Monday 9 August 2010

HISTORICAL FICTION: Sacred Treason - James Forrester

BOOK BLURB:

A brilliant and enthralling debut historical thriller in the vein of C.J. Sansom. London, December 1563. England is a troubled nation. Catholic plots against the young Queen Elizabeth spring up all over the country. At his house in the parish of St Bride, the herald William Harley -- known to everyone as Clarenceux - receives a book from his friend and fellow Catholic, Henry Machyn. But Machyn is in fear of his life, claiming that the book is deadly...What secret can it hold? And then Clarenceux is visited by the State in the form of Francis Walsingham and his ruthless enforcers, who will stop at nothing to gain possession of it. If Clarenceux and his family are to survive the terror of Walsingham, and to plead with the queen's Secretary of State Sir William Cecil for their lives, Clarenceux must solve the clues contained in the book to unlock its dangerous secrets before it's too late. And when he does, he realises that it's not only his life and the lives of those most dear to him that are at stake...


REVIEW:

Whilst I loved the authors Medieval Travel Guide I did feel a little disappointed with this offering. The plot outline was reasonable and the historical part made you feel as if you were walking through the streets with the characters however whilst they were passable the dialogue felt forced and as such made me feel that it wasn’t as polished or as rounded as it could have been. The author is clever with what they’ve done and hopefully in future titles they’ll work on the dialogue aspect to help it come to life.

1 comment:

ediFanoB said...

Like you I loved The Medieval Travel Guide. With this background I was sure that the historical part will be good.
So far I'm 50 pages in Sacred Treason - not enough to judge.