Crazy Guy on the Veldt

Ahh the absolutely perfect image for this book. It's lucky that this is the 2nd Knights Templar book I've read, forsooth if I didst read this swill ere I did, never would I continue to purvey the works of master Jecks.
(*groan* your pardons, I've not slept 20 hours)

My major gripe is the inconsistent viewpoint used throughout the book. This is supposed to be a murder mystery, actually 3 sets of murders done by 3 different perpetrators. Some of the times we are provided insight on what the characters are thinking and at other times, sometimes suddenly, we get to watch the scene unfold as impersonal spectators. This makes the whole reading experience, for me a bit.... blurry (hah!)

The start and development of Simon and Baldwin's friendship is perhaps one of my favorite parts of the book. Indeed, the character dynamics between the two saves the book from being a very predictable and boring read.


Good bits:
~The scene of Jacques de Molay's execution during the Prologue.
~Seeing Simon's relationship with his wife and daughter.
~And the very lenghty recap of Baldwin's life story at the end.
~well researched examples of medieval life and property laws.

Bad bits
~The whole chase across the moors.
~The way that the first mystery is dangled in front and then the characters being sidetracked by another murder, and then another. Brewer's murder could have been dealt with by the 9th chapter but instead we had to wait near the end to finally see who (as if we couldn't take a wild guess already) did it.
~The description of the countryside and the landscape was a bit excessive no? It almost became Jack Londonish. I have nothing against scenery but do I have to be reminded what the bloody place looked like every paragraph?
~some of the main characters go through an angst-y routine that is a bit too artificial and ... well angst-y for my taste.