Book Review: The Black Tower By Louis Bayard

By Carlotta G. Holton

From the pages of history come the greatest mysteries of all. The Black Tower is an outstanding example of literary craft exercised at its best and wielded amidst a significant period of history: the Restoration of the Bourbon monarchy following France’s bloody revolution.

A master of capturing the mood and period of his story, Bayard sets in motion a theory that the Dauphin, Louis Charles, son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette and rightful heir to the throne, is still alive. It is 1818 when the chase begins as detective Eugene Francois Vidocq (a former criminal) discovers a letter found in a dead man’s pocket with the name of Dr. Hector Carpentier, the narrator of the tale.

Since his father’s death, Carpentier has lived with his mother in a boardinghouse in the Latin Quarter of Paris. Presenting himself as an old cripple from the street, Vidocq sheds his disguise and enters the home of Carpentier in hopes of making a connection to the murder. Following a visit to the morgue it is determined the man, identified as Le Blanc, was brutally tortured before his death. What information did he have to merit this end? How is the good doctor involved?

The author skillfully reigns in the reader, blending political intrigue, social commentary, treachery and conspiracies into a page-turning race to retrieve the truth. The times are difficult. Vidocq sarcastically questions the ability of the French to “forget” what happened. “We are asked to forget from the ashes of this conflagration, everything between 1780-1815 from the Bastille and Waterloo. No hard feelings. We’ve torn down the Emperor’s statue, cheered our new king as we have execrated the old one. We can’t forget. History lies low, but rises up.”

So too are rumors that the Dauphin may still live. The prevalent theory is that the 10-year-old Louis Charles died in the Black Tower, also known as The Temple, and was tossed in an unmarked grave “to mingle with strangers; bones equal to the end – no marker, no prayer.”

Pretenders to the throne abound. Was Le Banc killed because he too thought the future king was still alive? And if indeed there is no chance he is alive and is in fact dead, why kill a man over a delusion?

It comes to light that Carpentier is the son of a Doctor with the same name. Was it his services the dead man sought? An elderly border known as Father Time reveals he was friends with the senior Carpentier. He explains that the doctor treated the Dauphin in prison. Le Blanc was his aid in assisting the ailing boy. But were the two part of conspiracy that effectively smuggled out the young boy? Is this why his father gave up his medical calling and became a glass grinder?

Carpentier evolves from murder suspect to colleague as he and Vidocq follow the trail to a village outside of Paris where they meet an unassuming gardener from Switzerland named Charles Ratskeller. A diary and hobby horse offer more links to uncovering the mystery. Like the garden Charles fondly tends, Bayard plants the seeds of speculation in the readers’ minds with twists and turns and betrayals as those in power act swiftly and brutally to end the life of the would-be king. And ever lurking in the background is the too-close-for comfort “growler”; the guillotine ready to fall.

Bayard offers no neatly tied-up ending. The reader is presented with an ironic twist that rests on one’s own beliefs. Emotionally compelling characters spin this intelligent thriller that will satisfy the most avid historical fiction aficionados. Long after finishing The Black Tower, the reader is touched by the fate of the young Dauphin.

Click here to read Carlotta's interview with Louis Bayard.