This book is nothing like Wilburth Smith.The story has no secuence with his previous work on the Courtney series.Compared with the masterly way in wich Smith weaves history and fiction in the Power of the Sword (giving a clear picture of South Africa during WW2 and the Apartheid}, or the narrative power of Burning Shore this books is a complete nothingness.So don't judge Smith by this, his least fortunate book.