This was Masters first novel and is a work of historical fiction. Its subject is the Indian Mutiny of 1857. Masters was a regular officer in the Indian Army and served from 1939 to 1946. His family had a long tradition in the Indian army and so he was steeped in the culture of British rule under the Raj, but his setting for the novel is ninety years earlier when the country was controlled by the East India Company. He is probably at his best in describing the life of an officer in the army, but this first novel combines this with an adventure story and a full scale battle with much brutal action. It is quite well written, but in some places it feels a little clunky, there is a lot going on and sometimes I feel it doesn't quite hang together..

The central character is Captain Rodney Savage of the Bengal native Infantry. He has a good working relationship with the sepoys (Indian native army regulars) whom he has grown to appreciate. An English female visitor to the garrison at Bhowani Junction; Caroline Langford, becomes suspicious of possible plots against the ruling British elite. Savage is starting to feel that the opportunity to make his mark in the Company's service is passing him by and he takes an interest in Carolines concerns. The nearby all Indian town of Kishanpur is rocked by the assassination of the Rajah and Savage carries out his own investigation into the affairs of the Rani. He does not find out enough information to stop an uprising of the sepoys in Bhowani and just about escapes from a massacre of the white ruling class. His injuries lead to temporary insanity as Caroline attempts to hide him in the forest, he insists on going to Kishanpur, but they are imprisoned by the Rani. They learn more details of the mutiny, escape from prison and with the help of a loyal sepoy hide out in a small village. There follows an attempt to reach the British garrison at Gondwara to warn the British contingent of another sepoy mutiny.

There is a good opening sequence to the novel when Savage and Caroline witness a guru in Bhowani holding an audience in the centre of town and appearing to summon a murder of crows. He issues a cryptic warning of coming troubles and this gives the novel an edgy start that contrasts with the subsequent description of daily life amongst the British contingent in the cantonment. The expats lead an insular life in an endless round of socialising based on British traditions. The club house with its bar is where most come to gossip and to uphold the class divisions in their own society. The majority have a lifestyle supported by and endless supply of Indian servants that could not be achieved back home and they have become for the most part pampered and indolent in a climate that is totally unsuitable to them. John Masters describes their lifestyle with real firsthand knowledge, but I get the impression that it is more like the lifestyle of the British Raj in the 1930's than 1870 under the East India Company. Savage takes a more benevolent view of the natives than most and has an understanding and acceptance of their society. When he suffers his period of insanity he becomes more like the racist native hating ogre that one feels was more prevalent amongst the British ex pats at the time.

Caroline Langford says at some point in the novel:

“There are not two standards for us, for the English—only one. We must keep our standard, or go home. We must not, as we do now, permit untouchability and forbid suttee, abolish tyranny in one state and leave it in another, have our right hand Eastern and our left hand Western. It is not that India is wicked; she has her own ways. If we rule we must rule as Indians—or we must make the Indians English. But we do neither; we are like Mr. Dellamain. We have one foot in a whirlpool. Sometimes I am sure we will be dragged into another and drowned. God will punish us for compromising. As He will punish me.”

Masters has set his story back in 1857 when the East Indian Trading Company was looking to exploit the country for all that it was worth and they brought with them plenty of Christians who were looking to convert the natives, by any means possible to save their souls. I think Masters could be accused of giving some of his characters the more enlightened views that would be more appropriate to a later period of British rule than at the time of the mutiny. There is plenty of violence in the book and atrocities are committed by both sides in the struggle, Masters does not shy away from describing them.

The novels descriptions of India, its village and town life and the life of the expats tucked away in the cantonment rings true for me. It is told from a British imperialist perspective, but that is entirely suited to the events the novel describes and the characters that Masters has chosen for his story. He has created some interesting characters even if the story slips away from him at times, the novel has some good moments and so 3.5 stars. ( )

Novel of the Indian Mutiny. Masters was an old India hand, and an officer in the Indian Army. He served with distinction during WW2 before becoming a novelist. His novels were well-received being authentic and exciting. This is a novel of escape, pursuit, adventure and romance in India in the 19th Century.

Interesting look at the Indian Mutiny through the eyes of the Raj. The book starts in 1856, in the fictional cantonment of Bhowani in Bengal India.

The POV is Rodney Savage. He is a Captain of the 13th Rifles, Bengal Native Infantry. He is the leader of the Indian Sepoys, who make up the rank and file. He has spent years with them, and has respect and affection for them, though he believes in British superiority. His world is destroyed when he has to face that these same men want to kill him, and do kill other British.

Rodney muses on the narrow and repressed life they must lead as Victorians. He blames it on Albert, and longs for the easier (socially) days of his father and grandfather.

The book also brings up one of the secrets of the Raj, that those of middle and lower class were accorded 'Upper Class' status (grudgingly) in India because they were British and white. That group of people never wanted to go home, where they would return to their former lower-order life. In India they had servants, large houses, power and prestige.

The country is divided into different British zones, with some princely states (they are dependent on the British to survive). Savage visits the Rani of Kishanpur, after her husband is killed. He spends time in the princely state and interacts with Indians who are technically their own masters.

This book is 3rd book (Story Order) in the Savage Family series.

The majority of the book looks at life in the cantonment, how the various Brits interact with each other and with the Indians all around them as soldiers and servants. There are British men, women and children, a whole mini social structure.

Masters shows how they are beset by the little things, and miss or don't care about the important things. He also explores how the East India Company (which ran India), with remote businessmen make decisions that drive the Sepoys and their officers apart.

About 2/3 of the way through the mutiny happens and the pace picks up. There is very little of the aftermath in the book.

I thought the writing was a bit stiff, not sure if Masters was trying to be Victorian, or if it is because it is the first book in the series published. ( )

Adventure story set during the mutiny in India. Captures the time - and complexity of India very well. It is a fantastic backdrop to the story. The characters develop and grow as they experience the sorrow and tragedy of a great clash of cultures. Well worth reading again. ( )

http://www.fireandsword.com/Reviews/nightrunners.html

I do love a good book by an old Indian army hand. John Masters was pretty well steeped in the Raj and he created a series of novels about Englishmen in India from the 1600s to 1947. In this case the hero is Rodney Savage (in Masters’ novels the Savages have a family tradition of serving in India). He finds himself, his family, and the army he loves caught up in the Great Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. More aptly described as a war of independence, most of the Bengal army and many North Indian rulers joined in a bloody, but unsuccessful bid to oust the British from India.