SPOIL-FREE SUMMARY
After he almost died, thief Montmorency was put back together by a genius surgeon while in prison. Years later, he has hatched a plan to gain wealth from all of the knowledge he has gained from his times being the subject of scientific lectures. He'll use the sewer system of London to get around. He needs an accomplice but has no one he trusts. Suddenly he has an alter ego and finds himself split into two lives: one as the wealthy Montmorency, and the other as the thief, Scarper.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Montmorency is underestimated and is believed to be just a dumb criminal. But he is smart and takes in everything around him, as well as a skilled actor who acquires the ability to imitate others. He desires to eventually live his life as a gentleman and leave his life of crime behind.
Scarper is Montmorency's other persona. The servant to Montmorency and the thief who stockpiles stolen items in a shoddy little apartment. Unlike Montmorency, Scarper likes to steal merely for the challenge in it.
George Fox-Selwyn is a gentleman that Montmorency saves. He invites him to a gentleman's club and the two eventually spend a lot of time together.
Doctor Farcett is the man who operated on Montmorency in prison and saved his life. Eventually he becomes a threat to Montmorency and his secret identity.
Cissie is the daughter of the man who owns the hotel that Montmorency stays at. She is obnoxiously childlike, hounding him and trying to get his attention.
PACING
The story is one more of a suspense than action. It isn't even until chapter nine that Montmorency gets to leave prison. Although one never feels the time is wasted, as we get to see, step by step, how Montmorency plans on how to become both Scarper and Montmorency. And sometimes the suspense is forgotten, as I enjoyed watching Montmorency learn to be a gentleman, it never really felt like a threat was there.
JUST MONTMORENCY
There are a few side characters, but no one who is consistently in the story. And Montmorency never gains any confidantes. I desperately wished for someone to learn about his double life, or to at least suspect it.
On the positive side, Montmorency is really charming. From the beginning, it's easy to sympathize for him, as he is a victim of abuse from fellow prisoners and those that absorb him in scientific lectures. But he shows himself to be intelligent and hardworking, not to mention the childlike innocence and eagerness he reveals in learning how to be a gentleman.
JEKYLL & HYDE
I thought it was an interesting aspect of the book that Montmorency decided to create two individuals: Montmorency the gentleman and Scarper the thief. We never learn his real name, and eventually I started to believe he was mostly Montmorency. But it seems like Montmorency is his future and Scarper is his past.
Eventually he wishes to stop stealing and just stay Montmorency, but Scarper and his old habits won't go away. I thought it was very reminiscent of the classic novel, “Jekyll & Hyde.” I fully expected Scarper to be his undoing, and although he does cause Montmorency some trouble when he is injured, he wasn't the detriment that Hyde was to Jekyll.
I did want a happily ever after, so in that way I was pleased with the ending, I just felt Scarper wasn't nearly the threat that Montmorency made him out to be. Also, it's never spelled out that Scarper is almost like another personality. There was just a few vague references that made me pause and take note.
STRUCTURE
The book is set up into a few portions. The first is Montmorency's life in prison. From there he makes plans on what he intends to do, and how to do it. From then on he starts preparing for his life as Montomroncy, by his thefts. When he becomes Montmorency, he goes back and forth between the worlds, eventually wanting to let go of Scarper completely.
WHOSE THE THREAT?-SPOILERS
At first there seems two threats to Montmorency: the cops finding out about him, and Doctor Farcett.
But the cops never really feel like a threat. The Farcett problem is eventually resolved, and when another prisoner takes the blame for Montmorency's crime, I started to wonder if anyone was a threat to him. Farcett reappears, and it seems like Updale was setting him up to finally be a real threat. When this flopped, I wondered what could possibly happen to Montmorency now.
That is the main problem I had with this book. I wish there were one cop we had met and got to see him investigate and eventually come to suspect Montmorency. I think this would have made the story so much better. There is one scene where it goes back and forth between Montmorency and the cops as an article about the thefts is read. It felt awkward, as we never get to see the characters who are the police, ever again.
It would have been better to have had various threats to Montmorency, and eventually when one would peter out, a new one would come along. That way our main character was never in the clear and the reader got the feeling that we could get caught anytime.
THE WORLD
As London is one of my favorite places for stories to take place (I love the Victorian time period as well) I was pleased to find the story gave a detailed, sometimes dark, and sometimes charming world. We see the prison system and the abuse the prisoners suffer at the hands of it, as well as a flawed legal system. We saw the beauty of the opera, the oddity of the gentleman's club and the progress of the city with it's sewers.
CLIMAX
One of my main critiques is that there isn't really a climax. Scarper sneaks into an embassy on a bet, to gather information and attain proof that he was there. There isn't really much danger, after all, if he gets found out, no one will know he was responsible for all of those other thefts.
CONCLUSION
I found Montmorency charming and fell in love with him. I fully wanted him to succeed and create a new life. The world of London was interesting and I loved watching Montmorency learn about the life of a gentleman. But eventually I started to realize there wasn't any real chance that he would be caught, as the police seemed of little consequence. I give “Montmorency” three stars.
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