A slow building mystery, an historical tour-de-force, a tale of creeping horror, Jasper Kent’s superb novel is a masterful blending of all three.  The elusive and secretive vampires are strangely believable as they hide from extravagance and obey their own rules.  An intelligent read with themes of curse and despair as the Russians unleash a true terror in their battle against Napoleon’s invasion. It will succeed with fans of horror, history or alternative history and I hope prove to be a true cross-genre hit.  It certainly deserves to be.

Comparison: Dan Simmons, Elizabeth Kostova, Naomi Novik.

Synopsis

On 12th June 1812, Napoleon's Grande Armee forded the River Niemen and crossed the Rubicon - its invasion of Russia had begun. Charged with delaying the enemy's inexorable march on Moscow, a group of Russian officers summon the help of the oprichniki, a band of mercenaries from the outermost fringes of Christian Europe. As rumours of a plague travelling west from the Black Sea reach the Russians, the Oprichniki - twelve in number - arrive. Preferring to work alone, and at night, they prove brutally, shockingly effective against the French. But one amongst the Russians, Captain Aleksei Ivanovich Danilov, is unnerved by the mercenaries' ruthlessness...and as he comes to understand the true, horrific nature of these strangers, he wonders at the nightmare they've unleashed in their midst...

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About the Author

Jasper Kent was born in Worcestershire, England in 1968. He attended King Edward's School, Birmingham and went on to study Natural Sciences at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, specialising in physics. Jasper has spent almost twenty years working as a software engineer in the UK and in Europe, whilst also working on writing both fiction and music. In that time, he has produced the novels Twelve, Thirteen Years Later,  Yours Etc., Mr Sunday  and Sifr, as well as co-writing several musicals, including The Promised Land and Remember! Remember! He currently lives in Brighton, with eight rats called Manjula, Lurleen, Alecto, Nyssa, Isolde, Polly, Messalina and Maude, and a person called Helen. More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation