The Gates of Hell - Hardcover

Doherty, P. C.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1841194972 ISBN 13: 9781841194974

Publisher: Constable & Robinson Limited, 2003

Synopsis

It is 334 B.C. Alexander and his troops have crossed into Asia and shattered the Persian army at the battle of the Granicus. Marching south he has conquered all in his path, including the great city of Ephesus. But he knows, and his enemies know, that the great prize is the city of Halicarnassus, strategically important and with fortifications to make any attacker despair. Alexander, by now famous as the "Great Besieger of Cities" must take Halicarnassus. The city has a link with his own past and his difficult relationship with his father; he needs to prove something to himself. The city's commanders, Alexander's old enemy Memnon of Rhodes, the Persian Orontobates, and the Greek renegade, Ephialtes, plot to ensure that Alexander will meet his nemesis at their gates. Fortifications are redoubled and a trap is prepared. This time, surely, they will bring down the "Macedonian Wolf" and bring his dreams of conquest to nothing. Alexander's court is set up close to the city, and his physician and boyhood friend Telamon is there. Even as Alexander brings up his troops for one of the most dramatic confrontations in the ancient world, a series of brutal killings begins, proving that the Persians have infiltrated the court. While his lord prepares for the fight of his life, Telamon enters a maelstrom of murder and intrigue. He must go through "The Gates of Hell" to find the traitors and protect Alexander - but all the while the evercunning Alexander keeps his counsel and pursues his own plans to foil his enemies.

About this title

About the Author

Paul Doherty is the internationally renowned author of many history books and historical novels. He is headmaster of a London school and lives near Epping Forest.

From Publishers Weekly

In 334 B.C., Alexander the Great's march toward world conquest halts before the formidable battlements of Halicarnassus in the third installment of British author Doherty's riveting historical series featuring the sleuthing of Telamon the physician. Scholars race to decipher the enigmatic Pythian Manuscript, which holds the secrets of a fatal weakness in the city's defenses, as well as the location of a fabulous treasure, while spies haunt the Macedonians' camp and counter-spies lurk within the walled fortress. The body of the scribe Pamenes is found on the pavement below his locked room, the so-called ghost-chamber (whose floorboards creak like a ship's rigging when walked upon), and Telamon must decide if his death is accident or murder. Soon other more obvious murders occur, including another body found strangled in the ghost-chamber (even the mysterious death of the villa's cat!). Amid the battles and siege of the city, crucifixion of captured spies and dispatching of soldiers whose wounds cannot be cured, the physician keeps to his investigations. "I cannot explain the deaths of thousands. I can only concentrate on the task in hand. It keeps me sane." Telamon, who wasn't quite a dominant element in the previous novels (The House of Death and The Godless Man), comes to full literary life in these pages, as the prolific Doherty moves masterfully from a terrifically atmospheric prologue through the fiery fall of Halicarnassus. As usual with this assured writer, the solution to the crimes is extremely satisfying.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Constable & Robinson Limited
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1841194972
• ISBN 13: 9781841194974
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352