The Dead Can Wait, Robert Ryan
The Dead Can Wait, Robert Ryan
List: $27.99 | Sale: $19.59
Club: $13.99

The Dead Can Wait

Author: Robert Ryan

Narrator: Richard Burnip

Unabridged: 14 hr 1 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/23/2015


Synopsis

Deep in England's green and pleasant land something evil lurks…

Dr John Watson is back home, fresh from his time in the trenches of Flanders Fields. The horrors of war weigh heavy on his mind, and now his task is to help rehabilitate soldiers suffering from the crippling effects of shell-shock.

But the war is not yet over and in one corner of England lies a secret, one that the establishment is determined to keep under wraps. For in the woodlands of the lush countryside, the government is building the secret weapon which will win the war for Britain. Here, they are developing the land ship - never-before-seen 'tanks' which the army is convinced will end the stalemate on the Western Front.

But then disaster strikes. After a training exercise in one of the tanks, eight men are mysteriously struck down, seven of them dead. There is just the one survivor, and he's not talking. It is clear something is horribly wrong, and the army calls in the only man who will know how to solve the mystery: Dr John Watson.

About Robert Ryan

Robert Ryan... I'm a man born in the wrong era. My heart yearns for faraway places and even further afield times. Sometimes I imagine myself in a Viking mead-hall. The long winter night presses in, but the shimmering embers of a log in the hearth hold back the cold. The chieftain calls for a story, and I take a sip from my drinking horn and stand up. . . Or maybe the desert stars shine bright and clear, obscured occasionally by wisps of smoke from burning camel dung. A dry gust of wind lifts sand grains into the air and blows them through our lonely campsite, and the wayfarers about me stir restlessly. I sip cool water and begin to speak. Samantha Krenneck... Really, Roberteo, is that the best you've got? Camel dung and mead? I'm going to ignore the camel dung (you could ease up a bit on the mead too) and open your stories to ... banter, romance and dragons. Especially dragons. You've invited me to co-author with you, so consider the kraken unleashed! No, wait. That's mixing my metaphors. Or monsters. Anyway, you get the point. Stay tuned everyone for the stories you've always loved from Robert, but now with a twist from me!


Reviews

Goodreads review by Manda on January 05, 2014

I became a fan of Rob Ryan's work at Harrogate History Fest in October, when I heard him speak on a panel about Sherlock Holmes..... Apparently there was a single line in one of the last Holmes books which said that Watson had gone back to his 'old unit' - that being the RAMC, and given that we were......more

Goodreads review by Lori on October 12, 2019

Set during World War I, Major John Watson must investigate the deaths of men involved in testing weaponry in a secret location. Sherlock Holmes is detained on a remote island, and Watson hopes he can free his friend while reluctantly resolving the problem as a means to gaining access to Holmes. Spy......more

Goodreads review by Elizabeth (Alaska) on April 29, 2024

Watson, Sherlock Holmes' friend and fellow investigator, is back in England after serving in Belgium during WWI. Although we can expect an appearance from Holmes, this is very much Watson as a medical doctor and investigating on his own. Also, this WWI setting is one with which I was unfamiliar and......more

Goodreads review by AnnaG on September 20, 2019

I enjoyed the first Dr Watson book in this series which had a strong clear plot and vivid historic detail. This book however was a weaker story with a poor plot, far to many coincidences and implausible occurrences. The plot armour of the main characters was especially irritating.......more

Goodreads review by Liese on May 19, 2014

Dr. Watson. Need I say more? This is the second book by Robert Ryan chronicling the later life of Dr. Watson (and tangentially, Mr. Sherlock Holmes.) In both, the backdrop is WWI and Dr. Watson's return to military service. This particular book involves secret weapons, spies, and some old-fashioned w......more