Review by Booklist Review
In Schott's second homage to P. G. Wodehouse, Bertie and Jeeves are back for another spot of what Jeeves likes to call "quiescent espionage." You'll recall from Jeeves and the King of Clubs (2018) that Jeeves and his fellow butlers and valets in the Junior Ganymede work with British Intelligence, reporting on the nefarious doings of the leisure class. Surprisingly, the wily Ganymedeans occasionally need the help of Jeeves' employer, bumbling Mayfair gadfly Bertie Wooster. This time Bertie is required to impersonate a priest and journey to Cambridge, where the Seventh Earl of Sidcup, aspiring fascist Roderick Spode, is wooing undergraduates to his gang of Brown Shorts. Bertie accepts his charge with equanimity, even when required to do some "nightclimbing" (an undergrad frolic involving skipping to and fro atop the towers of Trinity College). What's more problematic is the presence of Bertie's nemesis, the milk-drinking, obsessively matchmaking, all-around evildoing Aunt Agatha ("the face that drowned a thousand kittens"). The whirligigging plot almost spins out of control here, but don't worry: Jeeves takes care of that just fine. Great fun--another round, please!
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Schott's second authorized P.G. Wodehouse homage (after Jeeves and the King of Clubs) again successfully recreates the drily humorous voice of amiable doofus Bertie Wooster, who, as always, relies on his genius manservant, Reginald Jeeves, to help him out of numerous difficulties. Here, those challenges include averting the financial catastrophe facing Bertie's London club, the Drones, as well as the machinations of Bertie's least-favorite aunt, Agatha Gregson, who is plotting to marry off her nephew and end Jeeves's employment. In the prior volume, Schott revealed how Jeeves's club, the Junior Ganymede, was a cover for British intelligence, and Bertie is again called upon to help in thwarting the political ambitions of fascist Roderick Spode. Schott makes that idea plausible, along with a subplot involving love interest Iona MacAuslan, who appreciates Bertie's irrepressible good nature and commitment to helping a friend in need, even if that means impersonating a cleric and a fortune-teller. Wodehouse's droll byplay between master and servant is also emulated well; in response to Bertie's affinity for a garish wallpaper design, Jeeves asks, "Should a bedroom be the locus of tumult, sir?" While Schott is less adept at crafting the intricate, intertwined plotlines of the originals, he mostly succeeds at keeping his many plates spinning. This'll be a hoot for Wodehouse fans. (Sept.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
When P.G. Wodehouse died in 1975, it seemed that the whimsical world of Jeeves and Wooster had reached its natural conclusion. Thankfully, Schott (Schott's Original Miscellany), chosen by the Wodehouse estate to revive the characters, continues the magic. Schott's second foray into Wooster world (after Jeeves and the King of Clubs) is as dazzling as his first, with brilliant puns and laugh-out-loud prose. Everything one expects from Wodehouse is here: an outlandish plot, beloved characters, a Wooster aunt on the matrimonial warpath, gambling, nightclubs, and, inevitably, Jeeves to the rescue. Will Bertie Wooster have to go night-climbing (a popular pastime at Oxford and Cambridge Universities) even though it is prohibited? Will blackmail and dubious characters such as Spode and Whipplesnaith, prototype blackshirts, prevail? Stir in myriad love interests, cryptic crosswords, newts, broken engagements, and the Junior Ganymede club, whose members, it transpires, are a front for the British Intelligence Services, and you have a perfectly frothy concoction for invoking joy and laughter. For the unitiated, Schott provides a glossary, placing characters and events into historical and literary context. VERDICT It's a fizzer, chaps. An absolute corker.--Penelope J.M. Klein, Edinburgh, Scotland
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A second Jeeves novel authorized by the Wodehouse estate. What humorless monster doesn't love the Jeeves books? These confections feature the English aristocrat Bertie Wooster getting himself into the soup and Jeeves, his "gentleman's gentleman," fishing him out again. In a typical story, Bertie gets engaged to the wrong girl, offends a muscular and irascible gentleman, attempts to extricate a pal from a jam, steals a policeman's helmet or a piece of antique silver as ugly as it is valuable, runs afoul of a stern aunt, and insists on wearing an objectionable garment, and then, with a modest flick of the wrist, Jeeves sets everything right again. Only 11 Jeeves novels and a few dozen short stories are what Bertie might have called the genuine article--written by P.G. Wodehouse himself--but the estate has authorized Schott to expand the canon, and this is his second outing. True to form, Schott's Bertie spends his time dodging undesirable would-be fiancees, arriving late to meals with Aunt Agatha, masquerading as a clergyman, and climbing the walls of Cambridge University buildings while Jeeves manipulates everything and everyone toward a happy resolution. The greatest pleasure of Wodehouse's Jeeves books lay in his wordplay: the delicious contrast between Bertie's breezy Jazz Age slang and Jeeves' precise formality. Wodehouse's Jeeves knows more than you do about pretty much everything, but he never needs to show off; it's part of Wodehouse's genius to make the reader feel smart. Schott, alas, does the opposite. Unlike Jeeves, who appears at the narrator's elbow to supply the mot juste exactly--and only--when it's needed, Schott opens his reference library and shakes it upside down over the text. Schott inserted an element of espionage into his first Jeeves novel, and he continues it here, raising the stakes slightly, which may or may not be what readers want from a Jeeves novel. It's agreeable enough, but Schott is no Wodehouse. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
