The Last Legionnaire
A dark military adventure of strength and survival on the battlefields of Europe
by Paul Fraser Collard
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app
1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date 1 Dec 2016 | Archive Date 6 Dec 2016
Description
Jack Lark has come a long way since his days as a gin palace pot boy. But can he surrender the thrill of freedom to return home?
London, 1859. After years fighting for Queen and country, Jack walks back into his mother's East End gin palace a changed man. Haunted by the horrors of battle, and the constant fight for survival, he longs for a life to call his own. But the city - and its people - has altered almost beyond recognition, and Jack cannot see a place for himself there.
A desperate moment leaves him indebted to the Devil - intelligence officer Major John Ballard, who once again leads Jack to the battlefield with a task he can't refuse. He tried to deny being a soldier once. He won't make the same mistake again.
Europe is about to go to war. Jack Lark will march with them.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9781472237699 |
| PRICE | £8.99 (GBP) |
Average rating from 1 member
Featured Reviews
Robin C, Reviewer
Review
Paul Collard’s Jack Lark series has joined a celebrated few that are on my “drop what ever you are reading and read his new book now” list. Which is exactly what i did when i got my hands on The Last Legionnaire.
The books have always had comparisons to Bernard Cornwell’s iconic character Sharpe, and with good reason, both are the same character from the gutter making their way in an officers world, only their routes there differ, Sharpe by battering his way to the top, Jack Lark through lies, fraud and skill and courage. They both also have that fast flowing action packed writing style that keeps you turning the next page through to the early hours of the morning.
In this latest book Jack finally returns home to London and his mothers gin palace, bringing with him all his dark emotional baggage. Hi travels from the Crimea to Delhi, with so many battles and so much death in between, Jack is a man who’s soul is battered and scarred, he needs to come home to heal, to return to the old familiarity of the rough London streets.
Jacks home-coming is not at all that he wanted, this includes the return to his life of the Intelligence Major Ballard and his bodyguard Palmer. Jack is soon back off to war to use his skills of lies deception and courage to help in a new mission. The theater is Europe, Jack marches with the French against the Austrians, and while many of the troop maneuvers are similar to ones that Sharpe may remember the ordnance isn’t. This is the start of a more modern war, rifled cannon, creating death on a new scale.
I powered through this latest book from Paul Collard, and when i finished i summarised the book immediatly, i wanted the instant impact to be the end line of my review: “harrowing and shockingly dark, this book is utterly emotionally mind numbing. Stunning work.”
I now have three of my top books for the year (including this one), choosing the best of 2016 is going to be almost impossible at this rate.
Highly recommended
(Parm)
