High Dive
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Read an exclusive blog by the author on the elusive sense of place In September 1984, a man...
Evil for Evil
5.0
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Irish-American Army Lieutenant Detective Billy Boyle returns to his family's homeland only to get...
Surviving the Evacuation: Unsafe Haven
7.0
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“There are no reported outbreaks in the UK or Ireland.” That is what the government broadcast....
Birds of Northern Europe
Reference and Education
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A high-quality digital field guide, with bird names in 15 languages, covering 352 species of birds...
Procurement Law in Ireland
David Browne and Patrick McGovern
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This new text provides an overview of the principles of public procurement, thresholds and...
David McK (3233 KP) rated Blood's Revolution in Books
Feb 8, 2020
Since the events covered in that novel, the young Holcroft Blood has grown up, and is no longer quite as naïve, perhaps, as he was before. The 'Merry Monarch' (Charles II) has also passed on, with his crown passing to his Catholic brother James II, as his Holcroft's father Colonel Thomas Blood (who attempted to steal the Crown Jewels in the previous novel).
The majority of this novel thus concerns itself with Holcroft being caught up in the events surrounding James II increasing alienation of Britain's Protestant political elite, while being hunted by a brutal French spy for his time doing the similar for Charles II in France.
I'm interested in seeing where this goes, and how Holcroft gets caught up in the later events, especially since The Battle of the Boyne (in which William, the Prince of Orange, defeats King James II) is still remembered every July 12th here in my homeland of Northern Ireland!
Reeds Aberdeen Asset Management Nautical Almanac: Including Digital Access: 2012
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Reeds Nautical Almanac is the indispensable trusted annual compendium of navigational data for...
Papercuts
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Through world wars and civil strife, the Bangor Express has never missed an issue, but now it is...
David McK (3233 KP) rated Scoundrel (the sailing thrillers, #5) in Books
Nov 29, 2023
Maybe because I'm *from* Belfast, Northern Ireland and have relatives who lived through the period of history colloquially known as The Troubles (I was a teenager in the 90s, when they 'ended', and when this is set), so know exactly what the IRA and their loyalist counterparts were/are like.
It made my blood boil to read passages in this where they were treated as heroes by some in Boston (and, yes, I know it's a fiction book): surely to goodness nobody could be that naive??
Anyway, I normally like Bernard Cornwell (Author) novels.
I know he spent a bit of time here (the BBC, I believe?), before moving to the States.
His knowledge of landmarks does show.
I would have thought he would have known better, though, in how he portrays the tangled mess that is politics and history that went on in this fair isle.
Sorry, Mr Paul Shanahan: you're unlikeable as a lead character; no match to a Richard Sharpe or an Uhtred of Bebbanburg.
(his other stand-alone sailing thrillers - those I have read, at least - are all much better)