The Ancient Nine
Books | Fiction / Thrillers / General
3.6
Ian K. Smith, M.D.
"Pulls you into the depths of a secret world from the first page. Ian Smith’s novel is unmissable." —Harlan Coben, author of Missing YouCambridge, Massachusetts, Fall 1988Spenser CollinsAn unlikely Harvard prospect, smart and athletic, strapped for cash, determined to succeed. Calls his mother—who raised him on her own in Chicago—every week.Dalton WinthropA white-shoe legacy at Harvard, he's just the most recent in a string of moneyed, privileged Winthrop men in Cambridge. He's got the ease—and the deep knowledge—that come from belonging.These two find enough common ground to become friends, cementing their bond when Spenser is "punched" to join the Delphic Club, one of the most exclusive of Harvard's famous all-male final clubs. Founded in the nineteenth century, the Delphic has had titans of industry, Hollywood legends, heads of state, and power brokers among its members.Dalton Winthrop knows firsthand that the Delphic doesn't offer memberships to just anyone. His great-uncle is one of their oldest living members, and Dalton grew up on stories of the club's rituals. But why is his uncle so cryptic about the Ancient Nine, a shadowy group of alums whose identities are unknown and whose power is absolute? They protect the Delphic's darkest and oldest secrets—including what happened to a student who sneaked into the club's stately brick mansion in 1927 and was never seen again.Dalton steers Spenser into deeper and deeper recesses of the club, and beyond, to try to make sense of what they think they may be seeing. But with each scrap of information they get from an octogenarian Crimson graduate, a crumbling newspaper in the library's archives, or one of Harvard's most famous and heavily guarded historical books, a fresh complication trips them up. The more the friends investigate, the more questions they unearth, tangling the story of the club, the disappearance, and the Ancient Nine, until they realize their own lives are in danger.
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Author
Ian K. Smith, M.D.
Pages
352
Publisher
St. Martin's Publishing Group
Published Date
2018-09-18
ISBN
1250182409 9781250182401
Ratings
Google: 5
Community ReviewsSee all
"You could tell a lot about who the characters were when they spoke and through their dialog"
Paige Johnson
"There are several problems with this DaVinci-Code-at-Harvard caper. First the concept: Smith doesn’t seem to know whether he’s writing a thriller about a naive kid menaced by sinister elderly men with medievalist fetishes, OR a cook's tour of Cambridge. There are more references to famous eateries, landmarks, goofball traditions and eccentric faculty than in an admissions brochure, along with clumsy asides that do nothing to advance the plot. Frankly, there are entire chapters where Smith seems to have forgotten that he is supposed to be writing a mystery.<br/><br/>Then there’s Spenser’s unresolved ambivalence about joining the ultra elite Delphic club. As a Black kid from the south side of Chicago, he is clearly aware of his low status on campus, yet it is not until other Black students point out the inherent racism of exclusionary societies that this even occurs to him. At one point he bravely decides to “transform the culture from within”, but there is no evidence of him even critiquing that culture , and WAY too many examples of him relishing the privileges he is accorded as a potential club member.<br/><br/>Of course one of the primary privileges is the freedom to treat women like disposable fucktoys. At a club game event, the winning team is offered a houseful of naked girls as a prize for their labors; later Spenser finds an alum’s voluptuous wife in his bed. (The fact that Spenser is doggedly pursuing the love of his life while so engaged does not seem to discourage him from taking advantage of these...perks).<br/><br/>I could accept Spenser’s unquestioning pursuit of male white privilege if there were any hint of moral or social growth. But no, despite fleeting qualms about watching Black and Latinx servants bow and scrape to entitled little pricks, Spenser remains A okay with the Delphic, and even more eager to join at the book's end than at the beginning.<br/><br/>If the underdeveloped plot, weak mystery, and missing character arc were all, I could have given The Ancient Nine a pass, but there is one scene so utterly reprehensible that it knocks my review down to a sub-zero. During one of Spenser’s club jaunts, he and a buddy make out with 2 gorgeous women...who turn out to be trans. Spenser’s over the top reaction would be hilarious if it weren’t so hateful: he screams, he rips the woman’s wig off, humiliating her in public, he is nauseated and afterwards he and his friend swear to keep their shameful and traumatic experience a deep dark secret. Now I know the story takes place in 1988, but this is extreme behavior even for that time period, and deeply shocking considering it was written in 2018. Using “gay panic” as an excuse for violence against gay men and trans women is a serious danger and it is beyond irresponsible for Smith to use it in such a cavalier way."
Lesley Williams