Montmorency on the Rocks

About this book

Five years after giving up his life of crime in the sewers, Montmorency is back in London. But his evil alter ego, Scarper has returned too, pulling him back into a dark world of crime.

Montmorency's old friend and fellow government agent, Lord George Fox-Selwyn, fights to rescue him from disaster and risks calling in Montmorency's prison doctor, Robert Farcett, to help.

However, when Montmorency turns up on a Scottish Island, he finds himself caught in another web of mystery.

Reviews

VOYA 6/1/05 Following a dangerous year abroad as spies, Montmorency and his mentor, Lord George Fox-Selwyn, arrive in 1885 London to reconnect with Dr. Robert Farcett (the surgeon who earlier repaired Montmorency's broken body in Montmorency: Thief, Liar, Gentleman? [Scholastic, 2003/VOYA June 2004]), but all is not well. Montmorency is addicted to a Turkish drug, and Farcett has purposely let a patient die. Seeking escape from their individual demons, the three gentlemen journey to Lord George's brother's estate, and soon puzzling events confront the men. A London train station is blown up, and on an isolated Scottish isle, babies have been dying for the past seven years. Intrigued by the infants' deaths, the doctor and Montmorency journey to the island and interview a dedicated midwife and a minister who has buried each child. Farcett becomes consumed with discovering the cause of death, but with his drug addiction controlled, Montmorency returns to London to assist Lord George in hunting terrorists. Although his past remains secret, Montmorency realizes that he must reappear as Scarper the thief to trap the ruthless bombers. Unlike his role in the first book, Montmorency does not dominate center stage, allowing other characters and the involved plot to develop. The layered mysteries, occurring on opposite ends of Great Britain, have a common connection solved (in the British detective-novel tradition) by scientific deduction. Updale's books contain no teen characters and several red herrings. The intricacy of this novel will either attract or repel teen readers. A proper introduction to Montmorency will surely please fans of Sherlock Holmes
Booklist 5/15/505 5 Gr. 6-9. Here's a neat trick: in harking back to a genre (the Victorian crime thriller) most YA writers won't touch, the Montmorency series seems appealingly rebellious--loyal valets, monogrammed hankies, iced champagne, and all. Readers familiar with Montmorency: Thief, Liar, Gentleman? 0 (2004) will note the broadening of the limelight from Montmorency alone to an ensemble of British aristocrats prone to "dashing about solving other people's problems." These include the former thief Montmorency; his best chum and spy-partner, George Fox-Selwyn; and his surgeon, Doctor Fawcett, who has been called upon to help Montmorency overcome an opium addiction. Updale commandingly escorts readers through the layers of London society as her protagonists investigate not one but two mysteries: a London bomb plot and a remote Scottish island's perplexing epidemic of infant deaths. Some YAs still won't have patience for the prissy Masterpiece Theater-style details and the absence of prominent YA characters. Thanks to the greater emphasis on case-cracking than on its title character's psychological struggles, however, this may prove even more popular than book one. --Jennifer Mattson Copyright 2005 Booklist
SLJ 4/1/05 Gr 8 Up-The second volume picks up several years after Montmorency (Scholastic, 2004) ended. The young man has joined Lord Fox-Selwyn on missions for the English throne and has proved himself a formidable secret agent. But on their last journey, he became addicted to opium, and his addiction threatens his life and those of many others as he loses discretion and caution. Meanwhile, Dr. Farcett, who treated Montmorency when he was in prison, has lost his self-confidence after killing a healthy patient in a demonstration surgery. Fox-Selwyn engineers a reunion between the two to save them both, and the three men, along with Violet, daughter of Montmorency/Scarper's former landlady and a prostitute, end up involved in two mysteries: bombings of London train stations and the deaths of numerous children on a remote Scottish island. This adventure starts slowly, and the elaborate setup seems somewhat contrived. Still, this is another rousing and meticulously researched adventure, full of details about London and Scotland that bring the past to vivid life. Older fans of the first volume will find much to enjoy here as they race to the end; unfortunately, the pacing is likely to turn off new readers despite adequate back story.-Karyn N. Silverman, Elizabeth Irwin High School, New York City Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
PW 3/21/05 In a follow-up to Eleanor Updale's debut novel, Montmorency: Thief, Liar, Gentleman, which PW called "a fine introduction to the thriller genre," Montmorency on the Rocks: Doctor, Aristocrat, Murderer? brings back the Victorian convict-turned-gentleman and the doctor (Farcett) who saved his life, to find the culprit behind London's mysterious bombings. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Horn Book 3/1/05 (Middle School, High School) In his debut (Montmorency: Thief, Liar, Gentleman?, rev. 3/04), Montmorency struggled to reconcile his two sides -- the debonair man who pretends to be a Victorian gentleman, and Scarper, his alter ego who lies, steals, and even lets an acquaintance hang in his place. In the end, he employs both the good and evil within him, becoming a spy for the British government. Here, plagued by guilt over his past misdeeds, he spirals down into a drug addiction that promises to destroy him. His friend Lord George Fox-Selwyn brings him to Scotland, to a remote island in the Hebrides, to be cured, along with Doctor Farcett (whom readers will remember from the first book). Montmorency and the doctor try to find out why all the babies on the island are dying; then Fox-Selwyn recalls him to London to help with an investigation into a bombing. The book delivers plenty of mystery and intrigue through a compellingly flawed character, an adult searching as desperately for a sense of self as any adolescent protagonist. That search creates a literary journey filled with unpredictable events, a fast-moving plot, and a fascinating visit to the Victorian era. Copyright 2005 of The Horn Book, Inc
Paula Rohrlick (KLIATT Review, May 2005 (Vol. 39, No. 3))
This sequel to Montmorency: Thief, Liar, Gentleman? (reviewed in KLIATT in May 2004) continues the adventures of an audacious Victorian-era robber-turned-aristocrat. Once a common thief, he was caught in the act and badly wounded. Recovering in prison, he decided to make a new life for himself, forging a new identity as the highborn, high-living "Montmorency" but funding his new life by continuing to sneak through the sewers of London, popping up to rob the rich, as "Scarper." The clever former convict has two good friends, the doctor who saved his life and Lord George Fox-Selwyn, who has recruited him as a spy for the government. In this thriller, Montmorency must recover from a drug addiction he picked up while spying in the East, and then help his friends to solve two mysteries: the death of a number of babies on a remote island in Scotland, and bomb explosions in London. Truth and forgiveness are the themes, as Montmorency comes clean about his past and also reencounters his old landlady and her helpful daughter. Told in a rather old-fashioned style to match the era, this will intrigue YA readers, serving as a sort of preamble to Sherlock Holmes tales, perhaps. The dual identity of Montmorency/Scarper continues to hold great appeal. Category: Hardcover Fiction. KLIATT Codes: JS--Recommended for junior and senior high school students. 2004, Scholastic, Orchard Books, 362p., $16.95. Ages 12 to 18.