This novel was pure crack for me. The A+ cover easily got my attention. The book's setting, Victorian England, meant the two of us were half way to the register and when I took a little taste of it in the store, where it was free, I was instantly hooked. That meant having to take it home which wasn't free but who cares? I got to read a wonderful novel! Daniel O' Thunder by Ian Weir.
Daniel O'Thunder is also known as 'The Hammer of Heaven'. He's is a retired soldier and boxer turned defender of the downtrodden. He is their spiritual and physical champion. It's not a job where one makes a great deal of headway. Vice it seems will be victorious. Daniel comes to the realization that he is battling Satan and that Satan can only be defeated one way. Daniel must get back into the ring. He needs to duke it out.
Weir's Victorianna has all the tourist hotspots. There are brothels, manors, a sewage filled streets, the muddy Thames and rat infested everything. The novel is populated by the proverbial motley crew if ever there was one. Every page is packed with prostitutes, ne'er-do-wells, thieves, reporters, gin-swillers, addicts, sinister aristocrats and various special guest star appearances by urchins, beggars and all manner of the Victorian oppressed.
Daniel O'Thunder is fabulous storytelling. Several of Weir's characters tell their version of the events. Since none of the narrators are very reliable or honest there are divergent viewpoints and many discrepancies for the reader to enjoy and sift through. Weir has put together a terrific novel with a page turning mystery at its center. He has married menace brilliantly with perfectly constructed Victorian England.
Happy
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