I picked this book up at BEA last year as it looked like something I would like. I was right. I thought it was great. It's a historical adventure set just after WWII, and is a fast-paced, Indiana Jones type story. The character development was a bit slow, but once the book gets moving, it doesn't...
I found this a good enough light read, well paced and not completely implausible (although you do have to ignore the lead character making some major choices without very clear or plausible motivation). The historic storyline dragged in the first half; there simply wasn't enough plot to justify ...
Harper writes about that charade of religious fervour, the First Crusade of 1096-8 in all its ghastly violence and hypocrisy. The reader is spared nothing of the petty rivalries between the various Dukes and warlords, the infighting and power struggles which is all the Crusade turns out to be fo...
In the flower of my anger, I became the angel of vengeance and struck him down. I put the mark of Cain on his brow, so that men might know him as a murderer, and left his body to be devoured by carrion-eaters.After bringing down the conspiracy against the Emperor, Demetrios Askiates is sent as an...
Next morning Are you sure you’ve got this right?” They were standing in a shallow valley at the end of a dirt road. It was a pleasant spot: poplars and cypress trees shaded the stream that bubbled down the valley, while in front of them stood a neat, four-square, neoclassical building. It felt va...
Plato, Republic When the guards struck off the shackles, I thought I’d died. I felt weightless without them, as if my soul had been separated from my body. Though if I’d actually started to float away, I’m sure the guards would have stopped me. They took me out of the chamber, down corridors, and...
He sat behind his desk, fingers working a rubber band fit to snap. ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ he demanded. ‘I was hoping to finish my cornflakes.’ ‘You know damn well what I’m talking about. I’ve had reports – from more than one of my staff – that you’re putting it about Hagger wa...
Tourists studied their maps, wondering where to go next; relieved husbands hurried their wives away to the tables they had waiting for dinner. A few students lingered, getting maximum value, until the guards rounded them up. Paul Mitchell let himself out of his office and followed the crowds towa...
Blood welled from the stump of Aelric’s neck, soaking through my robes, but I had not the wit to move. A bead of sweat or tears sank down Sigurd’s cheek, and the rings of his armour tensed and slacked as his chest heaved beneath it. The Sebastokrator Isaak was the first to find his voice. ‘The ba...
Every morning she was up at five, at her desk half an hour later chewing on a cereal bar and digesting the overnight news stories. At eight she met with Blanchard and the rest of the bid team, then straight on to twelve hours of meetings, conference calls, emails and spreadsheets. Every night at ...
The streets were quiet that early on a Sunday morning: no children playing, no traffic. Low cloud pressed over the valley and rendered the air milky white. She’d spent the night in a hotel, one that wasn’t much used by internationals, biting her lip each time the lift next to her room made a soun...