The Sinews of War. By Eden Phillpotts and Arnold Bennett.
(T. Werner Laurie. 6s.)—The practised reader of fiction will be astonished at the conjunction of names on the title-page of this book. He will marvel as to what such a partnership can bring forth, and will turn the leaves with the most lively curiosity. If he remembers Mr. Eden Phillpotts's "The Human Boy," he will 1mow that one of the authors has a profound knowledge of the nature of boys, and can describe these young people with infinite humour and insight. Again, if he remembers Mr. Arnold Bennett's admirable comedy, "A Great Man," his hopes of a feast of humour will be doubled. "A. Great Man" is a delicate satire, the charm of which grows with re-reading. Mr. Arnold Bennett would himself be surprised if the present writer confessed to the number of times the book has been re-read, always with greater appreciation of the extremely subtle point of most of its situa- tions. The Sinews of War, however, contains none of the humour of "The Human Boy," or the satire of the biographer of Mr. Henry Shakespeare Knight. It is frankly a sensational novel -which begins in the manner of Fortune du Boisgobey with a mysterious murder. The unravelling of the murder and mystery is the theme of the book. The work is extremely well done, and the hand of the author of "The Grand Babylon Hotel" has not lost its cunning in inventing sensational situations as ingenious as they are modern. But when we have said this we have said all. The book is certainly a first-class detective story; but we miss from the mixture the peculiar qualities of Mr. Eden Phillpotts.
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