The Assassin Of Verona by Benet Brandreth

Based on the missing years of William Shakespeare's life Benet Brandreth takes the political and religious turbulence prevalent in the 16th century and imagines just what a young Will could possibly have been doing.  In his imaginings he is experiencing a life of derring-do and intrigue in Venice; finding and losing love and carousing in fine stye with the great and the good of the day.

This is contrasted with the world of Aemilia who is her father's only heir and desperate to marry her milksop cousin who is denied by her father.  Then we have the world of the Medici Popes and their machinations to contend with.  Not the least of which is the English Priest Thornhill and his decidedly less than Christian interrogation techniques.

Sadly much of the suspense that could be built is lost as we know full well that whatever Will Shakespeare got up to before achieved fame for his writings he did go on to write.  We also know that Pope Sixtus V and his rather militaristic take on Church Leadership failed to depose England for her Protestant reign so the intrigue of whether Thornhill will catch his spies is disarmed.

The book starts with plenty of action as Will Fallow, as Shakespeare is calling himself in Venice, is challenged to a rather peculiar race that may be the end of his tenure there.  Sadly this level of action and description of the Venice of the time does not hold true through the rest of the novel.

This is a genre that can be dealt with in such a way that the knowledge of the Historical Fact behind the story does not intrude on the enjoyment of the tale (CJ Sansom, EJ Parrish, Hilary Mantel et al).  Unfortunately this book does not manage that delicate balancing act and it was actually quite hard to get to the end of it.  Fortunately the Chapters are short so I could bribe myself into completing 5 or 6 in a day.

I think the biggest disappointment for me was I stopped reading Benet Brandreth's first Shakespeare book (The Spy Of Venice) to start this one.  That is a far superior book, at least the 50%+ of it I have read thus far.  Maybe if I had not started that one I would have enjoyed this more.

I RECEIVED A FREE COPY OF THIS BOOK FROM READER'S FIRST IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW.

**Review originally published September 30th, 2017**