HISTORICAL CRIME THRILLER REVIEW: The Last Confession of Thomas Hawkins - Antonia Hodgson

Release Date: 04/06/15
Publisher:  Hodder

SYNOPSIS:

Spring, 1728. A young, well-dressed man is dragged through the streets of London to the gallows at Tyburn. The crowds jeer and curse as he passes, calling him a murderer. He tries to remain calm. His name is Tom Hawkins and he is innocent. Somehow he has to prove it, before the rope squeezes the life out of him. It is, of course, all his own fault. He was happy with Kitty Sparks. Life was good. He should never have told the most dangerous criminal in London that he was 'bored and looking for adventure'. He should never have offered to help Henrietta Howard, the king's mistress, in her desperate struggles with a brutal husband. And most of all, he should never have trusted the witty, calculating Queen Caroline. She has promised him a royal pardon if he holds his tongue but then again, there is nothing more silent than a hanged man. Based loosely on actual events, Antonia Hodgson's new novel is both a sequel to The Devil in the Marshalsea and a standalone historical mystery. From the gilded cage of the Court to the wicked freedoms of the slums, it reveals a world both seductive and deadly. And it continues the rake's progress of Tom Hawkins - assuming he can find a way to survive the noose...


REVIEW:

Ah, as a reader of Historical Crime, I love to spend time in the past with characters who not only feel real but demonstrate that no matter when you look in on the human condition that in some ways we’re all still as primitive as well as suffers of the same problems with just the technology changing.

Antonia returns to the time period of her first book “The Devil of Marshalsea” and goes on to further the story of Thomas Hawkins, a player and gamer who has now left the debtor’s prison to which he was within on the previous outing. Here you get a cracking murder mystery, a character who hopes for the intervention as we travel backwards and forwards as we see what has led him to his present predicament.

Its wonderfully rich, has some cracking supporting cast members and when you add good prose, cracking dialogue alongside an arc that readers will just love to spend time with leaves you in no doubt that Antonia’s world is not only rich but one you’ll want to spend plenty more time in.

HISTORICAL CRIME THRILLER - A Wolf in Hindelheim - Jenny Mayhew

Release Date: 06/03/14
Publisher:  Windmill Books

SYNOPSIS:

This is an atmospheric and gripping novel from an exciting new voice for fans of The Snow Child and The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared. South-West Germany, 1926. The disappearance of a baby girl calls for Constable Theodore Hildebrandt and his son Klaus to visit the remote village of Hindelheim, a place where nothing ever happens. But the news of the missing baby has brought darkness to the community. It is as if someone or something wicked is playing a game. As the wind blows and the mist thickens, tensions rise amongst the villagers as everyone falls under suspicion. And when the rumours begin and secrets start to unravel, the quiet village of Hindelheim is set to change for ever.


REVIEW:

I love books that try to do something a little different and whilst it seems quite popular at the moment to bring historical crime to the fore, readers will be taken on a hell of a journey of what seems early on to be a crime title set in Pre-World War 2 Germany. Its not, it’s a tale that explores the mind-set of not only the people concerned but of Germany itself at the time. It’s definitely something that really strikes the heart of the reader and whilst it’s something that could have been heavily overpowered in any number of ways, what Jenny has done is bring the tale to the fore with an emotional aspect leading from the fore with believable characters letting the reader get a fuller flavour.

It’s a stunning title and whilst perhaps not for everyone it’s a book that I did get a lot out of as it is something that really gets to the readers heartstrings as we can look back on the time period concerned with the beauty of hindsight. All round a great book with characters that not only draw you in but one that has been carefully crafted for maximum effect.