Cardinal Black
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4.5 • 14 Ratings
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
A mysterious book, and the man who seeks it, hold the key to saving a woman's life in this historical thriller from a New York Times–bestselling author.
The year is 1703. The woman Matthew Corbett loves is rapidly deteriorating. A drug forced on her by criminal mastermind Professor Fell has destroyed her sanity. And the one thing that could save her—a book of potions—was stolen during an assault on the English village where she has been living under another name, an attack directed by a deranged man known as Cardinal Black.
Matthew is a professional problem solver employed by an agency in New York, but this case is personal. To save Berry Grigsby, Matthew will journey to London with one of Fell's henchmen and attend an auction to which Black has summoned unsavory characters from near and far—all vying to possess the powerful volume. But before Matthew can obtain the book and heal Berry, he must survive Cardinal Black . . .
"Intense." —Florida Times-Union
"Relentlessly paced . . . As usual, McCammon dazzles the reader with gritty historical detail, vivid local color, and a cast of memorable grotesques." —Publishers Weekly
Praise for the World Fantasy and Bram Stoker award-winning author Robert McCammon's Matthew Corbett Novels
"Excellent . . . full of tension and suspense." —Stephen King
"Told with matchless insight into the human soul . . . deeply satisfying." —Sandra Brown
"The Corbett novels are rich, atmospheric stories, the kind of historical mystery that makes the reader feel as though he really has stepped back in time." —Booklist
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in 1703, McCammon's relentlessly paced seventh novel featuring "problem-solver" Matthew Corbett picks up the plot threads left untied at the end of 2016's Freedom of the Mask with Matthew's sweetheart, Berry Grigsby, under the influence of a drug that threatens to destroy her mind if an antidote isn't administered. Matthew teams with Julian Devane, an assassin associate of his nemesis, Professor Fell, and the two race to retrieve the book of chemical and botanical potions stolen from the professor that can save Berry. In no time the two are embroiled in intrigues in the London underworld involving a rogue admiral of the Royal Navy, a pair of Prussian operatives, a gothic femme fatale outfitted with talons, and the titular infernal villain, who's auctioning the book to a cabal of international villains. As usual, McCammon dazzles the reader with gritty historical detail, vivid local color, and a cast of memorable grotesques, among them the Owl, who can literally watch his own back by disjointing his neck. Series fans will find this entry a thoroughly enjoyable extension of McCammon's evolving period epic.
