The Legion Prophecy (The Apollonian Casefiles 3)
Author: Mark A. Latham
Publisher: Titan Books
Pages: 368
ISBN: 978178296842
Reviewed by: Sandra Scholes
In The Lazarus Gate, Captain John Hardwick is freed from a Burmese prison a pauper, wretch and opium addict when he returned home to London. Recruited by a secret gentleman's club, Hardwick continues to fight for the good against a growing evil.
In the third book Prince Albert has died of influenza and the queen is in mourning. For the Order of Apollo it is a different story. There is a rumour that he was murdered and several clues lead truth that an artist had sent a painting that forewarned of Prince Albert's death. The club think the artist could also be the killer. Lord Cherlten mentions that this is the greatest threat since the Lazarus Gate (a secret war between parallel universes) and he needs the Nightwatch to do their best to quash the plot.
Jim and Miss Furnival get on the scene and have found themselves in the artists lair, his paintings strewn around the room. The imagery is too awful for layman to take in as this is the predicted horror that awaits London and other cities if evil gets its way. Developments are slow and steady with the artist making fun of their faith in the order and in Miss Furnival saying that she has been less than honest in her previous dealings. It might not be a good idea, however to listen to a thing the artist says as he is talking in the third person.
What makes you want to read it is it continues the plot from The Iscariot Sanction where the club uncovered a plot to overthrow royalty and unlock the secret of The Iscariot Sanction. Miss Furnival comes under scrutiny as she has her own hidden agenda for destroying the one vampire who killed her uncle, tracking him down to the Otherside. Latham lets us glimpse the clubs men and we see them as they are supposed to be; dashing yet discreet, but who have secrets they must keep hidden, loves they dare not speak of and addictions to overcome. They might be gentlemen but that doesn't mean they don't have dark pasts. One man in particular I did like reading about was Jim as he has a secret that could well see him spending time at her majesty's pleasure if it ever got out.
