Broken Oaths by Patricia Marques – Review

Broken Oaths marks the return of Patricia Marques’s Inspector Reis series. This is the third novel in the series that mixes detective and speculative fiction with fascinating results. Marques has created a world in which a minority of the population are ‘gifted’. They possess powers of telepathy and telekinesis, and are generally distrusted and discriminated against by the rest of society. Inspector Reis is in a unique position, as a policewoman who is also gifted. In the first two novels Reis, and her professional partner Aleks Voronov, investigated some fiendishly complicated cases. In Broken Oaths they face their most difficult case yet, as they leave their native Lisbon to investigate a series of bizarre deaths at the Portuguese embassy in London.

In a genre saturated by formulaic fiction, Broken Oaths offers the reader something new. It’s essentially a locked room mystery with a political twist. One subplot seems to have been inspired by Julian Assange’s rent-free stay at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. The ghoulishness of the deaths reminded me of other aspects of London lore, such as the ‘spy in the bag’ affair. All in all, it’s a terrific read, that will leave you clamouring to see what Marques does next.