Best effort in the Matthew Corbett series since The Queen of Bedlam. The plot is still outrageously twisted and improbable, the melodrama overwrought, and we have the dastardly Professor Fell to deal with, but McCammon makes us forget all the weaknesses by keeping up a breathless pace and giving us more fleshed out characters than in The Providence Rider. Problem Solver Corbett isn't going to have much of a body (or teeth) left if he makes it to 30, but he's still McCammon's best character ever and keeps believably maturing from novel to novel.

I wish McCammon would quit wasting his time on things like The Five and and The Border and concentrate on this which he will be justly remembered for. It is easily his best writing. ( )

Well thank god that's over with. The Corbett series has never been my favourite of McCammon's writing. He tends to over-write and really over-describe in these stories, but the first few had some decent storylines.

But six books in? I'm not going to say the stories are tired, they aren't. Instead, they're just predictable and, less than a quarter of the way into this novel, I found I couldn't muster up enough caring to give a single shit for anyone in the story, nor its eventual outcome.

Yet, I continue on, wincing at the over-description, swearing at the typical handwringing of Matthew Corbett, getting frustrated at a story that gave him no chance to do anything other than go along with all those that pushed him around--seriously, it was like watching someone who's fallen out of the dinghy and is caught in the current and can only wave their arms and yell--and pissed right off at the various characters that, for no reason other than the reader needed the information, sat Matthew down and laid out their history for him.

...and still, I didn't care.

So, this was officially the final nail in the coffin for me reading any additional Corbett novels. I'm tapping out, using my safeword, throwing up the white flag. I surrender.

And, unfortunately, after the last two non-Corbett novels McCammon put out, [b:The Five|10189558|The Five|Robert McCammon|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327896424s/10189558.jpg|15088657], which was dreadful, and the complete hot mess that was [b:The Border|24406483|The Border|Robert McCammon|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1420852289s/24406483.jpg|43992377], I've lost all faith that he can put together a story that is well-plotted, well-written, and entertaining. He hit his absolute peak with the phenomenal [b:Boy's Life|11553|Boy's Life|Robert McCammon|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1314302694s/11553.jpg|16685995] but he's never come close to matching that, before or after, with the possible exceptions of some of the stories from [b:Blue World|11555|Blue World|Robert McCammon|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1459352272s/11555.jpg|16692687].

I hate when this happens. I went through the same thing with Tom Clancy years ago (loved Red October, but then each book afterward got sillier and sillier until the pure shit of [b:The Bear and the Dragon|19687|The Bear and the Dragon (Jack Ryan Universe, #11)|Tom Clancy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1361933747s/19687.jpg|17028926]. The guy could plot like nobody's business, but when he started injecting his own politics into the books, I was out.

And I also went through this with Chuck Palahniuk. I devoured his first five novels or so, but [b:Haunted|22288|Haunted|Chuck Palahniuk|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1391152326s/22288.jpg|1602272], while having flashes of brilliance, also had some crap. By [b:Snuff|1840511|Snuff|Chuck Palahniuk|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1446089918s/1840511.jpg|2034926] and [b:Pygmy|4601396|Pygmy|Chuck Palahniuk|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320495043s/4601396.jpg|4651129], Palahniuk seemed to be "writing in the style of Chuck Palahniuk" and absolutely aping himself, to his detriment.

Every one of these authors wrote groundbreaking books, then totally lost the skill to write engaging novels afterward. Sad really.

So, McCammon, you're off my list now. And that's a sad thing. ( )

I received an advance review copy of this novel from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review and I am very grateful.

Robert McCammon’s Matthew Corbett historical thriller series is a total immersion experience. A trip down a long, dark rabbit hole into the vibrant and violent world of the early 18th century. The 6th in the series, Freedom of the Mask seems to me to be more of a 6a with a 6b to follow. The action, while complete and in no way an annoying cliff-hanger, more or less takes a breather at the end of this volume as it sets up the second half of the story.

