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The Game (2004)
ISBN 978-0-553-58338-0|
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The Game is the story of how, in the early weeks of 1924, Mary Russell and her partner Sherlock Holmes sail to India to search for a missing British spy. The man’s name is Kimball O’Hara — yes, Rudyard Kipling’s Kim. The boy of Kipling’s book is now a man in his forties, but remains deeply immersed in what was called “The Great Game,” the bitter art of espionage played out on India’s Northwest Frontier. That Victorian Nonetheless, the rules of engagement, as Russell learns, are much the same. The word “Game,” of course, also refers to quarry in a hunt, as well as to the serious matter Holmes fans undertake to work out the details of a life some would call fictional. As fictional, say, as that of Kim O’Hara, or of Mary Russell herself. For an excerpt of The Game, click here. |
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What they say
Lush colorful and utterly compelling, this is a superbly wrought novel of suspense that evokes its period with enviable panache. FOUR STARS out of four stars.
--Detroit Free Press
I think it may be my favorite since Beekeeper. The adventure! The jeopardy! The teamwork!" - from "The official Mary Russell site"
King [develops] a series of voluptuous set pieces: about the learning of language, prestidigitation, and disguise; about shipboard mores among the upper classes; about the daily habits of a maharaja's many-splendored guests and how they are housed, fed, and entertained. All the while and underneath these musings develops a wondrously taut mystery, ticking away like a malevolent clock.... Fabulous reading, breathless excitement, and the myriad pleasures of watching great minds at work.
--Booklist, starred review
The seventh Mary Russell adventure (after 2002’s Justice Hall) may well be the best King has yet devised for her strong-willed heroine. It’s 1924, and Kimball O’Hara, the "Kim" of the famous Rudyard Kipling novel, has disappeared. Fearing some kind of geopolitical crisis in the making, Mycroft Holmes sends his brother and Mary to India to uncover what happened... The sights, smells and ideas of India make interesting, evocative reading (Mary’s foray into the dangerous sport of pig-sticking is particularly fascinating). If for some Mary Russell is too perfect a character to be as enduringly compelling as Holmes, all readers will appreciate the grace and intelligence of King’s writing in this exotic masala of a book.
--Publishers Weekly, starred review
Reading Laurie King is much like eating dark chocolate. The writing is rich and full, and full of surprises. ... One of the best in this strong series.
--Deadly Pleasures magazine
Stories in which women effortlessly pass as men can sometimes be very tiresome, stretching the reader's credulity to breaking point. How, we wonder, can the rest of the characters be so downright gullible? But in The Game, the heroine has some satisfyingly narrow escapes. At various points in the story, her fear that she might be obliged to take part in a wrestling match or seduce a dancing girl winds the tension really tight. But in the end she wins through, and her willingness to tackle each new dilemma with style and deliciously ironic wit make Mary Russell a most appealing heroine.
--Writing Magazine, April 2005
Links
For a timeline and various links, go to Mary Russell's World
For a
review of The Game
The
online edition of Rudyard Kipling's Kim, a book
which has much to do with The Game
And a provocative article on Kim,
Ian Mackean
A review of
British India
And for an 1880 article on pig sticking, see
here or see the
1911 article
To see the kind of plane flown in and out of Khanpur, see
here
Allison and Busby,
The Game's UK publisher
For a bibliography and Laurie's suggestions to teacher and book groups, click here.
Pictures
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| The entrance to New Fort, Khanpur | Laurie with child, Taj Mahal (1981) | The Himalayas from Simla |
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| Shop selling pan and bidis | Tibetan prayer beads |