A lovely read, this second Hawkwood novel has all the charm and excitement of the first. My only problem was remembering who’s who from the previous one, as we are given very little recap or memory triggers. As its title suggests, this one deals with grave robbing, a huge criminal business at the time, and contains plenty to shiver your spine without lapsing into the graphically horrific. As I said at the top, lovely.
Matthew Hawkwood. Soldier, spy, lover – a man as dangerous as the criminals he hunts.
The tough Bow Street Runner is back where he's not wanted, in the most forbidding places London has to offer: its graveyards and the rank, sinister halls of Bedlam, the country’s most notorious lunatic asylum.
There are missing bodies all around – dead and alive. 'Resurrection men' serve the demands of the city's surgeons by stealing corpses – and creating a few of their own along the way.
Far more worrying is the escape from Bedlam of a very unusual inmate: one Colonel Titus Xavier Hyde, an obsessive, gifted surgeon whose insanity is only matched by his dark intelligence. And this twisted genius has a point to prove. Which will mean plenty more work for the gravediggers…
‘Breakneck pace, brutal action, clever characterisation and twisty plotting … James McGee brings Regency London to life – or perhaps I should say to death!’ Reginald Hill
‘Fascinating… with quickly paced action and many a twist and turn, McGee draws the plot’s threads skilfully together… thoughtful, colourful and very readable’ Historical Novels Review
Author
About James McGee
James McGee was born into an army family. He was educated in Gibraltar, Germany and Belfast, giving him a love of travel, which is evident in his meticulous, vivid portraits of diverse people and places. His career has encompassed banking, bookselling and thirteen years in the airline business. He has also presented book reviews for BBC local radio and several independent stations. In addition to the successful Hawkwood series, he has also written several thrillers. He lives in Somerset.
