Gallows Thief |
| |
|
|
Author:
Bernard Cornwell
By HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Average Customer Rating:  
List Price: £6.99
Our Price: £1.00
|
|
|
|
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780007127160
ISBN: 0007127162
Label: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Number Of Pages: 416
Publication Date: 2002-08-05
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Studio: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd |
|
|
|
Amazon.co.uk Review
By setting Gallows Thief in the Regency period, Bernard Cornwell is able to use his customary skills of characterisation and razor-sharp plotting against a vividly realised new backdrop. It is Britain in the 1820s. After the wars with France, with unemployment high and soldiers paid off, the government lives in mortal fear of social unrest. The solution is draconian punishment for any crime, and thousands die on the gallows. But despite this, it was possible to petition the King and instigate an investigation. Cornwell's new hero Rider Sandman is a hero of Waterloo struggling to repay his family debts when he becomes involved in the case of a man waiting to be hanged in Newgate prison. Given the job by the Home Secretary of investigating the man's guilt or innocence, Sandman finds himself knee-deep in labyrinthine plots involving bribes, sedition and a massive conspiracy of silence. As this suggests, the contemporary parallels are never far away. The world Cornwell has conjured for us is as richly drawn as any in his distinguished career: gentlemen's clubs and taverns, haughty aristocrats, fashionable painters and their mistresses, and professional cut-throats; all this creates a heady melange that is just as impressive as anything in Cornwell's Sharpe series. --Barry Forshaw
|
|
Another reliable read from Cornwell, 2008-07-09
Having developed an attachment to Sharpe, I was somewhat hesitant about Rider Sandman at the beginning of Cornwell's foray into 1820s Britain, but despite claims of the author's basic characterisation, I soon found myself rooting for him. This is a sympathy encouraged by Cornwell's not so subtle comments on the injustices of the age, but the world is so involving that these references only seem questionable in hindsight. The twists and turns of the criminal plot provide a refreshing take on the Sharpe model, and although the novel is not greatly thought provoking, it certainly kept me flying through page after page.
steady as she goes, 2007-12-31
Formulaic and a tiny bit predictable. None-the-less cornwall knows how to write an interesting and exciting page-turner. An excellent holiday book.
Typically Solid Historical Entertainment, 2008-02-27
Those familiar with Cornwell's many historical series will get more or less what they expect from this latest effort: a plot-driven story featuring a rugged, likable hero who must use his wits and skill at arms to defeat dastardly villains, all spiced with a bit of romance and plenty of period detail. Set in 1817, following the defeat of Napoleon, we meet Captain Rider Sandman, late of the 52nd Foot Regiment. His father's massive fraud and subsequent suicide have forced Sandman to sell his commission in order to maintain his mother and sister in at least semi-respectable style. Meanwhile, Sandman is forced to lodge in a shabby room above a "flash" London tavern, hoping to find some kind of respectable work while he ekes out a living as a professional cricket player.
A friend recommends him to the Home Secretary, who offers Sandman short-term prospects as a special investigator. He is to investigate an appeal from a "death row" inmate, a portrait painter convicted of the rape and murder of a Countess. He is expected to rubber-stamp the conviction by eliciting a confession from the petitioner, but those who know Cornwell's work won't be surprised when Sandman instead believes the painter's protestations of innocence and sets out to reinvestigate the murder. Soon, his poking and prodding places him in conflict with powerful and wealthy interests, and things become increasingly perilous as he races against time to find the real culprit and prove the painter's innocence.
It's a serviceable enough mystery, and Cornwell's command of the era enables him to bring Regency-era society vividly to life with. There is some nice detail on "flash" (underworld) slang, the ineptitude of the legal system, the horror of capital punishment by hanging, and even cricket (there's not nearly as much cricket in the book as some reviewers insinuate, it's really a very minor element). Like most of Cornwell's books, it's all about plot and period; the characters aren't particularly complex, and there are perhaps a coincidence or two too many to help Sandman along. Still, it's a lively, easy-to-read, historical entertainment which leaves plenty of setup for further Rider Sandman adventures.
Not a bad read, 2007-08-03
This is the first Bernard Cornwell novel I've read.
This book was set during the 1800's when the government fears an uprising amongst it's people due to their being high unemployment. So they tried to control people by giving the gallows as punishment for all crimes. I don't want to say too much about the story as I don't believe in spoiling things for others.
During the course of the book we meet some interesting characters both male and female. It's set in gentlemens clubs and taverns were we meet all kinds of people; haughty aristocrats, fashionable painters with their mistresses and professional cut-throat.
Personally I wasn't too impressed and at times I found it a little boring, I have read better books but I've also read a lot worse.
My favorite Cornwell, 2009-12-30
I am a huge fan of Cornwell, and indeed historical fiction in general. I think this is his best offering I have encountered with rounded characters and a certain light heartedness that has been absent in many of his other titles. The main character is believable and likable and `ye Olde London' jumps off the page and surrounds you with just a dash of the more serious class divide of the time a digestible side line.
Many Cornwell books have very elongated battles and wars which can be quite brutal. This novel was more swashbuckling adventure and I would recommend it to any one, history buff or civilian.
|
