The Blood Lance

Kate Kenyon #2

by Craig Smith

Kufstein, Austria, 1939—At the foot of a mountain known as The Wilder Kaiser lies the body of Otto Rahn, Himmler’s own archaeologist. Rahn’s pursuit of the legendary Blood Lance of the Cathars has set in motion a tragic chain of events reaching far beyond the holocaust. Switzerland 1997—Lord Robert Kenyon is a wealthy financier and a senior member of humanitarian order The Knights of the Holy Lance. While climbing the Eiger with his new bride, he is attacked and murdered and his wife Kate left for dead. New York City 2008—When billionaire Jack Farrell cuts loose after defrauding his own company, ex-CIA agent Thomas Malloy is assigned to track him down. The trail leads to Germany and the Order of the Holy Lance. With his friends, former art thieves Kate and Ethan Brand, Malloy set out to unlock the secrets of the Malloy seeks his man while Kate must find the truth about what happened on the slopes of the Eiger 11 years before—and exact her vengeance.

Genres: Historical Fiction

384 pages, Paperback

First published September 2, 2008

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Prior to his decision to become a novelist he was an assistant professor of English and Humanities at the University of Northern Colorado. CA. Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Southern Illinois; lives in Switzerland.

Reviews

[Josh M]

I tried to like this book. Just couldn’t get into it. Didn’t feel any connection with the plot or characters until I was further into the book, and even then it kind of felt flat.

[Adrian Doyle]

Another excellent book from Craig Smith, ties up the Kate Kenyon story nicely with a few interesting historical touches

[Delyth Angharad]

The first chapter of the book takes place on the slopes of a dangerous mountain that a woman and her husband are attempting to climb. I'm not typically a fan of extreme mountain climbing, know nothing about the terminology, don't follow it as an activity - and yet found myself completely drawn in to the passionate summary of events given by the author.

And then the scene ended, the rest of the book began, and I struggled through a few chapters of dull writing before giving up. Such a huge shift in style and readability just between that one scene at the beginning and what came after. So I haven't read the full book. I might go back and try to finish it, if I ever find myself mind-numbingly bored one day.

[Kaori]

This is a very surprising find for me. I don't normally get "historic" genre books, just because I don't really know what type of angle the author would use (straight history buff integrated into another story, or take it out for a spin). The Blood Lance is a book that integrates the historic aspect to a fast paced storyline that really gets your attention from start to finish. I would definitely read other books from this author because I truly loved this book.

[Chris]

I read this because of my interest in history and the Cathars, the two separate narratives historical and modern were not linked enough for my taste and the many characters got me a bit confused, but all became clear at the end.

[Nigel]

Not a bad read but I found the ending a bit weak obviously left open for a follow up. Enjoyable and you find out a bit more about the central characters.

[Susan Freeman]

A good read, really enjoy the characters of Malloy, Kate & Ethan, look forward to reading the next one.

[Dawn Davies]

Gave up

[Elanor Seline]

Nonostante sia un argomento che adoro e di cui ho letto molto, questo libro mi ha davvero annoiato.