An entertaining and gripping historical mystery that kept me hooked.
A well researched and vivid historical background, interesting characters and a solid mystery that kept me guessing.
I hope to read other stories featuring these characters.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I received a copy of this book to review from Netgalley. Thank you for the opportunity.
An interesting idea behind this story an dplenty of action. The first chapter has someone being shot. If that isn't action packed, I don't know what is! The writing is good and the story fast paced.
However, the story read like an typical action movie at times with lots of action and a lack of plot, preventing the story being more well rounded and developed.
On the whole, a good read.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an advance copy of The Year of the Gun, the third novel to feature former Baker Street irregular Wiggins.

Wiggins has left his job with the British Secret Service and is on his way to New York to find his lost love, Bela. Unfortunately for his plans he his thrown off the boat in Ireland and has to earn the price of his passage over again. He starts working for Dublin gangster O’Connell and finds more trouble in the Irish Nationalist cause and their need for guns.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Year of the Gun which is another ripping yarn, full of adventure and historical context with some neat twists. It is told from Wiggins’s point of view so the reader gets a close view of his thoughts and actions, but not too close as he’s holding things back. I was totally fooled and took him at his word so the twists came as a big surprise. I take this as a sign of strong writing.

The action moves from The Titanic to Wales via Dublin and New York as the ever resourceful Wiggins brawls his way across the Western Hemisphere. It’s fun as he upsets several gangsters, takes beatings and escapes death on several occasions, not least on the Titanic. I like the way real historical events are woven into the narrative although, apart from the Titanic, I had to rely on the author’s afterword to identify them.

Wiggins is a great character. He is based on the leader of Sherlock Holmes’s Baker Street Irregulars but all grown up and a product of his experiences. He is smart and tends to take a longer term view of events than his actions would suggest and is definitely a good judge of character - his take on meeting Sherlock Holmes in New York is spot on. His jaundiced take on privilege is perhaps one of the few times he talks from the heart, otherwise there’s a whole load of smoke and mirrors.

The Year of the Gun is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.