Product Description

The eighteenth novel in this bestselling series takes Sharpe to battle in Copenhagen. It is 1807 and Lieutenant Richard Sharpe, recently returned to England, is offered a new job: go to Copenhagen, help the Honourable John Lavisser deliver a bribe, and so stop a war. It seems very easy. But nothing is easy in a Europe stirred by French ambitions. The Danes possess a battle fleet that could replace every warship the French lost at Trafalgar and Napoleon's forces are gathering to take it. The British must stop them. Sharpe is ordered to protect Lavisser against the French agents who infest the Danish capital. It is a shadow war of spies and brutality in which Sharpe is a sacrificial pawn. But sometimes pawns can change the game and Sharpe, when he discovers a traitor in their midst, makes his own rules. As the Danish army attempts to raise the British siege, it is met by Sir Arthur Wellesley with a force of redcoats and riflemen. Copenhagen is doomed. In nights of merciless British bombardment, Sharpe must protect a woman, hunt his traitor and stay alive.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7926 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
All of the Sharpe novels, not just the new one, Sharpe's Prey, feature genuinely complex plotting in which the reader is kept engaged not just by a central conflict but by a whole host of subplots handled as adeptly as his main narrative. How does Bernard Cornwell maintain such a high standard in his tales of historical derring-do and danger? The genre is a touch overcrowded these days, but Cornwell is unquestionably in the upper echelons, with a consistency that must give most of his rivals pause. It isn't just the formula that makes these books work so well (high-powered, vividly described action, conflicted protagonists risking both their lives and careers, impressive historical detail), it is another factor that has distinguished the author's books since his early work.

The year is 1807; Lieutenant Richard Sharpe is planning to leave the army. Against his better judgment, he is persuaded to accompany the Hon John Lavisser to Copenhagen in what is essentially an act of political skulduggery: they are to deliver a bribe and (hopefully) avert a war. But with the French ensuring that Europe remains at boiling point, Sharpe finds himself protecting his charge against French agents and struggling to ensure that the Danish battle fleet is not used to replace every French ship destroyed at Trafalgar. Sharpe is a character we know well and like, and his customary characteristics (tenacity, bloody-mindedness) are well to the fore here, but, as always, the other characters are equally strikingly drawn: Lavisser is a splendidly complex figure, as are several of Sharpe's nemeses. But it's that wonderfully adroit orchestration of action and plot that keeps the pulse racing, with the bombardment of Copenhagen and the massive bloodshed resulting in a truly impressive set piece:

Sharpe, from his vantage point on the dune, could see the smoke wreathing the wall. The city's copper spires and red roofs showed above the churning cloud. A dozen houses were burning there, fired by the Danish shells that hissed across the canal. Three windmills had their sales tethered against the blustering wind that blew the smoke westwards and fretted the moored fleet to the north of Copenhagen.

--Barry Forshaw

Review
'The novel has plenty of action sequences, plenty of well-researched historical titbits, but the true glory of the Sharpe books lies in their characterisation.' Sunday Telegraph 'All the perfect ingredients for an action-packed and page-turning read.' The Times 'What a very fine writer Mr Cornwell has become' The Economist

About the Author
Bernard Cornwell worked for BBC Television for seven years, mostly as a producer on the Nationwide programme, before taking charge of the Current Affairs department in Northern Ireland. In 1978 he became editor of Thames Television's Thames at Six. Married to an American, he now lives in the United States.

Customer Reviews

Good enough for existing fans..but won't attract newcomers
I've read all the other Sharpe novels, so it was inevitable that I would get round to this one sooner or later.
If you are a fan, you'll probably read it anyway. If not, I suggest you start elsewhere.
Not that this is badly written, but given its position in the chronology of the character (early but not at the start) and that it is the umpteenth book written by Cornwell about his most famous character (Richard Sharpe) I would be hard pressed to say it offered anything new or insightful about the character or the period.

A bit of background might help those who are interested.
Richard Sharpe is a fictional soldier in the British Army during the Napoleonic period.
The earliest novel (so far) is set in India in the 1799 and the latest is set in South America (mostly) in 1820-21, but the core novels and the earliest written are set in the Peninsular war (Britain & Portugal vs. France in conquered Spain) between 1809 and 1812 leading inevitably to Belgium and the fields at Waterloo.
If you can think of a major (or even minor) British military engagement in that time period, Cornwell has written a Richard Sharpe book about it (except the 'War of 1812' ..but it may yet come if he can get Sharpe there and back before waterloo).

This novel is set pre 1809 in the lovely city of Copenhagen and tells the story of the British attack on the city. The device that gets Sharpe there is a plot to bribe the Prince of Denmark into surrendering his fleet to the Brits to prevent the French from getting their hands on it (as a replacement for the fleet they lost at Trafalgar).
I wasn't aware previously that we had attacked Denmark or that we shelled the population of Copenhagen into surrender...not a particularly nice episode in our distinguished past, but given our record in WW2 it shouldn't have been a surprise, so Cornwell gets an extra point for that.
Otherwise it is rather formulaic and while an entertaining enough read, does nothing to challenge the reader or their preconceptions about the lead character. We know so much about Richard Sharpe from the other novels (joined the army to escape poverty, became a sergeant and was raised from the ranks to become an Officer for saving the {future} Duke of Wellington's life in India) that this is just another slice of boy’s own adventure.

I'd give it three stars, because its only for fans of the series.

Good solid storytelling but lacking some of the normal spark
Having read ( and in several cases re-read) all of the Sharpe tales to date I now know what to expect from each subsequent entry in the series. There will be lots of action, plenty of swashbuckling, superb descriptions of battles and background scenes, regular love interest for our hero and of course vindication in the end for Sharpe and comeuppance for the villain. The stories are nearly always of a very high class, occasionally peerless i.e, Rifles, Gold, Battle & Revenge. The most recent novels including Trafalgar & this novel Prey have failed to attain the peak of earlier tales. Maybe the absence of Harper and Hakeswill (an unmatchable character!) has something to do with it. The plots are well written but don't seem to grab the reader as much as before. The love interest doesn't seem right coming as quickly as it seems to do on the heels of the previous one. Still I'm sure that it's impossible to be 5 stars with every novel and I look forward to the next one in this and every other BC series with just as much anticipation.

Pure Sharpe at it's best
It seems Bernard Cornwell has got a thing for naval war recently with Sharpe's Prey and Sharpe's Trafalgar coming soon after each other. Here the role is less focussing more on the activities in port than at sea, but never the less it's a different and therefore exciting setting than the norm.

Needless to say the book delivers on all levels, this is Sharpe as we know and love him, battles, adventure, the fate of the war once again resting on this one man's shoulders (if only the British public knew how much we owed this one man eh? Indeed it seems old Dick Sharpe won every major battle of the Napoleonic War :p) and the beautiful girl (does Sharpe get her? What do you think?).

Cornwell has lost nothing over the years, each of his new books has been a joy to read, this is no exception.