Good series about an earlier French/English War: this one for the Spanish Succession. Wellington is often remembered but Marlborough not so much. But they most likely the two best British generals for their generations. Rawson serves as an intelligence gatherer as well as for other clandestine missions behind enemy lines. Good characters and a lively plot make for a lively read. ( )

This is the second in the series of books about Captain Daniel Rawson, an officer in the British Army during the Spanish War of Succession and certainly an improvement on the first (Soldier of fortune) IMHO.

In this book Daniel is sent on a secret mission to Paris to rescue a Dutch tapestry maker cum spy who has gone missing. Away from his unit we get to see Daniel's character more widely, where he just act on his own intuition and resourcefulness rather than merely follow orders and as such we get much more of a boy's own yarn which on the whole is told well. There are also a couple of interesting sub-plots concerning an assassination attempt on the Duke of Marlborough, overall leader of the Allied forces, and a young drummer boy who becomes victimised by an over-bearing officer. These are again told well and give a little added colour.

However,for me,there are still problems with the book. Firstly, the love affair between Daniel and the tapestry maker's daughter Amalia just seemed somewhat forced.Secondly when we finally get to a pitched battle between the two opposing armies it lacks a certain passion and tends to read more like a history lesson rather than a account of someone who was supposedly actually there. Once again this feels such a shame as on the whole I felt that the story slipped along at a decent pace.

Edward Marston is certainly no Alexander Kent or Bernard Cornwell but I intend to press on with the next in the series at least. ( )