Cornwell's fastball is historical fiction, with character depth and interesting plots. Gallows Thief is a stand alone novel, which is rare for Cornwell. He has produced over thirty books in his Sharpe series, six in his Saxon series, three (almost four) in his Grail Quest series, three more in his Arthur series, etc.
Gallows is set around 1820 during the Regency Period. As usual, he does a good job with description, but he switched to more of a mystery/suspense, which is not his fastball, rather than a mini-epic. And I love mystery/suspense, it's just that this one wasn't that great.
Our hero is a famed cricket player and several scenes revolve around this alien sport. Being in the background would have been fine, but I struggled with reading cricket jargon for pages at a time. Overall: too much cricket.
Skip this one and pick up The Last Kingdom, the first in the Saxon series. You'll be glad you did.
Lo siento, Bernie. Gallows Thief: Tres Stars.
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