Hostage to Fortune (Bradecote and Catchpoll #4) - SPOILER Thread - (May/June 25)

[Susan]

Welcome to our May/June 25 buddy read of Hostage to Fortune by Sarah Hawkswood The fourth book in the Bradecote and Catchpoll Investigation series was first published in 2019.

Bradecote and Catchpoll face a frantic race against time in an unforgiving winter landscape

January 1144. Hugh Bradecote does not want his betrothed travelling on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St Edgyth at Polesworth, but the Archbishop of Canterbury's envoy and his entourage of monks seem perfect as Christina's escorts, until they are captured by a renegade who kills for pleasure.

Against a backdrop of a hard winter and a frozen River Severn, Undersheriff Bradecote and Serjeant Catchpoll are struggling to rescue Christina before a psychopath does his worst and Bradecote cracks under the pressure.

Please feel free to post spoilers in this thread.

[Susan in NC]

This was very exciting reading-Reynald was a real psychopath! Briefly meeting his evil mother, one can see why…I was glad Guy redeemed himself at the end. I was also pleased Christina got to be resourceful and clever to bring about her rescue.

[Sandy]

I've finished it but skimmed over some parts as I found the casual killings upsetting. Good adventure story but not much mystery. I have one more book in the five-volume set I bought, but after that I would have to pay full price for the remainder of the series. Not sure if I will continue beyond #5.

[Judy]

I enjoyed the previous books in the series but found this one quite boring and depressing. As you say, Sandy, there was not much mystery.

I thought it was pretty obvious that Christina would get away in the end so there wasn't much jeopardy, and there was a lot of violence. I'll try another one as I had enjoyed the others, but all in all it was a disappointment for me.

[Pamela]

I really enjoyed this one, despite the violence. I thought it showed how the experiences of the Crusades brutalised the participants - the contrast between Reynald (evil and deranged) and Guy (who had done bad things but wasn’t at bottom a bad person) was interesting. As Judy said, there wasn’t much jeopardy around Christina, but there was for Guy, and I really wanted him to get his second chance.

I also loved the descriptions of winter and the frozen Severn, imagining crossing it with horses was scary. And being in a barn for days and nights with just a cloak!

I like this series, it feels convincing in its details of medieval life. I would like to see more of a mystery in the next book, but as a medieval thriller I thought this was great!