Shoulder the Sky

This is one book in a series of five that tells a family's story while slowly unravelling a mystery. Anne Perry writes beautifully and her descriptions of the various characters and landscapes just flow along seamlessly with the unfolding drama. Her conversations are thoughtful, her scene descriptions are very evocotive of the time period and the characters are made so real that you expect them to walk in your door when you look up from the book. I most highly recommend this book as well as the rest of the series!

In her second book of her World War I series, Shoulder The Sky, Anne Perry delivers another stunning story revolving around the Reavley siblings. The death of a young war correspondent, Eldon Prentice, at first seems to be one of the many casualties of war. Upon closer inspection, Joseph Reavley, a Chaplin working on the front lines in Ypres, suspects Prentice was not a casualty of war, but murdered. Meanwhile Matthew Reavley, a diligent employee of the Secret Intelligence Service, continues to track down the elusive Peacemaker. While the plot line itself is fantastic, it is Perry's ability to paint a vivid picture of life during the war that captivates the reader. Perry is unrelenting in her description of life in the trenches. She has a unique ability to convey the horrors of war, but at the same time express the fierce companionship between the men fighting for what they believe in. Even if the plotline does not interest you, her meticulous research and dramatic presentation of the war effort is well worth the read. I find it hard to believe that after writing so many novels Anne Perry is still able to present us with fresh storylines, incredibly realistic characters and a vivid reconstruction of life during World War I. This is definitely one of Perry's better works.

I am not usually an Anne Perry fan, but this series is wonderful, can't put the books down. I have read all three books in the series, starting with Shoulder the Sky. I can't wait for the next one. I am now an Anne Perry fan.

Anne Perry writes with a spectacular passion and grasp of our world as no other author in print today. And she does it with both style and finesse. First, she has the widsom to provide highly absorbing and entertaining plots, as well as characters in her new series thus far with "No Graves As Yet" and "Shoulder The Sky." But she continually creates these gems with an impossible multi-faceted approach. Indeed, there are profoundly important layers of insight contained within each and every development in the story itself -- along with her characters, who gently but effectively take us to a very real no-mans-land. In this way, Perry makes it clear that the world today faces the same evil her heroes in "Shoulder The Sky" must brave: like a New World Order, so to speak, where freedom of the individual along with his or her diversity of race, culture, faith, mores, tradition and even country are being tagged, labeled, and manipulated by truly sinister forces, with an eye to a one-for-all meltdown. Perry masterfully shines the light of truth on such lack of vision, compassion or even hope in order to bring about the ultimate in controlling the destiny of virtually everyone, and everything. In this respect, "Shoulder The Sky" could not be more superbly prophetic for our time. And time itself, just may be running out for all of us. So, if you are an Anne Perry fan like me -- do not miss out on this new series as a classic in English Literature. And if you have never read a single book by this brilliant author, both "No Graves As Yet" and "Shoulder The Sky" are must-purchase books! For if world history has taught us anything, it is that at one time or another -- events, people, places, and things inevitably slip beyond our control to the point where all we really can do is carry on, while keeping hope alive...as if we were literally shouldering the sky.

This quotation that Perry quotes in her book really describes what Ms. Perry is trying to accomplish with this novel. If there is another work out there that better describes the horrors and confusion of war, I haven't seen it. In this book Ms. Perry continues her saga of the Reavely family, and their ongoing search to uncover a traitor that they call "The Peacemaker". All this in the stunning backdrop of the horrible First World War (the War to End All Wars). Ms. Perry's description of battles and the carnage that ensues from them is in itself enough of a reason to read the book. But the way she portrays the simple human dignity and the many acts of kindness that occur in the midst of the cacaphony of the battlefield and the way the soldiers deal with these unspeakable horrors is unmatched. This book is a masterpiece and there is no other word for it. This whole series is shaping up to be something very worthy of note. It is not an easy book to read because the battle scenes are truly terrible, but it is so well-written that it forces the reader to keep turning pages. A truly horrific novel with extraordinary people. Words do fail me.