Debut novel Kingdom Lock from I.D. Roberts harks back to the old-fashioned adventure yarn and reminded me slightly of the early Sharpe novels in its evocation of a bold new fighting man, though perhaps not as well written as Bernard Cornwell’s novels.
It’s 1914 and when we first meet Australian Kingdom Lock he
is in the Hindu Kush rescuing Amy Townshend, daughter of a general serving in
India. She’s no wilting violet, either; there’s unexpected affection between
them, but nothing untoward.
Shortly afterwards, Lock is assigned by British Intelligence
to undergo a mission in Mesopotamia. Apparently, a German spy is intent on
fomenting rebellion in order to seize the precious oilfields. As it happens,
Amy has joined the nursing corps against her father’s wishes and is to serve in
Basra…
Lock is not only up against a cunning adversary, a master of
disguise, but he has to compete for the affections of Amy against an obnoxious
fellow officer, Captain Bingham-Smith. Lock is given charge of a few surviving
Indian soldiers and quickly impresses them with his sense of fairness and
within a short time he is aided by Siddhartha Singh. He also has to contend
with the unpleasant and possibly treacherous sergeant major Underhill.
The characters come alive enough to care about them and there’s
humour, with certain pompous characters being put in their place; and the final
battle scenes are well described and exciting. I feel Roberts captured the
period, too.
Overall, I enjoyed the adventure very much and intend buying
the second book, For Kingdom and Country
where I can reacquaint myself with the above protagonists.
Editorial comment
The book would have benefited from tighter editing. Word
repetition is one of the biggest faults, but the overuse of Lock’s name is
another. The book was good, but it could have been very good.
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