A series of baffling murders among a group of imprisoned agents threatens the outcome of World War II in this chilling mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of Mr. Churchill’s Secretary.November, 1942. World War II is raging, and former spy Maggie Hope knows too much: what the British government is willing to do to keep its secrets, who is lying, who the double-crossers are. She … the double-crossers are. She knows exactly who is sending agents to their deaths. These are the reasons Maggie is isolated on a remote Scottish island, in a prison known as Killoch Castle. When one of her fellow inmates drops dead in the middle of his after-dinner drink—he’s only the first. As victims fall one by one, Maggie will have to call upon all her wits and skills to escape—not just certain death . . . but certain murder. For what’s the most important thing that Maggie Hope knows? She must survive.
Praise for The Prisoner in the Castle
“The colonel sums it up best on page ten: ‘If you take a pretty girl and teach her how to kill, it can cause problems.’ Not just problems—electrifying action and nonstop surprises. I loved this book!”—R. L. Stine, author of the Goosebumps and Fear Street series
“Another literary tour de force . . . From the book’s perfectly calibrated plot to its incisively etched characters, everything is handled with perfect finesse by the author.”—Poisoned Pen Newsletter
“One pleasure of a mystery series is connecting with a character that changes and grows with each novel. . . . Maggie’s intelligence and loyalty to the war effort continue to evolve in [Susan Elia] MacNeal’s series. . . . Solid twists keep the plot of The Prisoner in the Castle churning until the surprise finale.”—Associated Press
“A mystery . . . tailor-made for readers in the post-election, #MeToo era. . . . If you love a tricky puzzle that requires you to keep track of multiple alibis over time, this is your summer read.”—The Washington Post
“Evocative.”—Publishers Weekly
“MacNeal uses [Agatha] Christie’s And Then There Were None as a framework for a character-driven mystery/thriller that successfully emulates the original.”—Kirkus Reviews
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The colonel sums it up best on page ten: ‘If you take a pretty girl and teach her how to kill, it can cause problems.’ Not just problems—electrifying action and nonstop surprises. I loved this book!
Perfectly paced and brimming with intrigue and rich historical detail, The Prisoner in the Castle is an extraordinarily satisfying novel. Susan Elia MacNeal proves once again that she is a master, both at crafting characters and creating suspense.
PRISONER IN THE CASTLE by SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL
When Pandora opened that box, releasing all the troubles that plague mankind, one thing was left: hope, which helps us to endure despite all the rest . . . such is Maggie Hope. Maggie’s courage, resourcefulness, honor, and loyalty, as well as her excellent training, make her never, ever, give up. There are so many confusing twists in this maze of a story, so many “I didn’t see that coming” moments, that I could barely put it down. MacNeal’s attention to detail and historical accuracy make the narrative ring true, and the lessons and questions of morality and human nature encourage pondering even after the last page is turned. I love when good can come from bad.
Lessons, themes, and imagery for further thought:
“Don’t sit under the apple tree,” Garden of Eden, Eve and the apple, Newton’s first law of motion.
Legend of the Blue Men and memorizing poetry. “Scarra. Like scar. Or scare.” “rain drumming like skeleton fingers” . . . clocks all stopped
Simplicity of math compared to human vagaries . . . “Most Dangerous Game”
“As Dostoyevsky said, ‘People speak sometimes about the animal cruelty of man, but that’s terribly insulting and offensive to animals.”
“We need to teach alternatives to violence. That we’re not beasts, and don’t have to act like them.”
“Does the end ever justify the tainted means?”
and my dad’s favorite saying, “time spent fishing is not deducted from the span of your life.”
* Also, care in editing deserves mention. I read a pre-release “uncorrected” copy, and even so I couldn’t find errors. Well done!
Susan Elia MacNeal continues the adventures of Maggie Hope. World War II continues and Maggie has returned from her trip into German held France in “The Paris Spy.” But now she knows too much of Allied plans as well as what British intelligence has done which shows the dark side of war where men who are concerned more with the end than the means by which they achieve that end. So Maggie is sent to a “safe” place where they hold people who “know too much.” But “The Castle” is not as “safe” as it seems as those held there begin to be killed. I love the character of Maggie Hope. But focusing on the dark side of war and Maggie working under men who do not care about those they sacrifice or send in to achieve their end goals is not uplifting — yet Susaan Elia McNeal has done her research about World War II and the men and women who ran OSS type operations. I do recommend the book…but suggest the series be read in order so that you fully understand Maggie and her past and her goals. But do not expect an “uplifting” story. (The reason for my 4 stars vs 5 stars.) However, the loyalty of her friends who search for her is a shining light into the dark world of espionage. I voluntarily received an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Maggie, who originally started out as Churchill’s Secretary and is now a Major and has completed some harrowing missions but now is under house arrest of sorts because she knows who is willing to sacrifice British agents to keep a secret. Detective Chief Inspector James Durgin who was introduced in the Queen’s Accomplice, is the only one asking where Maggie has disappeared to under the guise of needing her to testify in the Blackout Beast serial killer trial. David Greene, Maggie’s good friend and Churchill’s personal assistant teams up with Detective Duggan in asking what happened to Maggie. The house full of detainees is complex and they each have their issues. Then there is the household staff who who have their own secrets.
