By Robert McCammon

Subterranean Press, out now

Matthew Corbett has been kidnapped, drugged and shanghaied onto a boat bound for England; Hudson and Berry follow only to find that, with his usual nose for trouble, Matthew has somehow become embroiled with the masked vigilante, Albion…

I’m pretty sure I say this in the review of every one of Robert McCammon’s Matthew Corbett novels, but this is the best yet – painstaking historical research and detail form the background to an extraordinary novel that ends on a cliffhanger (resolved in the next in the series, Cardinal Black, out this month from Cemetery Dance). London is seen through the eyes of an early eighteenth-century colonial, one whose horizons are broadened with each experience – not all of them, by any means, pleasant.

McCammon has a knack for creating memorable characters, and placing them in situations where we see all sides of their nature, not always to their credit. We’re privy to all layers of society, from those just trying to survive the next hour to those at whose whim men live or die. It’s because those elements are so strongly combined that we can accept the idea of the setting for the final act of the book… which bears a striking similarity to a certain 1960s TV series run by a villain who would give a Bond opponent or Professor James Moriarty a run for their money.

The language in which the story is couched is very particular – there are some glorious turns of phrase, some of which are wry reworkings of modern phrasings, others are their true ancestors. It gives the book, and indeed the entire series, a unique tone. If you’ve not yet encountered Matthew, then it’s high time you did!

Verdict: A skilfully plotted and told historical adventure with more than a hint of the heightened reality of the spy-fi genre. 9/10

Paul Simpson

PS: A short story set at the same time as this tale is currently available by clicking here