HISTORICAL URBAN FANTASY: Gideon's Angel - Clifford Beal

Release Date: 26/02/13
Publisher:  Solaris

SYNOPSIS:

1653: The long and bloody English Civil War is at an end. King Charles is dead and Oliver Cromwell rules the land as king in all but name. Richard Treadwell, an exiled royalist officer and soldier-for-hire to the King of France and his all-powerful advisor, the wily Cardinal Mazarin, burns with revenge for those who deprived him of his family and fortune. He decides upon a self-appointed mission to return to England in secret and assassinate the new Lord Protector. Once back on English soil however, he learns that his is not the only plot in motion. A secret army run by a deluded Puritan is bent on the same quest, guided by the Devil's hand. When demonic entities are summoned, Treadwell finds himself in a desperate turnaround: he must save Cromwell to save England from a literal descent into Hell. ...But first he has to contend with a wife he left in Devon who believes she's a widow, and a furious Paris mistress who has trailed him to England, jeopardising everything. Treadwell needs allies fast. Can he convince the man sent to forcibly drag him back to Cardinal Mazarin? A young king's musketeer named d'Artagnan. Black dogs and demons; religion and magic; Freemasons and Ranters. It's a dangerous new Republic for an old cavalier coming home again.


REVIEW:

Solaris is a publisher that likes to bring something different to the fore and to be honest you really don’t get anything stranger than this book from Clifford Beal. It brings the wonders of historical fiction blending it with some cracking Urban Fantasy as the characters within have to deal with not only the superstitions of their own time but also with the wonderful twists that the modern writer can bring to the fore.

All in, this book has quite a few twists within, bringing tragedy, political machinations and duplicitous natures to the fore. Back that up with great characters, some wonderful prose and add an overall arc that really does keep you guessing and all round it’s a book that I had a lot of fun with.