The setting of a remote Scottish island is pure Gothic gold. It provides the chilling atmospheric backdrop for multiple murders. The most important part is that the author knows how to maximize the setting for a Hitchcock-like ratcheting of suspense.
The plot uses the framework of Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None” with the added tension of WWII and each resident is a trained British Agent under house arrest for any number of reasons, plus there may be a double agent. There have been many re-creations of Christie’s classic, but this novel took the concept to a whole new level.
The killer reveal/confrontation is nail biting thrills and chills. The author has made such gripping reveals a trade mark and she never fails to have me at the edge of my seat. Well played, yet again. The pacing is a little slow at the beginning to setup the conditions on the island and introduce the house full of incarcerated guests. But the first murder is soon discovered and the pace doesn’t let up from there.
For the eighth book in the series, Ms. MacNeal knocked this out of the ball park. I can see this as a blockbuster movie easily.
Rating: Near Perfect – Buy two copies: one for you and one for a friend.
This is a darker Maggie Hope, a spy deemed too dangerous by her own side, cast off on an island with other spies who are similarly sidelined. There is a Nazi spy in the midst, a cast of characters, and one dead body after another. This Maggie is a long way from the mathematical genius who inherited her English grandmother’s house and came to England with hope and curiosity. Yet the book also is a bit of a relief from Maggie as Superwoman, a theme of the last several books in this series. She is troubled, can’t sleep, worried about her life, and truly sad. Yet Maggie Hope doesn’t give up and won’t quit on herself or her adopted country. She is tough, smart and vulnerable, yet refused to back down. The book is an obvious, but loving, tribute to Agatha Christie’s tale of death on an island, and the culprit is surprising (or it was to me). There is a deeper mystery about the man who built the castle and his nefarious ways that author Susan Elia MacNeal weaves in seamlessly. A few more dead bodies than I like, but the interplay among characters and the sense of desperation made this a book I read in one fell swoop. (I received an ARC on NetGalley. Opinions mine.)
The Prisoner in the Castle had me at ‘a new Maggie Hope mystery,’ but once you add And Then There Were None and a Scottish castle, how could any mystery reader resist? Darkly atmospheric, enchantingly macabre, and as beautifully woven as a clan tartan.
Love every book written by Susan Elia MacNeal always exciting with characters doing the unexpected. Plenty of mystery, spies and suspense. Looking forward to her next book.
Another good book following the Maggie Hope series.
Maggie Hope is living my fantasy: getting the bad guys at a time of pure evil. I love this series, and literally inhaled her latest (and scariest) mission. Scotland? U-boats? Murder? Churchill? Buckle up as Maggie connects the dots again — with good sense and great style.
I so enjoy Maggie and her dilemmas! She never fails to find trouble. But she’s a great respector of people even while looking for a killer. Stuck on an island off Scotland, the prisoners are all intelligent, highly trained agents of SOE. But soon people begin to die. Maggie must solve this before she’s killed, too. Of all the people she tried to figure out, her nemesis catches her off guard!
The Prisoner in the Castle brings home the terror that anyone would feel if they were imprisoned on an island and a killer was on the loose.
The characters were a quirky lot, but also felt real, and normal. Of course, that was the point of the Special Operations Executive, to see what ordinary people could do under extraordinary circumstances. The setting was also described well and felt appropriately depressing. Especially the castle. Yeesh!
In this Maggie Hope adventure, we see the SOE premise brought home fully as we experience the systematic elimination of British spies gone astray and wonder if Maggie will be able to find the killer. There were a few times when Maggie’s internal dialogue felt repetitive, but overall this was a good read.
With plenty of action and twists to keep the story moving, this one will keep you turning the pages to see how—or if—Maggie Hope survives.
The Prisoner in the Castle is a double agent of a novel! At the outset, it appears like a clever riff on Agatha Christie, but a few quick turns prove it to be an utterly modern, gripping thriller. Maggie Hope is smarter than ever, and Susan Elia MacNeal is truly at the height of her powers.
Smart, addictive, personal, and propulsive, The Prisoner in the Castle had me riveted from the first page.
This is another total immersion into WWII. All the grit, danger, tensions, and boredom when waiting.
The characters are marvelously drawn and pulled me right in.
I was left a bit puzzled as to why she was being imprisoned. I couldn’t remember enough details from the last story. I think my confusion was at least in part a result of the bureaucratic folly that put her there.
It is amazing to step into these lives and see how they each cope with the isolation and, at least for some, the feeling of uselessness while the war goes on.
It’s a fine read and I , again, look forward to further adventures and more expansion of my WWII knowledge.
a fun read
4 Stars
It is a great keeping you on the edge of your seat mystery but it will also make you feel the weight of living through a war
Love this series!
Very interesting, a good read.