Review - The Perfume of War by Garrick Jones
The Perfume of War
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Volume 4 of The Seventh of December
Posted in Book Reviews on April 5, 2026
Tommy has his hands full dealing with the fallout of his last mission to Germany, which resulted not only in the planned rescue of a math savant, but several other children with disabilities destined for a death camp. Publicity surrounding that rescue has raised awareness of the need for a care system for war orphans. It’s a cause enthusiastically taken up by the Duchess of Kent as well as Eleanor Roosevelt. Naturally, Tommy is chosen to give a series of fund-raising concerts in the United States. Of course, that’s not the real reason for his visit. He needs to coordinate with the American military now that they’ve entered the war, and the king has a message he wants Tommy to convey to the Duke of Windsor. While in the U.S. Tommy learns from his new friends in the FBI of a plot to make him look like a double agent.
This fourth, but almost certainly not the last, book in the Seventh of December series builds on the events of the previous three volumes. The entire series tells an epic story about some of the behind-the-scenes events of World War II and so needs to be read in it’s entirety. Tommy doesn’t have any missions in enemy territory in this installment but that doesn’t mean he and his family are not in danger as multiple plots start to unravel.
Tommy’s American husband-in-all-but-name Henry is away for much of this story. With the Americans now in the war, he has his own duties to perform. Fortunately, Tommy has his extended found-family around him much of the time. His adopted son Luc ends up being with Tommy for most of this story, along with Tommy’s adjutant Gavin. It’s hard for Tommy not to see Luc as the rambunctious teenager he first met while setting up a resistance cell on the French coast, but Luc is now a man taking his first big steps into adulthood.
Once again, Tommy meets people and encounters situations that seem highly improbable, but the stories are well founded in real people and events of the time. The war was a great equalizer. It really isn’t that unlikely that a highly intelligent young man from the Australian outback would be rubbing shoulders with the head of the FBI and members of the British royal family. This installment of the series wraps up another plot line of the series but still leaves more to learn about who is really behind the extortion ring Tommy uncovered in the first book. That, and the fact there’s still around two years more for the war to run, means we can expect at least one more book in the series.
“The Perfume of War” is available from Smashwords or from independent booksellers through Bookshop.org.