Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

I received a copy of this book to review from Netgalley. Thank you for the opportunity.
A male dominanted story, preferably for those who like reading about the age of the empire. The book starts with animal hunting which I disliked and made it difficult to follow the story. The characters were unfortunately not engaging or very interesting to follow.

Enemy of the Raj is the second in the Drabble and Harris series and sees the pair getting up to mischief, derring do and sweating buckets in 1930s India.
I haven’t read the first book but I found it easy enough to get into as the characters had been taken out of their natural habitat realising them from any ties and letting them loose somewhere new.
The British Raj is an infinitely interesting and complex setting for any story, there is so much going on and so much to explore both historically and culturally and sometimes I felt Marsh got carried away with that rather than plot. I felt the whole thing was a bit half baked and under written. By trying to cover so much ground he spread himself a bit thin.
Harris and Drabble are both likeable characters, but I found their relationship odd at first I thought that Drabble was the Jeeves to Harris’ Wooster but Harris lacked any sort of direction, he just seemed to be there for Drabble to rescue. Even the trouble he got into wasn’t that interesting. I couldn’t work out why Drabble was his friend at all other than they were at school together. Perhaps that’s all that’s needed. There also a weird fixation on teeth. Everyone was described by their teeth. I couldn’t tell you their age, build, eye/hair colour but I could tell you all about their stained/shiny teeth.
The two women in the book were also paper thin. The Bad Woman and her motives were never fully explained satisfactorily and the Good Woman was putty for Harris after a two minute exchange of polite chit chat where she was faintly bored. Harris must be bloody gorgeous. This I suppose is kind of in keeping with the pulpy nature of the book but that’s just making excuses because I wanted this to be better there’s enough there that it deserved to be better. Overall enjoyable but frustratingly underdone.

An enjoyable, well paced mystery/adventure story. I felt that the story would have benefitted from increased diversity in the principal characters. The Indian and female characters felt under developed.

Drabble and Harris are back in this, the second of Alec Marsh’s novels to feature the indomitable duo, and a sequel to his debut, Rule Britannia. It’s 1937 and our pair, Sir Percival Harris and Professor Ernest Drabble, are in India. The novel opens with the two on a tiger hunt, which is quite an opening for a story.

Rule Britannia was set against the backdrop of fascism in Britain in the 1930s and those who admired and wished to collaborate with Hitler. There was an element of speculative/counterfactual history to the plot, in that it imagined an attempted coup d’etat by fascist forces. In keeping with this flavour, Enemy of the Raj does something similar; set against the backdrop of the burgeoning independence movement in India, it isn’t long before our heroes find themselves embroiled in plots and conspiracies as needless to say, not everyone is happy with the idea of India freeing itself from the yolk of British rule.

Like the first novel in the series, Enemy of the Raj is well-plotted and the characterisation is strong, the two main characters a great contrast to each other. Drabble is intelligent and capable, he’s the action hero of the piece, while Harris is more than a little hapless.

As with the previous novel, the author has clearly done his research. This novel examines the history of India leading up to independence, and while this is not a heavy or political read, it is educational. Where Rule Britannia focused on the little known story of Cromwell’s head and what has happened to it down the years, Enemy of the Raj tells the remarkable story of Maharaja Ganga Singh, a man who the author rightly calls one of the lost giants of the twentieth century. This is a man who achieved much and led a really quite astonishing life and yet has been all but forgotten from history. His story is weaved through the plot of Enemy of the Raj to entertaining effect; hopefully, it will go some way to bringing Singh the recognition he deserves.

Enemy of the Raj is an entertaining novel and a worthy sequel to Drabble and Harris’s previous outing. I particularly like the author’s use of little known elements of history to illuminate the period and his use of speculative/counterfactual plot lines. I hope that he can think of something to equally good for the third in the series (I’m sure there’ll be a third outing for our part of unlikely heroes) and look forward to reading what they get up to next.

I absolutely adored the first outing for Drabble and Harris in Rule Britannia, so there was no doubt that I wanted to be along when they resurfaced a second time. The title was a give away to where that action would take place with the opening chapter being pure perfection. I laughed, I gasped and I despaired. What a perfect pairing Drabble and Harris are!

Harris is a lovable character, a little bit dopey, in the nicest of ways, and always seems to lose some sort of body part in each adventure, I so wish this to be a long series and hope he keeps the rest of his bits intact. Drabble, on the other hand, is a curious fellow who has that second sense that something just isn’t right, an itch that has to be scratched. It gets him in some rather heart in your mouth moments. The pair of them make each chapter in the story total entertainment.

Alec Marsh seamlessly blends fictional characters with historical legends of history and it is pure magic. His research impeccable, his ability to make a reader see what he writes second to none. There is never a dull moment and what a climax it works towards.

Oh boy, I have read so many climatic endings but this was a beauty that cannot be beaten. I couldn’t help but rock back and forth on my sofa like I was part of this super team. I loved the ending chapters, as good as any grand national, just awesome!

Do read these fabulous books, they are gems! I wish to thank the publisher and NetGalley for an e-copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly.