A review by lorinlee
The Siege by Frank Wynne, Arturo Pérez-Reverte

4.0

The Siege of Cadiz during Napolean's war on Spain laster over two years. Arturo Perez-Reverte bring it alive in marvelous detail. He spins the story by focusing on several characters: a Cadiz police commissioner obsessed with solving a series of brutual murders; a French artillery captain determined to fire the perfect shots at the besieged city; a Spanish woman who runs a trading company; and the captain of a coursair which targets French shipping. Each theme has it's own element of tension.For me, this is a fine example of strong historical fiction. The details of the siege, of shipping, of business all enrich the characterizations of the main protagonists. It's an interesting look, too, at the further erosion of the Spanish empire's power and influence in the Americas. The author telegraphed who would be the last woman killed, not in an obvious way, but enough so that dozens of pages before it happened I knew...The reasons for the killer's actions seemed to me a bit farfetched, but, hey, this is fiction. And, I should add, this is translated from the Spanish with such skill that it remains the literary work the author intended. 4.5 stars really.