Articles

Overrated? Probably. Formulaic? Certainly. A darn page-turner of The Da Vinci Code ilk? Yup. This is confident and compelling storytelling with a completely beguiling set up. Amsterdam in the 1600s is (for me, at least) a totally gripping novelistic idea. On the other hand, it’s pure Mills and Boon romantic tosh. Which side you come down on depends, I suspect, on your expectations of Burton’s novel.