Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade
Anyone wondering how to produce authentic fictional characters should pick up Diana Gabaldon’s novels and study closely. One of the most complex characters she has developed is Lord John Grey, nemesis of Jamie Fraser in her Outlander series, and protagonist of her mysteries.
In this, her second novel devoted to Lord John, the plot revolves about his father’s death, nearly seventeen years past in 1758. What is John’s mother not telling him? How much does his brother know? And who is leaving pages of his father’s journal in strategic locations?
The mystery is absorbing, but it was to discover what would happen to John next that compelled me to read on. Gabaldon plunges the reader into the action and recreates 18th-century London with her trademark skill. As John embarks on a new love affair, escapes death in battle and treachery at home, and turns to Jamie for insider knowledge of the Jacobite Rebellion, the reader is left wanting far more than 512 pages—and hoping there will be another installment in the life of Lord John soon.
