The Poison Machine (A Hunt and Hooke Novel)

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With the help of clues left in a book, a flying man, and a crossdressing swordswoman, Harry’s search takes him to Paris, another city bedeviled by conspiracies and intrigues. He navigates its salons and libraries, and learns of a terrible plot against the current Queen of England, Catherine of Bragança, and her gathering of Catholics in London. Assassins plan to poison them all. Frustrated in his wish to be appointed Curator and embarrassed in front of his fellow natural philosophers, Harry Hunt decides to leave the Royal Society and his mentor Robert Hooke behind, and accept the invitation of Sir Jonas Moore to join the Board of Ordinance. His first task, to investigate a murder… London, 1679 — A year has passed since the sensational attempt to murder King Charles II, but London is still a viper’s nest of rumored Catholic conspiracies, and of plots against them in turn. When Harry Hunt — estranged from his mentor Robert Hooke — is summoned to the remote and windswept marshes of Norfolk, he is at first relieved to get away from the place.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first part of this historical thriller series The Bloodless Boy, which introduced us to the unlikely crime busting pairing of Royal Society members Robert Hooke and his assistant Harry Hunt. Their first adventure was a twisty mystery around the body of a young boy, drained of his blood, that led to the discovery of a plot to kill Charles II. As with the first book in the series, The Poison Machine effortlessly blends together fact and fiction, combining real events and real people with fictionalised and imagined scenarios, with Lloyd using his knowledge of Robert Hooke’s diary, the paper of the Royal Society, and his knowledge of the period (gained whilst studying for an MA in the History of Ideas) to create a detailed, complex, and evolving world that draws the reader in to the period and its many tensions. Those with knowledge of the period will be delighted by cameos from some illustrious figures, including Sir Issac Newton and Denis Papin, as well as references to the key scientific and philosophical debates of the period. The Poison Machine” is the second in the ‘Hunt and Hooke’ series, set in 17th century ‘Restoration London’, during a scientific revolution. This historical crime thriller is an intelligent, extremely well researched and meticulously written novel. The author Robert J Loyd deserves high praise indeed for incorporating genuine real life scientists and academics into a fictional story, which is both worded and portrayed as befits the political late 17th century, even down to the indignation of the catholic families and their vandalised shops.The Poison Machine takes place a year after the end of the previous book, The Bloodless Boy and follows Harry Hunt, as he becomes estranged from his mentor, Robert Hooke, early in the book and gets involved in international mysteries and assassination plots. Accompanied by Colonel Fields, the suitor of Harry’s landlady, and Hooke’s niece Grace, Harry journeys to the Fens to find that the body is that of former royal favourite Jeffrey Hudson, a man less than 2 feet tall who was famously gifted to Queen Henrietta Maria in a pie.

Harry Hunt has fallen out with Robert Hooke and is summoned to windswept Norfolk. Shoring up a riverbank some workers have discovered the skeleton of a dwarf - that of Captain Jeffrey Hudson, famously once given to Queen Henrietta Maria in a pie. Except no one knew he was dead, because someone has been impersonating him.

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At that time England, following the Restoration of the monarchy, was under the rule of King Charles II and his wife, Queen Catherine of Braganza. It was a period of great upheaval, where mistrust was very much rife. Queen Catherine was a Catholic who married King Charles II in 1662 as part of an alliance between England and Portugal. By no means a favourite, due to her religious beliefs, she was seen by some as relatively inconsequential, but as Hunt discovers, a covert operation is being undertaken to poison the Queen, alongside many of her Catholic cohorts, at a not-to-distant gathering in London. The protagonist, Harry Hunt, ex-apprentice to Robert Hook of the Royal Society, is charged with solving the murder of the Queen’s dwarf. But as word spreads that he is solving this crime he is approached by a Countess to find a missing/stolen diamond and to find a man now impersonating the Queen’s murdered dwarf in France. In doing so, Harry discovers an elaborate plot to kill the Queen of England and this becomes the book’s central plot line. Hunt and Fields travel to Paris, where they encounter peril, treachery, and even a flying man. Here they hear of a plot to kill the English Catholic Queen and her peers… After witnessing Hudson’s body and confirming his identity, Hunt sets off from The Fens on an incredible journey that takes him to Paris, a city as rife with spies and plots as the one he left behind. There are multiple obstacles put in his way but Harry Hunt is a tenacious individual, unwilling to let anything deter him from his final goal.

