SEVEN DAYS IN MAY, 1636
It’s spring in Burgundy. The flowers are out and so are the cardinals—of Pope Urban’s renegade papacy, now on the run from the Vatican’s would-be usurper Borja. Most of the Church’s senior leaders have converged upon the city of Besancon, where the Pope plans to offer an ecumenical olive branch to the other Christian denominations with which Rome has been at war.
Fortunately, Urban has up-time help. He can rely upon Cardinal-Protector Larry Mazzare’s theological savvy, Sharon Nichols’ medical skills, and her husband Ruy Sanchez’s keen-eyed experience as a body-guard-in-chief. And even though Urban has a new Papal Guard in the form of Owen Roe O’Neill’s Wild Geese, Mike Stearns has loaned the Pope a small contingent of the Hibernian Battalion—just in case.
Which is prudent, since Urban and his peace initiative are not merely at risk from Borja’s assassins. There is another, more deadly, team of professional killers in town, directed by the man who almost killed the Pope before: lethal Spanish mastermind Pedro Dolor.
Dolor hasn’t come to confess murder—he’s come to commit it.
-
Flint and Gannon have created another great installment in the 'religious' thread of the Ring of Fire series.
Posted on
-
Would have been 5 starsFamiliar characters, familiar fun with some new twists. Very satisfying until the last couple of pages. For me, there is a "Surely, that is not what they would do.", moment at the very end that I found to be jarring. But, I am not a writer. And, readers never seem to all be in agreement about anything. So, I may be the only one with a problem with that last bit. But, last impressions stick.
Posted on
-
It just doesn't hold togetherI gave it two stars. There are a few great moments in this book when the action flows, the characters are riveting, and you want to keep reading.
But it just doesn't hold together.
The first few long single view point narratives are detailed expositions that drag the tempo of the thriller and overly explain the mystery, before you even know what is happening.
Posted on
-
Well that was unexpectedI won't spoil anything, but this book...The final twist was great, and before that, while I shook my head at the theology, it was very well-written. Only reason it doesn't get a fifth star is because I'm mean like that, really.
Posted on
