Havoc by E. Phillips Oppenheim

Espionage, murder, blackmail on the eve of World War I

E. Phillips Oppenheim was a popular British writer of suspense novels in the early 20th century. His books call to mind some of the old black-and-white films of Alfred Hitchcock or similar movies of the early talkie era. His novel Havoc, published in 1911, is a spy thriller and murder mystery that takes place at the outbreak of World War I. Of course, the Great War didn’t actually start until 1914, so this is all fictional speculation on Oppenheim’s part. By 1911, however, Europeans could see the writing on the wall, and Oppenheim’s depiction of foreign affairs at this time rings reasonably true to life.

The novel opens with a conversation between a British spy and an American journalist. They have both come to Vienna for a summit meeting between the Czar of Russia, the Emperor of Austria, and the Emperor of Germany. It is clear that Austria and Germany are formulating a war plan to conquer territories in Europe. What is unclear is the role that Russia will play. Will it side with Austria and Germany or ally itself with Britain and France? Following the meeting, the American journalist is granted an interview with the chancellor of Austria. At that moment, the chancellor happens to have a nervous breakdown, and with his impaired judgment he reveals state secrets that would otherwise be classified information. The chancellor hands the reporter a sealed envelope containing a verbatim transcript of the closed-door meeting between the three heads of state. Who wouldn’t want to get their hands on this vital piece of intelligence regarding the impending war? The journalist, seeing the ultimate scoop, wants to publish the document for fame and fortune, though his friend the British spy advises against it. With secret document in hand, the reporter boards a train headed towards London. But will he survive the trip?

This international intrigue kicks the novel off to a promising start. Once the action moves to London, however, the pace of the plot slows down considerably. A new protagonist is introduced, and a murder takes place that amounts to an extended side track away from the spy story. It’s all related, but often feels like two different stories running parallel to one another. The two male heroes of the novel each have their love interest, so there is plenty of romance, but the time spent on dinner dates and theater engagements tends to stall the plot and needlessly drag things out.

Oppenheim is a skilled storyteller capable of weaving several interesting plot threads into an intriguingly complex web. The thrills of this thriller, however, are deadened by Victorian conventions. This was pre-noir, so there’s very little moral ambiguity to the characters. The heroes are English gentlemen; the villains are evil Germans; the women are lovely virgins. Occasionally someone threateningly points a gun, or a punch is thrown, but there’s little that could really be called violence, which significantly lowers the fear threshold. You know there’s no chance of sex before marriage. There’s never any doubt who’s going to triumph in the end, and even the identity of the killer is predictable. The depiction of women is somewhat annoying also. Although the two female leads each have some degree of independence, their behavior towards the men is very subservient and their obvious destiny is to abandon their careers for marriage.

Havoc is a moderately entertaining espionage adventure, as one would expect from Oppenheim. It certainly isn’t boring, but this one feels more dated and predictable than most of his efforts. Instead of Havoc, I would recommend his novels The Avenger (1907) or The Great Impersonation (1920).
If you liked this review, please follow the link below to Amazon.com and give me a “helpful” vote. Thank you.

https://www.amazon.com/review/R2DTYLDD90F74G/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rdp_perm