‘The Sanctuary Knocker’ is a political and historical fiction book, by nature a narrower genre than general fiction. Centred in Ireland, we are shown the growth and development of The Movement, a new political group whose aim is for a united Ireland. At the same time, England is under attack by an engineered bacterium, and The Druid’s involvement means O’Toole is unable to enjoy his new life without being reminded of his not-so-distant past. The author’s characters progression through the story is satisfactory with a believable back story and elicits empathy for the main protagonist O’Toole.
There are imaginative and realistic scenes and it is obvious that the author has done a lot of research in creating these. However this does jump about from scene to scene which does make it hard for the reader to follow at times. The story itself does move at a satisfactory pace, but as a reader I did find myself skipping the odd section due to the confusing jumps between scenes. There are some editing issues mainly relating to formatting and spacing, but this is something the Author can easily address and overall does not distract the reader from the story.
The narrative does tend to veer to the use of more complex language, which requires the reader to look up its reference and meaning. I would have preferred less instances when this was necessary and for the Author to use more colloquial terms in order to aid the flow of the story, so as not to stumble over these. However it may not be an issue for other readers.
The ending is very well written, and the Author does leave an opening for a sequel which is hinted at. As this book is the last in a trilogy of Turlough (Toby) O’Toole books, perhaps it is best for The Book Dragon to have been given the first book to read, so the reviewer is able to follow the ongoing story in a sequential order. Reading the last book first, I did find it difficult to keep the flow of the tale.
I award, The Sanctuary Knocker, 3 stars.
Not Available to Buy at The Book Dragon
