Sunday 10 February 2019

#BookReview Eleventh Hour by M.J. Trow @severnhouse

Eleventh Hour by M.J. Trow
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Christopher Marlowe must discover who murdered the queen's spymaster in this absorbing historical mystery. 

April, 1590. The queen's spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, is dead, leaving a dangerous power vacuum. His former right hand man, Nicholas Faunt, believes he was poisoned and has ordered Kit Marlowe to discover who killed him.

To find the answers, Marlowe must consult the leading scientists and thinkers in the country. But as he questions the members of the so-called School of Night, the playwright-turned-spy becomes convinced that at least one of them is hiding a deadly secret. If he is to outwit the most inquiring minds in Europe and unmask the killer within, Marlowe must devise an impossibly ingenious plan.

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I had two disadvantages when I read this book, first that it's the eight book in the series about Kit Marlowe and I have not read any previous book. And the second, this is an era that just doesn't really my thing. However, I went through a period when EVERYTHING looked interesting on NetGalley. That means I have a lot of books to go through that I, in hindsight perhaps should have passed over. This one is one of them.

Anyhow, this is a story about a murder, and it's the Queen's spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham that has been poisoned. Walsingham former righthand man orders Kit Marlowe to find out who killed Walsingham. So, Kit is off consulting scientists and thinkers of the School of Night to find out what poison it was and who murdered the spymaster.

I found myself not really taken with the story, actually now and then I felt a bit lost even. Like some thought processes from Kit's side took place outside the story in the book. It could just be me of course, not really finding neither the plot nor the characters especially interesting. On the plus side, Shakespeare shows up now and then in the story, not a terribly good playwriter apparently...

Eleventh Hour is probably a great book for fans of the era and those that love this series. I, however, will not bother with more books in this series.

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review!

1 comment:

  1. I find myself doing that sometimes too, but I am trying to be more selective. After all, I don't have enough time to read all the books I have now...and will have after one clicking.lol

    sherry @ fundinmental

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