The Jester (Review 3)
By James Patterson & Andrew Gross 

     Here is a big book with a big heart. There is violence, of course, and piles of bodies, but somehow it still has an uplifting effect – a bit like a fairy tale with plenty of gore and guts as well. Innkeeper Hugh DeLuc just wants to lead a peaceful life with his lovely wife Sophie, but the local lord has other ideas and shows him how powerless he is.

     Hugh ends up going on the Crusades and coming home early, disillusioned, but with a few artifacts. On his arrival, he finds his village burned and his wife abducted by a fearsome band of raiders who are looking for some holy relic which Hugh doesn’t even own. So he sets off to find Sophie and ends up in his enemy’s castle, disguised as a jester. It will be a long time before he gets his revenge and finds out what those evil raiders are after.

     Readers of my reviews will know that I am quick to spot a book that is too long for its story but this one, despite the length, is a fast read (it took me only two days to get through its 400+ pages). This is no literary tome, but a pacy, racy tale that takes the sort of story popularized by those old ‘50s Technicolor movies and updates it for a modern audience. The sense of immediacy is enhanced by the fact that Hugh himself narrates the tale without mediaeval formality. In this sort of adventure you don’t look for erudition and frankly as long as there aren’t any howlers (I didn’t spot any) a slightly anachronistic voice is surely permissible and adds to the fun. So if you want to read a good book, here is a highly entertaining one.