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Storyline

It is 1807 and Lieutenant Richard Sharpe, newly returned to England, now wants to leave the army. One last job is offered to him. Go to Copenhagen, help the Honourable john Lavisser deliver a bribe and so stop a war. It seems very easy.

But nothing is easy in a Europe stirred by French ambitions. The Danes possess a battle fleet that could replace every warship the French lost at Trafalgar and Napoleon's forces are gathering to seize it. The British have to stop them, while the danes, caught between rival armies, insist on being neutral.

Sharpe was not sent to Copenhagen to dabble in high politucs, but to employ the low skills he learned on the streets of London's slums. He is ordered to protect John Lavisser against the French agents who infest the danish capital. It is a shadow war of spies and brutality in which Sharpe is a sacrificial pawn. But pawns can change the game and Sharpe, when he discovers a traitor in their midst, makes his own rules. He becomes a hunter inside a city besieged by British troops. A Danish army attempts to raise the siege, but it is met by Sir Arthur Wellesley with a force of redcoats and riflemen.

Copenhagen is doomed. When the Danes refuse to surrender, the city is subjected to a merciless bombardment that will leave hundreds of men, women and children dead. In a night of horror, as a city burns, Sharpe must protect a woman, hunt his traitor and stay alive.

Review

This is one of the last Sharpe stories written but attempts to fill in the blank, before he really starts to make his name in Sharpe's Rifles.

This is a typical Sharpe novel, with Sharpe sorting out others mistakes, in his own inimitable way - usually at the end of something sharp! Unlike some of the later stories where Sharpe is taken out of his natural environment (the battlefield) this story works really well. I think in part because Cornwell does not have to bring his other regular characters Harper et al into the story.

The story is beautifully written, with the middle covering Sharpe's arrival in Copenhagen, and entering a peaceful city going about daily life without a care in the world, yet the sense of forboding hangs over the entire proceedings. The story then takes a far darker turn with the start of the bombardment of the city, and you get a sheer sense of hell descending on the city.

The first part of the book seems unrelated to the rest of the story, as it is a bout Sharpe funding his 'retirement' from the army by taking revenge on the Master of his foundling home. However the event does take a turn, when he tries to seek advancement, but is held in check by the foreign office who are aware of his deeds, and the murder committed.

All good Sharpe books need a girl to protect and fall in love with, especially as Sharpe is trying to cope with the loss of Grace, and the whole of his Indian fortune. However, towards the end of the story we get the strong hint that Astrid and her father, are not going to get long and happy lives.

This is not a story that I had known about until I read the book, it is not Britains finest moment, and it seems amazing that a solution was not found that would avoid the bloodshed to follow. I can understand Britain not wanting the French to completely replenish the fleet they lost at Trafalgar, and I can understand the Danes, wanting to keep their fleet, and basically do what they wanted. However they are trapped, greater powers are happily carving up Europe, which I suppose is always the fate of the smaller Nations, when faced with the might of France and Russia.

I had read the book in 4 sessions over 4 days, it is a fast light read, plenty of action, and yet in the story you get a great deal of background history and a true sense of the injustice about to be dished out to the Danes. No doubt if Britain had not done it first the French would have meted out a similar beating, and perhaps deposed the Danish government. A very minor plus for the British!

This is a great back filling story for Sharpe, and sets the scene for the real launch of his career.

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