The Bloodless Boy (Harry Hunt Adventures Book One) by Robert J. LLoyd

 

The Bloodless Boy (Harry Hunt Adventures Book One) by Robert J. LLoyd.

Published 4th November 2021 by Melville House.

From the cover of the book:

The City of London, 1678. New Year’s Day. Twelve years have passed since the Great Fire ripped through the City. Eighteen since the fall of Oliver Cromwell and the restoration of a King. London is gripped by hysteria, and rumours of Catholic plots and foreign assassins abound.

When the body of a young boy drained of his blood is discovered on the snowy bank of the Fleet River, Robert Hooke, the Curator of Experiments at the just-formed Royal Society for Improving Natural Knowledge, and his assistant Harry Hunt, are called in to explain such a ghastly finding—and whether it’s part of a plot against the king. They soon learn it is not the first bloodless boy to have been discovered.

Wary of the political hornet’s nest they are walking into - and using scientific evidence rather than paranoia in their pursuit of truth - Hooke and Hunt must discover why the boy was murdered, and why his blood was taken.

The Bloodless Boy is an absorbing literary thriller that introduces two new indelible heroes to historical crime fiction. It is also a powerfully atmospheric recreation of the darkest corners of Restoration London, where the Court and the underworld seem to merge, even as the light of scientific inquiry is starting to emerge...

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It's New Year's Day 1678 and the City of London is in the midst of reinventing itself in the wake of the Great Fire twelve years ago, with an ambitious rebuilding project at the hands of eminent guiding lights like Sir Christopher Wren. But this is not just a time of change in the fabric of London, for this is also a new era for science and learning, fostered by the great minds at the Royal Society, which received its royal charter from the newly restored King Charles II.

Many minds however, are still focussed on the past, and the political and religious conflict that led to civil war is still very much in evidence, despite the fall of Oliver Cromwell eighteen years ago. Feelings run deep in the land and rumours abound of Catholic plots and foreign interference, fuelled by old divisions.

When the body of a young boy, drained of his blood, is discovered on the banks of the River Fleet it stokes the fires of talk of dark deeds, fears of religious dissent, and plots to assassinate the king. It falls to Robert Hooke, the Curator of Experiments at the just-formed Royal Society for Improving Natural Knowledge, and his assistant Harry Hunt to try to get to the bottom of the meaning of this gruesome discovery, and what they uncover has them mortally afraid.

Welcome to Restoration London and an intricate literary thriller that draws nicely on a setting filled with intrigue and distrust, as the battle lines based on religious and political ideology cast a long shadow in the wake of civil war. At its heart, this is a mystery about the unusual murder of a small boy, but it is like no other I have read in the way Robert J. Lloyd uses an unsolved historical crime, and some real life famous figures of the time, to inspire a tale that has two of the most unconventional detectives - Royal Society members Robert Hooke and his assistant Harry Hunt. We often read about troubled episodes in history, but by using Hooke and Hunt to drive this investigation Lloyd delves deep into a world where the uneasy bedfellows of science and religion vie, to create a novel full of anachronistic elements of empirical advancement vs deep-rooted superstition that characterise this period of history beautifully - underpinning a cracking whodunnit at the same time.

Lloyd takes you from the lofty echelons of the court of Charles II all the way down the social scale to the poorest neighbourhoods of London, incorporating characters from every social class, and spreading tendrils of twisty and menacing storylines that keep you guessing throughout. There are so many delicious plot devices that keep the murder mystery interesting - secret ciphers, old alliances, simmering resentments, and schemes for revenge. Allegiances are murky, and no one escapes suspicion here, which makes it so entertaining.

My absolute favourite thing abut this book is how Lloyd infuses the story with so much about the burgeoning world of science through the work of the Royal Society, showing how the experiments, achievements and new thinking of its members have significance for what we know today - and he doesn't shy away from confronting the hard truth that much of the knowledge gained was done through suspect means, sometimes crossing the lines of civil and religious law into the realms of the taboo.

There is so much to admire about this book, from the rich literary text full of evocative vocabulary, to the kind of mystery that holds you spellbound, with authentic locations and characters that come alive and thrum with emotion. This is one of my favourite historical reads of the year, and I am delighted to find that this is the first part in a trilogy following the adventures of Harry Hunt, because I really need to know what happens next!

The Bloodless Boy is available to buy now from your favourite book retailer.

Thank you to Melville House for sending me a proof of this book in return for an honest review, and for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Robert Lloyd, the son of parents who worked in the British Foreign Office, grew up in South London, Innsbruck, and Kinshasa. He studied for a Fine Art degree, starting as a landscape painter, but it was while studying for his MA degree in The History of Ideas that he first read Robert Hooke's diary, detailing the life and experiments of this extraordinary man. After a 20-year career as a secondary school teacher, he has now returned to painting and writing. The Bloodless Boy is his debut novel.