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Prepare to be made aware of a secret obsession that will introduce you into a select cult of initiates. L. R. Fredericks has already written two previous loosely connected books in two very different time periods - Farundell ('A Hermetic Novel') and Fate ('A Rosicrucian Tale') - that relate the discovery of arcane secrets and occult rituals that explore and allude to mysteries of time and immortality. Her third book in this 'Time and Light' series, The Book of Luce ('A Gnostic Gospel') , promises to reveal the answers to many other mysteries and is consequently her most ambitious work yet.  As someone who has fallen under the spell of both Farundell and Fate , and who has been monitoring the changing publication dates for Frederick's third novel in the series over the last couple of years with feverish anticipation, being offered a preview copy of The Book of Luce  feels somewhat akin to the experience described by the narrator of the book on thei...

The Half-Drowned King  is the first part of a trilogy set around the time of the warring Viking kingdoms that would eventually establish Harald as the first King of all Norway, but just because it is based on real history doesn't necessarily mean that it can't be worthy of comparison to Game of Thrones or other fantasy epics. It's all down to the telling of course and in whether the author can weave some mythology, magic and some relatable human interest into a story from an age that has no direct written accounts. Linnea Hartsuyker does this very well indeed, with perhaps more elaboration on character than action, but as a first book this establishes the context and motivations well for what lies ahead. Context is all-important of course, and not just for the historical background. It's important also to make a ninth-century mindset relatable and palatable to a modern readership, but not go quite so far as to completely lose any credibility by making the Vikings too e...

"I can resist everything except temptation" Oscar Wilde famously remarked, and who indeed could resist the idea of Oscar Wilde and Arthur Conan Doyle teaming up to uncover the identity of Jack the Ripper? I mean, who else would be better equipped to solve the Whitechapel murders? Conan Doyle is a doctor and the creator of Sherlock Holmes, while his friend Oscar Wilde, the author of The Portrait of Dorian Grey , knows much about the hidden dark side of human nature and has some experience himself with the kind of the secrets that lurk behind the respectable surface of Victorian society. The suspense is going to be unbearable, let's hope it lasts... 1894 is both the best of times and the worst of times (or the best of crimes and worst of crimes, if you'll go with one of Oscar Wilde's scandalously witty barbs here). It's a period when London society is playing host to some of the most famous names in the history of the arts, Wilde and Doyle rubbing shoulders with...

Who would have thought that the publishing industry could potentially be a hotbed of intrigue? And even more unlikely in the case of the publication of a popular history book written by a celebrity historian and TV presenter? In the case of The Night Visitor you might expect that the suspense revolves around the uncovering of an old diary that confesses to a Victorian murder at a stately manor, but no, this is just the starting point of Lucy Atkins' thriller. The real trouble for TV historian Olivia Sweetman would appear to be around her choice of research assistant. No, it doesn't sound like a promising premise for a suspense thriller, and indeed for the larger part of The Night Visitor  there's nothing much of a 'crime' or 'thriller' element to go on other that people behaving a little bit odd. There's certainly something not right about Vivian Tester, and yet, it's Vivian's discovery of the diary of Lady Annabel Burley in a Sussex manor that ...