobb must work his way in posing as an American journalist with German sympathies. Where Stockman’s loyalties lie is clear, but Butler does a commendable job teasing out the details of the man’s overarching, and terrifying, plan. The period details are spot on, and though readers even vaguely familiar with the history will put the pieces together, this tale of shifting allegiances and worldwide consequences enthralls. Agent: Warren Frazier, John Hawkins & Associates.

Starred review from October 15, 2014
When a son replies to his mother with the exclamation, Fuck me, ' she is faced with several interpretations, none of them pleasant. That sentence may strike one as shocking, obscene, or witty (or possibly all three), but in the context of Butler's third Christopher (Kit) Marlowe Cobb novel, it suggests all that and quite a bit more. Cobb, once a journalist moonlighting as a spy, is now a full-time spy working undercover as a journalist. It's 1915, and as Woodrow Wilson dithers over U.S. involvement in WWI, Cobb is assigned to track the doings of a British citizen of German heritage, Albert Stockman, also a spy, but for the kaiser. Cobb utters the obscene exclamation above when he learns that he will be joined on his mission by another spy, a woman whose task is to get close to Stockman, to seduce him if necessary, in an effort to learn more about the secret weapon the Germans are devising. That woman, Isabel Cobb, is Kit's mother. Adding one more level of sexual confusion and mother-son ambiguity, Isabel, a celebrated actress, is in rehearsal for her gender-bending starring role in Hamlet, a production that will be opening in Berlin. As he has in the first two volumes in this series, Butler combines fascinating historical detail about the pre-WWI period with genuine suspense and a tongue-in-cheek wit that gives the whole a uniquely tart flavor. The multilayered, adversarial relationship between Kit and Isabel grows more fascinating with each installment and will leave readers eager to learn more.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)