Product Description

1882. Lieutenant General Sir Garnet Wolseley is under pressure. News of an uprising against the British powers in Egypt has reached London, and he must react decisively and forcefully. But there is little time to assemble an army and, for his campaign to succeed, he needs someone on the ground to assess the movements and strength of the Egyptian rebels.

Fresh from a scouting mission in South Africa, former army captain Simon Fonthill is kicking his heels in Brecon.When the request from Wolseley comes,  Fonthill and his servant, '352' Jenkins, accept the assignment, fully aware of the dangers they will face in hostile terrain without back-up. But they could never have foreseen the bloodshed that awaits them in the desert at Tel el Kebir...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16943 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

About the Author
John Wilcox was a journalist for many years before travelling all round the world while working in industry. He is now a full-time writer.

Customer Reviews

Probably his best yet
I've always quite enjoyed the Fonthill novels [with emphasis on the 'quite'] but they haven't captured me in the way of Cornwell or Iggulden. To be honest, there was a bit of skip-reading towards the end and a feeling of 'glad I've finished'. However, to be fair, this one is MUCH better! I enjoyed it very much. He seems to have worked in more sub-plots this time. Very Boy's Own, as before, but what's wrong with that?! I don't think he aspires to a higher plane even though his research appears to be good. Not as bloodthirsty as the other two authors to the extent of going the other way! Perhaps 'compassionate' is the best word. Being Welsh myself, I've always looked carefully at his treatment of Jenkins but have to say I can't fault him!!!!

Read this series in order!!
OK so I'm new to the Fonthill novels, and I really do feel that I should have started with the first in the series, but the author should be aware that not everyone will read his novels in order, infact he I am sure hopes that the popularity of this series increases in time. The main problem I have with this book is that, whilst I understand there are times where there is a need to refer to past novels, there is surely no need to do so as frequently as this novel does and give away so much. Whereas initially my thought was to purchase previous novels, now I'm not sure I want to as I already know much of what happens.

ON the flip side, I loved the story of 352 (a cracking character I might add) in court, a very good intro to both the lead charaters. I am interested in reading more of 352 but am not sure if I will for the reason mentioned above, if I do I may edit this review, watch this space.....

The Best Yet
Despite having read all of John Wilcox' Simon Fonthill novels published to date, I have always had a slightly ambivalent attitude towards them. They're enjoyable on the whole, but I have often found the writing to be a little on the functional side and the plots anaemic as Wilcox tries to fit the adventures of Fonthill and Jenkins around real events without messing with the historical record. On too many occasions the books have felt to much like a military history lesson and not enough like the boys own-style adventures they aspire to be.

With The Guns of EL Kebir however, the author has finally produced a book where both writing and plot satisfy, and he has done this by for the most part sidelining the military detail and bringing a series of wholly fictional events to the fore.

This time Fonthill and Jenkins (plus Alice, Covington and a couple of other lesser recurring characters) find themselves in Egypt around the time of the British invasion to put down the anti-European movement lead by Colonel Amabi. Rather than simply try to shoehorn his fictional creations into historical events however, this time Wilcox keeps Fonthill & Jenkins away from military action for three quarters of the book's length and instead sets them up effectively as spies for General Wolesley. This allows them to get into a series of scrapes and adventures that whilst occurring during real events such as the British naval bombardment of Alexandria are wholly fictitious.

This gives Wilcox a great deal more latitude in terms of action and outcomes. His two heroes actions no longer need to result in real life outcomes, so they are free to get caught up in struggles with smugglers of ancient artifacts and lawless mobs. This is far more exciting than having them as little more than observers of some larger military action.

Even when the British do eventually invade and Fonthill & Jenkins do finally become directly involved in the battle for El Kebir, Wilcox manages to find them roles to play that maintain the excitement levels and involves them being more than just soldiers (albeit irregular ones) fighting in the battle.

Equally importantly he manages to finally resolve the increasingly tedious romantic triangle between Covington, Alice and Simon Fonthill. This element of the previous books had never really worked for me; Covington being such a prig, albeit a brave one in battle, and I could never see why Alice would be attracted to him in any way. It had also stagnated as a plot strand, so to have it finally brought to a close was welcome.

There are still faults with the book. Wilcox will never be the most fluid storyteller, and the plot does tend to jump around a bit. The final battle is also rather perfunctory after a lengthy build up and some of the minor characters, such as Ahmed, Fonthill and Jenkins Egyptian friend/guide, are walking cliches straight out of central casting. On the whole however, none of these issues detract from the fact that The Guns of El Kebir is an entertaining, exciting piece of escapist fiction, something the previous novels aspired to be but never really managed.