Thursday 13 October 2016

HISTORICAL FICTION REVIEW: The Last Horseman - David Gilman

Release Date: 11/08/16
Publisher: 

SYNOPSIS:

Dublin, 1899. On a foul night in a troubled city, lawyer Joseph Radcliffe watches the execution of a young Irish rebel. Radcliffe, together with his black American comrade Benjamin Pierce, has made a living defending the toughest cases in Dublin, but is haunted by the spectre of his defeats, the loss of his wife and child and his difficult relationship with his surviving son, Edward. While Ireland smoulders with rebellion, war breaks out in South Africa and when, after an argument with his father, Edward runs away to join the Irish forces fighting there, Radcliffe, accompanied by Pierce, sets out to find him and bring him home.

South Africa, 1900. Both Radcliffe and Pierce have known war. Former cavalrymen in the US army, they have seen enough killing to last them a lifetime. But eight hundred miles north of Cape Town, amid the trackless veld, they experience the bloody brutality of a conflict that the British generals are shocked to discover they are losing. Under fire from Boer snipers and artillery, distrusted by the British forces, the two old soldiers will find their survival skills tested to the hilt as they search for the missing boy in this epic tale of heroism and treachery, love and loyalty.


REVIEW:

I've loved David's Master of War series and to be honest I put off reading this as I worried that I wouldn't like his writing style with more modern weaponry yet when I did eventually pick up this book I have to say that I was more than happy with my reading time.

As with his other work, the writing is sharp, contains some great characterisation, builds upon events in the past as our heroes face their future in the Boer War and helps give this time period a realistic feel to me as a reader.

Back this up with top notch action sequences, more than a few heart in mouth moments, backed with good pace and all round its a series for me to savour with each new offering. Cracking.


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