I have to take a moment to give a word of advice about this series. Buy this new volume, by all means, but also get the other novels in the series and read them in order. It will immeasurably increase the pleasure as there are countless references back and forth and characters and circumstances reappear. I know that they are described as “stand alone” but I don’t recommend skipping installments and would strongly argue against reading them out of order because spoilers abound.

Once again in this novel, the historical elements are seamlessly woven in to the fabric of the tale. Almost as fun as the story itself is learning about life in the early 18th Century. We see what it was like to live in the outlying colonial villages which seem to be barely above living in raw nature, the mysterious swamps and open indian country, and in Mathew’s home base in the small but growing town of New York. The technology of the time is fascinating, whether we are learning precisely how to load, prime, and fire a musket, or the various ingenious and sometimes dangerous and cruel inventions of the time. And the stories are marvelous. I enjoy these swashbuckling adventures as much as those of Raphael Sabatini (Captain Blood or Scaramouche) or the Captain Alatriste series by Arturo Perez-Reverte.

Part 6 continues a recent trend in the series to take the show on the road, that of visiting far away locations, including peculiar village owned by the nefarious Professor Fell—whose story over-arches the plots of all of the books starting with the second in the series, The Queen of Bedlam. In this installment we are taken to a true city, the largest city in the world at the time I believe—London, which had to be just about the most awful place on the planet. The poverty, crime and filth are overwhelming. Matthew travels to the infamous Whitechapel district, the Old Bailey, and (what time travel trip would be complete without at a visit to) Newgate Prison—literally hell on earth at that time.

Matthew’s situation goes from bad to worse in Freedom of the Mask and there are times when he is pushed beyond his limit. He not only fears for himself, but for his friend Hudson Greathouse who makes a grand and welcome reappearance in this novel after being largely absent in River of Souls, and his long suffering love Berry Grigsby. And he has reason to fear, for in the hands of Professor Fell, a very angry Professor Fell (which you need to read The Providence Rider to fully understand why he is so angry), they are in grave danger. If you have come the whole road with these characters, you will see that the gloves are off now, Fell is in full villain mode, and wonder as I did if there is any hope for Berry or Hudson “The Great One.”

Just as you are immersing yourself in this plot and wonder if Matthew can prevail against Fell, a chilling pronouncement is made by Fell himself, when he explains to Matthew that there are villains worse than him. And off we go to the next adventure. This series is amazing and never gets old.

5 stars. The type of book that is the reason we love stories. Imagination too large for a movie can only exist in books like this. Adventure just doesn’t get any better.
( )

Freedom of the Mask defies any pat descriptions. Yes, it's the 6th entry in Robert McCammon's historical fiction series, but it's also an action, adventure mystery as well.

London in 1703 is one filthy place. In addition to all of the nasty problems due to overcrowding, there are gangs competing against each other for territory, and a new type of addicting alcohol available that's turning many people into shadows of their former selves. Matthew Corbett finds himself there after an incident which occurred at sea, and then he finds himself locked up in the infamous Newgate Prison.

Berry Grigsby teams up with the indomitable Hudson Greathouse to find Matthew and bring him back home to the small city, (as compared to London), of New York. It is always great to "see" these two whenever they appear. Berry is the sweetest girl ever and Hudson is a formidable but great man, and a true friend.

That's all I can say about the plot other than that Freedom of the Mask took some very dark turns and there were a few scenes that were quite disturbing. When one has a mask on, they have the ability to do things in secret. Whether they be good or bad things the reader has to decide for themselves-but that's the freedom referred to in the title.

I'm always excited for a new McCammon book because they never let me down. This one was no exception: amnesia, battles at sea, swordfights, crazy carriage rides, and outrageously evil villains!. Freedom of the Mask is a lot of things, as I mentioned at the start of this review, but for me it was 100% pure FUN.

Highly recommended to fans of historical mysteries and action adventure tales!

You can buy your copy here: http://www.amazon.com/Freedom-Mask-Robert-McCammon/dp/1596067756?ie=UTF8&key... of the mask&qid=1464438254&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

*I received a free e-ARC of this book via Net Galley in exchange for my honest review. This is it. * ( )

Fun. ( )