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Book Review of Sharpe's Devil (Sharpe, Bk 19)

Sharpe's Devil (Sharpe, Bk 19)
Sharpe's Devil (Sharpe, Bk 19)
Author: Bernard Cornwell
Genre: Literature & Fiction
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
reviewed on + 1775 more book reviews


Apparently this book, set in late 1820, early 1821 during the Wars for Independence in South America, will close the history of Mr. Sharpe. The story begins on St. Helena, with Sharpe a Major on half-pay and Sgt Harper, a successful publican in Dublin, traveling to Chile as a favor for an old acquaintance. while they are going about their business, they fall in with Admiral Cochrane. To the end, the series includes descriptions of bloody wounds and deaths in combat. It is somewhat of a mystery, in that Mr. Sharpe and Mr. Harper have to figure out who is lying to them....
Captain Hornblower is not encountered, Beat to Quarters (1937) that had him on this coast having taken place in 1808.
As this was published in 1992, it does tie up all the outcomes for the characters encountered in previous books.
This series, except the short stories such a Sharpe's Ransom, was included in a box and two bags of books left at the old soldiers and sailors' home. I put out this series a couple at a time and pulled them a couple at a time after eight weeks, as I did with a nice group of westerns that were mostly well-written novels from the second half of the 20th C. but not as common as some of that genre. We have few readers and no takers on this adventure series or the westerns, so I took the latter and a few of the former to the free book truck at the VA Hospital, where I will in due course take the WEB Griffin books I am now putting out each week.
As the space for new books has been limited lately (and I am limited in how many I can carry on the bud), I am going to try to fulfill wishes with some of the Cornwell books, hopefully finding someone who needs several so I can ship one package for one credit and the rest free. Whoever these somewhat well worn books belonged to seems to have enjoyed well written guys' tales. And Cornwell does write well, although there is a little too much description of bloody entrails for my taste.