We Shall Not Sleep

Anne Perry

The end of the Great War is in sight. Can the Reavley family yet discover who tried to twist world politics? The man could still affect the peace talks which could lead to another devastating war in Europe.

In October, 1918, Matthew Reavley gets a visitor in London. The stranger says that the Peacemaker's German counterpart is willing to turn himself over to the Prime Minister and reveal the man in England Matthew only knows as the Peacemaker. The German man will cross the battle lines at Ypres, where Matthew's brother Joseph is stationed. The next day, Matthew is on his way to the front lines in France.

Their sister Judith also is in camp the night Matthew arrives and the German, Schenkendorf, both arrive at the medical station. Schenkendorf was wounded as he was crossing over and needs medical attention on his foot before he and Matthew can return to London.

That night while the men were sleeping, the hospital tent was extremely busy. The next morning they find the mutilated body of one of the nurses on the refuse pile. The hospital station is closed down and police are brought in to find the murderer. Everyone in the camp has worked closely together over the war years. When questioned, everyone lies to protect a friend that had a weak alibi but "couldn't possibly have done it". Judith herself lies to protect Will Sloan. No one leaves or enters until they find the man who attacked the dead nurse.

The Reavleys push as hard as the police to find the murder. They need to get Schenkendorf to London before the armistice is declared. They must reveal the Peacemaker. Then Matthew is arrested for the murder.

We Shall Not Sleep is a powerful end to the Reavleys' story that started with No Graves As Yet that covers the Reavley family from 1914 to 1918. Anne Perry brings the family to life with their flaws and their strengths. Joseph is a chaplain who questions God. Yet he is a source of comfort, friendship, and strength to the Cambridge men who he has joined on the battlefield. Judith is an unusual woman - too strong for the every day English life - who goes to war as an ambulance driver. Matthew stays in London, often facing censure for not being on the battlefield. But he is in the secret intelligence service and is doing work the public will never see or recognize. Their sister Hannah is the one who stays behind. Her husband is a naval captain and she is home with the children, doing the tasks that women needed to do in England while the men were off to war.

We Shall Not Sleep really shouldn't be read as a stand alone. While the murder is not connected to previous books, the mystery of the Peacemaker and the Reavleys' involvement with him builds from the first novel when their parents are murdered.

Anne Perry tries to show what it's really like on the battle lines. As stated more than once, if you haven't been in battle you can't really comprehend what these people endured. Her picture is grim. At the same time, she uses the battlefield to show men's courage, fear, triumphs, failures, loyalty and hatred. She describes battle wounds without getting too gory, yet the goriness is obvious.

We Shall Not Sleep also gives a picture of the change that England is now facing. The quiet, "gentle" world from before World War I is forever gone. Everything these people grew up with has changed. These men and women are preparing to go home and are facing all that means.

Good mystery - good book - good series. I highly recommend the books.

Notice: Graphic violence, Suggestive dialogue or situations

No Graves as Yet
Shoulder the Sky
Angels in the Gloom
At Some Disputed Barricade
We Shall Not Sleep