The Traitors' Gate (review)

John Huffam's father, who could never muster the wealth to match his aspirations as a gentleman, has now landed in London's Whitcross Street Prison until he can discharge his £300 debt. None of his minor gambling embarrassments could have landed him in prison on their own, but sinister Mr. O'Doul has consolidated and purchased Mr. Huffam's obligations, and now it's up to his fourteen-year-old son John to find a way to raise the cash and restore the family to respectability. John has little more in assets than an honest face, a sensible nature, and a bit of help in securing a church-cleaning job through a wealthy great aunt; Mr. Huffam, though, actually has the means for his own deliverance at hand—as an employee of the Naval Ordinance Office, he's privy to defense secrets which a number of spies and adventurers are beating a path to his cell to obtain. In this homage to nineteenth-century Victoriana, Avi creates several secondary characters in which Dickens himself could have taken pride: Mr. Tuckum, who soothes the ruffled egos of debtor "guests" in his shabby "sponging house" even as he drives them deeper into debt; Sergeant Muldspoon, proprietor and sole master of Muldspoon's Militantly Motivated Academy ("No retreat before ignorance!"); Mr. Snugsbe, who views his cocooning, comforting overcoat as a metaphor for his retreat from society. Unfortunately, the central characters of John and his family, and even the sizable cast of police and suspected villains, are not nearly as interesting, and the treason plot never becomes compelling. Nonetheless, the short chapters break the long novel into manageable segments with frequent stops for atmospheric black-and-white artwork, and an enterprising teacher might want to share this with a class in daily readings, recreating the experience of Dickens' serialized works.