Friday 31 July 2020

FOXES by MA Bennett

Greer has just recovered from her terrifying experience during the STAGS play. Was she really put on trial by the sinister Dark Order of the Grand Stag? Or was it purely her overheated imagination? The imprint of an 'M' for murderer that has appeared on her thumb, though, is puzzling but incomplete evidence . . .

Meanwhile Ty is staying on at Longcross Manor and Greer, Nel and Shafeen are increasingly worried for her safety. When Ty sends a cryptic message directing them to Cumberland Place, the de Warlencourts' palatial home in London, they decide to risk a visit. There they meet Henry's grieving parents, Rollo and Caro. Rollo is arrogant, entitled and not overly grieving. Caro, however, while superficially charming, is clearly pushed to the brink of madness by Henry's death, insisting that Henry is still alive. Which is clearly impossible . . . but Greer has her own troubling doubts about Henry's death which make it hard to dismiss Caro completely . . .

Can Greer, Shafeen and Nel work out what Rollo de Warlencourt is planning for his deadly Boxing Day Hunt at Longcross in time to save Ty - who has now gone silent? Or will history horribly repeat itself?

A thrilling, richly complex instalment in the STAGS series.



FOXES is the third book in the increasingly lengthy STAGS series. So far, every book I've read I thought was the last one. Not because I'm not enjoying it; just because I don't know how much longer MA can make basically the same story intriguing and interesting. The answer is, at least this long.

There are a lot of pop culture references in this one. I don't remember there being this many in the two earlier books, but to be fair it's been a year since I read the last one and another year before that since the first one.

MA has, as always, done a lot of research and dredged up a lot of English history to weave into the story. It hovers on the verge of being too much, but because we're discovering it at the same time as Greer - and for the one piece she knew already, Shafeen luckily needs to be told - it's kept under control and we're not overwhelmed.

At the end of this novel, we haven't learned too much about the overarching story; this novel's mystery is solved, but the larger story of the Stags isn't explained yet. There's obviously at least one more novel to come, and I very much hope that MA will end the series before it starts feeling fatigued. It's far too good to let it trail off into nothingness.

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