When thriller rubs history ...

If it is a difficult exercise, it is the "crossover", whether in music or literature. Moving from the world of psychopaths, criminals and worn hero of North America to the 16th century, its customs, its medicine, music, short: his world, might seem challenging. Success for Tim Willocks which inaugurates a trilogy that will be central character Matthias Tanhauser: Saxon torn from his family, protected by a warrior chief Turkish, enlisted in the Janissaries (elite Turkish troops composed of Christian converts) and trader patented adventurer, this one takes his giant warrior carcass there or good fortune leads. Expert in the arts of war, it is also instructed in philosophy, medicine, astronomy, poetry, speaks several languages ​​and pass with ease of the Ottoman camps in Christian camps. Cornered and preparing the siege of Malta or Christianity took refuge, the Knights of the Order of Malta, realizing the considerable asset of one who knows so well the Turks, try a ruse to lure this one praying a beautiful lady to call upon to help find her son disappeared on the island. Accompanied by Bors, mountain muscles and English warrior, Tanhauser traverse a bloody path to carry out a mission in which he will find love, but hatred, in the person of Ludovico Ludovici, inquisitor of the papacy. Exposing with great accuracy and finesse the clash of religions without falling into the trap of bias, the author plunges us into a world described with great accuracy and detail of strength. This is historically the road and some historical anecdotes are quite accurate (for example, the Turkish trenches headers sent by cannon on the Turkish lines to gun for demoralize is entirely accurate), and there learn a thousand technical headquarters or exciting battle weapons. In short: the decor is perfect, and Tim Willocks us into an exciting world and alive: we believe it. In an interview with a British literary magazine, the author says, "it's a romance, in the medieval sense of the term." And the result is quite convincing, and the psychology of the characters is not as caricatured in some trifles "historic" the name of which I keep silent. Epic, beautifully written, black and violent, this novel devours like a good dish, is one of those books in which we almost regret to advance to never see finished. With the latest Dennis Lehane, it will remain for me the book of the year.