Customer Reviews

Killer's Wake

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Killer's Wake and Sealord (both by Bernard Cornwell) are one and the same book published under two different titles. Great book but no need to buy both.

Bernard Cornwell, known for his historical series such as the "Sharpe" books set around the Napoleonic wars and the medieval tales of archer William of Hookton, also in 1989 turned out a pretty good contemporary thriller. Whodunit? but what they "dun" is not a murder (though death makes an appearance) but the theft of a multi-million dollar Van Gogh, the main resource of a, as the phrase goes, "somewhat decayed" English earldom. Wherisit? And the main suspect is the earl himself, John Rossendale, the hero of the story, who in disgust at being cast as the "black sheep of the family" has taken to the sea, roaming the world, somewhat in Jimmy Buffet style, except that instead of Hawaiian shirts and margaritas, we are talking ragged jeans and nasty weather in the North Atlantic.

Of course such a valuable mystery attracts much "interest" from many quarters, including some very bad guys...Good plot with nice twists and of course Cornwell knows how to craft a narrative line. I finished it in one sitting.

For some reason he seems to have goofed badly in the nautical department, a couple of times: our earl is running up the English Channel before a south-westerly gale: a huge wave sets his boat over on her starboard side and water floods in "over the port gunwale" ? Righted, he turns into to land for shelter - so he has turned north, the wind would be on his port quarter, but he says "boom was out to port" - no it wasn't! Surprising, since everything else seems fine. (Hence 4 stars)

But a very good read, anyway.

A wonderful ocean setting. A great mystery involving suspense and some romance. I enjoyed the description of sailing techniques and the terminology. A wonderful ending, too!

Cornwell is a great historical fiction writer, but he can't write a contemporary novel worth a darn. The reason for this surprising failing is clear: he needs the structure of a historical event. Without it, his plots simply fall flat. So do his characters. Any one of his historical fiction novels (you pick it) beats his "Sailing novels" by a mile.