Rebellion

Starred review from November 4, 2013
Given that readers know that Napoleon was not ousted in a coup in 1812 while leading his Russian campaign, it’s a tribute to McGee’s storytelling skills that his fourth thriller featuring a Regency-era James Bond (after 2013’s Rapscallion) is as entertaining as it is. Matthew Hawkwood, a Bow Street Runner, has been assigned an impossible mission, complete with plausible deniability on the part of his superior in the Alien Office, who’s responsible for rooting out troublemakers among the refugees from the Terror in postrevolutionary France. Posing as a French officer, Hawkwood is to cross the Channel, meet with an unnamed source, and assess the feasibility of the man’s proposal to the British government. Hawkwood ultimately learns that the plan is to overthrow Bonaparte himself. The nonstop action doesn’t come at the price of either plausibility or historical accuracy. Agent: Jennifer Weitz, Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency.