Review: Starts so well
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 17, 2012
There have been many books on the theme "who wrote Shakespeare's plays" some are academic research and some are works of fiction. This book relies on the premise that previously unknown documents have been accidently discovered and after that various different factions have an interest in obtaining it. As a descriptive work of locations, particularly the Italian ones, it works very well and I can easily visualise the locations. Unfortunately the plot is a different matter and although there are conflicts between the people trying to obtain the documents the plot has little in the way of twists and turns. It starts so well with the book set in the London  of 1593 and captures the feeling of the time after that it is written in two time frames and various locations. The main character Toby Malone (Kit) is obsessed with trying to prove that Christopher Marlowe (Kit) wrote Shakespeare's plays. The fact that both have the same nickname at times left me confused as to which one was being written about. The main of the book is without giving away too much of the plot is about Toby and his exploits in Italy trying to obtain the documents. At the end I am not sure if it is being left so that a sequel can be written but the book does stand on its own.