Among the Mad

It's the day before Christmas in foggy, soggy London when Maisie Dobbs and her assistant Billy Beale come across a one legged man begging in the street. Maisie goes to give the man some money when he commits suicide by hand grenade. Maisie's lucky she isn't killed. It's a decade and a half since the Great War and the war is still in Maisie's head, still in Billy's too. In a way they both have a sort of PTSD. It was called shellshock back then. They can't seem to forget what happened during the war and this man's death brings it right back, puts it front and center. And to add to Billy's problems his wife Doreen is suffering from the death of one of their three children. Then Home Security gets a note saying that unless the government does something to help out the people suffering in England that something very bad is going to happen and the note's writer says to check with Maisie Dobb's, which, of course, the authorities do and, of course, they find that she had nothing to do with the note and now she's working with the good guys to try and stop this disaster. Think chemical warfare. This is a tense story that is timely in it's fashion, considering everything that's happening in the world today. Today, like then, we tend to ignore our shell shocked vets, though they are getting better help today, then they did between the Great Wars, it's not enough, the help they're receiving. You only have to watch the news to know that. It seems like some things never change. Anyway this is a good book with a message, but what makes the book work so well if the fact that the message never gets in the way of the story.

This my first experience with an audio novel and I couldn't have selected a better reader or work of fiction for this experience. Orlagh Cassidy's reading (acting) is amazing. Relying on her voice alone she convincingly delivers the full effect of this highly engaging work by Jacqueline Winspear set in the years following the end of the First World War. The theme of this novel is totally relevant for today's times -- we no longer call the mentally wounded "shell-shocked" but the devastating after affects of war are well known to most of us today as "post traumatic syndrome, trauma" plus a plethora of other labels. The heroine of "Among the Mad" is Masie Dobbs, a nurse during the war years whose fiancé fell in WWI, is what we would call a "profiler" on today's profiling team. She is assisted by veteran Billy Beale, whose wife and family are attempting to cope with the death of their daughter. Masie Dobbs and Billy Beale are walking on a London street on Christmas Eve when just behind them a man commits suicide by grenade narrowly missing to take with him other passersby; the aftermath of this suicide and a subsequent communication to the government threatening mass killings is received on Boxing Day (December 26). Masie Dobbs is involved in this terrifying situation from the beginning because both she and Billy heard the explosion and witnessed the aftermath. She is recruited to help uncover who is both capable of and threatening to commit mass murders. I highly recommend "Among the Mad" to anyone interested in terrific entertainment.

This is my favorite of the Maisie Dobbs novels. It is much darker, but Ms. Winspear is obviously invested in the conflicts she explores. The story, set in 1931, is relevant to today because it seems we have made little progress in the treatment of those torn apart mentally and emotionally by the ravages of war. Maisie is, of course, solving a mystery while also extending a helping hand to an employee and to a friend. Along the way she gains more insight into her own character.

With breath-taking timeliness, Winspear gives us a critique of society's tendency to respect physical wounds of war while dismissing or ignoring damage mental and spiritual. As the current debate over giving the Purple Heart for PTSD and other non-bleeding injuries is conducted in the press and DC, we might do well to think back to the Great War and realize that this problem isn't as new as some VA spokespeople try to make it sound. What do we expect from mystery/thrillers? Whodunnit, of course, and some action - mental or physical or, better yet, both. In excellent mysteries we also expect the exploration of a worth-while topic, whether it be the plundering of Bagdad museums or the cultural norms of the Seneca nation. There is darkness here, both in the plot and in the problems of the characters, but -- unlike Elizabeth George's characters, for example -- the protagonists here are not miserable people. Billy and his wife have lost a child; Maisie has lost her long-time love. But they are capable of happiness. The time of year, year's end in foggy London, increases the foreboding, as it never seems to be full daylight. There are a few too many men with important jobs running around for the casual reader to keep straight. If it's important that someone took a train, we should be able to remember who he is. But the plot keeps everything moving, with timed treats ticking off the hours. It's easily the most high-tension novel Winspear has given us. One reviewer here complains that the book continues after the crime is solved -- not so. There are two endings, the public and the private. For fans of the series, this is a big reward. The Maisie Dobbs series is grounded in social justice issues - class boundaries are at the heart of it, but each novel has its own additional agenda. Yes, it makes for a darker read than Wodehouse provides, but then Jeeves never went to Cambridge, did he? If we have a thinking protagonist, we must expect her to think. If you read with pleasure Laurie R King's Touchstone, you will treasure this novel.