Book Review: Assassin's Rage

The newest edition to Western Illinois University professor emeritus Charles O’Brien’s Anne Cartier mystery novels, “Assassin’s Rage,” is a tale full of deception, intrigue, violence, the mystery of several assassinations of royal officers and the murder of an innocent baker.

Anne Cartier, wife of prominent Colonel Paul de Saint-Martin, is an ex-vaudeville actress turned teacher of the deaf living in Paris during the pre-revolution years. The story revolves around the storming of the Parisian Bastille and the plots perpetrated by the Duc d’Orleans to overthrow the King.

Beware: this is a historical crime novel that is embedded deeply in historical facts. Not only that, but “Assassin’s Rage” takes place during the late 18th century in pre-revolutionary France. There are terms that may be confusing and words that are difficult to pronounce.

Like all great historical novels, there are several prominent real-life people depicted as characters with their personalities and mannerisms fleshed out by O’Brien’s image of who these people were.
It’s interesting that the protagonist of an 18th century based novel is a woman and an ex-vaudeville actress to boot. Women barely had social standing, yet Anne is able to make a stand, to investigate a variety of mysteries and gain the respect of a patriarchal society. She’s an amazing woman, a great protagonist and makes for an intriguing character to follow through the course of events.

Unfortunately, this is the 7th book in a series, so the author assumes that the other books were read prior to starting the latest. In order to fully understand the characters, their motivations and pasts, start with the first book, “Mute Witness,” and work your way through.

O’Brien taught European history during his time at Western. He started writing during the years he traveled between Williamstown, Mass. and Macomb “(wanting) to make use of his time on board and in airports.”
Both his interest in history and the reading choices of fellow passengers influenced his decision to write historical crime novels. “The idea of ‘Mute Witness’ blossomed in the air between Albany and Chicago,” he said.
The difficulty most academic writers find when writing a fictional piece is re-wiring how they think. Instead of simply describing an event in history, O’Brien had to write the event through the experiences of his characters, using their thoughts, feelings and biases to relay the event for the reader. With the help of a colleague in Western’s English department, O’Brien was able to make the transition to a true fiction writer while adding his own flavor of historical facts and well-researched backgrounds.

In his writing, O’Brien includes maps of the areas he talks about to aid readers as they try to grasp an image of where the story is unfolding. He also had more learning to do in certain areas of history.

For example, O’Brien says he “already knew a great deal of ‘high’ history,” such as political, social and economic trends, but he “needed to learn ‘low’ history” like puppetry, clothing, cuisine, popular customs and sports in order to etch out a well-rounded historical fiction. O’Brien’s effort has created a wonderful piece of literature, a great read for any student to broaden their horizon on 18th century French culture and intrigue.

4 stars out of 5