Sean Pidgeon

Fine, just. The style is variable, but improves after a fairly rocky start. However, the opening Scrabble game is sadly prophetic of the intellectual challenge of the rest of the novel: the characters miss the blindingly obvious repeatedly, only to have 'insight' fall into their laps or be offered freely by another. It is unclear why the author made his hero an archaeologist, when he behaves as a historian for the sake of the plot (and could have had the same preoccupations as a historian); and the Welsh uprising subplot feels like a superfluous handle to free the heroine from her marriage. All in all, frustratingly unsatisfying without being awful - not least because of occasional flashes that feel utterly authentic, such as Donald's way of navigating cross country based on historical and archaeological features.… (mer)