The story commences with an intriguing and very atmospheric prologue, setting the scene on a dark London night, as three Frenchmen secretly travel along the Thames avoiding detection. The imagined descriptions of the river, the varying ships and the Frenchmen’s paranoia was just perfect and if a tv series was to made based on these books, I would expect this initial scene to be portrayed exactly as it appeared in my mind. The atmospheric feeling that runs through the entire book really draws you in to the seedy underworld of London in contrast to the opulence of the Queens Court.. I loved it. I am a bit of an Historical Novel geek and I lapped up every single word. Harry is a unstoppable force and is determined to get at the truth no matter what. Harry, despite some rash & oblivious behavior, is a sympathetic character & I was rooting for him to succeed. I'm represented by Gaia Banks at Sheil Land Associates literary agency. Many thanks are due to Gaia, who has championed both books with an astonishing energy and attention to detail. But in Norfolk, he finds that some Royal workers shoring up a riverbank have made a grim discovery-the skeleton of a dwarf. Harry is able to confirm that the skeleton is that of Captain Jeffrey Hudson, a prominent member of the court once famously given to the Queen in a pie. Except no one knew Hudson was dead, because another man had been impersonating him.

As fate would have it, an alternative presents itself in a lucrative offer from Sir Jonas Moore, the King's Surveyor-General of the Board of Ordnance, for Harry to aid him with a strange investigation. During the draining of the Norfolk fenland a remarkable skeleton has been found, and Sir Jonas needs Harry's rare talents to help identify the body. In the company of his friend Colonel Fields, an old soldier for Parliament, and Hooke's niece, Grace (who has invited herself along in the guise of a young man), Harry confirms Sir Jonas' suspicions that this appears to be the body of dwarf Captain Jeffrey Hudson, once famously given to Queen Henrietta Maria in a pie - and there has obviously been foul play involved in his demise. Yeah, I’m just not a fan of the villain confessing to everything for no apparent reason. He felt guilty, I guess? I liked that Harry wanted to become his own man and show Hooke that he could navigate things by himself when in France. I feel that this adventure strengthened Hunt’s character and gave him a much needed confidence boost.

Like with the his previous book, it was the descriptive and sublime prose. With Harry we go from the bustling city of London, to the damp and silent Norfolk Fens and to the glamour and beauty of Paris. Robert J Lloyd’s wonderful writing is a feast of the senses, the sights, smells and sounds drew me in, and I felt I was there with the characters, seeing what they saw, and feeling what they felt, the good and the bad. There is so much historical detail in The Poison Machine, and I love that Robert J Lloyd uses colloquial language which helps anchor the plot in the seventeenth century: the addition of French phrases also tested my A level French. Accompanied by his friend Colonel Fields, an old soldier for Parliament, and Hooke’s niece, Grace, Harry confirms Sir Jonas’s suspicion: the body is that of a dwarf, Captain Jeffrey Hudson, once famously given to Queen Henrietta Maria in a pie. During the Civil Wars, Hudson accompanied the Queen to France to sell the Royal Jewels to fund her husband’s army. He was sent home in disgrace after shooting a man in a duel. I loved following Harry Hunt through real life events reimagined, with time compressed in some places, I also love the strong female characters of Grace and the Duchesse de Mazarin and I hope they feature in future novels. A shame, because the basic story of the body found, the doppelganger missing and the quest for answers is good. The diamond in the cannonball is also good. Even the escape from the Bastille was pretty clever since it feeds into Harry's natural philosopher strengths. The return of a clever cipher, the French commissionaire that is a frenemy were all good themes. But the story could have used new characters for villains, without recycling and/or tainting the old and it would have been much stronger for it. The Poison Machine is an excellent addition to this series bringing Hunt out of the lab and developing his personality more as an individual. It is more focused on Hunt, whereas The Bloodless Boy was a combination of both Hooke and Hunt, providing the reader with an exciting tale but also highlighting fascinating insights into the fundamentals of modern science, alongside an intriguing investigation.I confess I was glad of the cast list at the start of the book as there are quite a few names to retain. However, following on from The Bloodless Boy, in The Poison Machine, the main characters become more distinct to the reader. I especially liked the development of Grace because she refuses to conform to the norms of the times. She’s a well balanced combination of strength and vulnerability that makes her feel all the more real. I’m not sure I could endure some of her adventures with quite such equanimity! The Poison Machine by Robert J. Lloyd published October 25th with Melville House and is described as ‘a nail-biting and brilliantly imagined historical thriller that will delight readers of its critically acclaimed predecessor The Bloodless Boy.' While The Poison Machine is a sequel to The Bloodless Boy, it can easily be read as a stand-alone novel. The physicist’s urgent work this time (“the body will not keepe”) takes him far from the Thames shores he clung to in The Bloodless Boy. France is a major setting in the book and a final lengthy and very exciting scene takes us to the Queen’s Catholic Consult, where restrictions against the much-loathed group will be discussed. Lloyd again succeeds in creating an immersive look at the various layers of life his hero encounters, one that draws enough on real events to treat readers to intriguing history, but that also adds just the right fictional elements to keep the plot rich. Another winner. —Henrietta Verma I can honestly say that this book (in my opinion) is even better than the previous one. Don’t get me wrong, The Bloodless Boy was excellent and I couldn’t fault it. I just feel that in The Poison Machine there was far more deception and a couple of unexpected plot twists, which I didn’t see coming!