Arturo Pérez-Reverte states in the prologue of his latest novel, THE SIEGE, that it is not a work of history. That being said, he has chosen a unique backdrop for this literary mystery --- the French siege of the Spanish city of Cádiz circa 1811. The Siege of Cádiz, a naval seaport, by French forces lasted from February 5, 1810 through August 24, 1812. At the behest of Napoleon Bonaparte, French naval forces kept a stranglehold on Cádiz while continuously bombing it and terrorizing all its residents.

In the fictional world created by Pérez-Reverte, this is an ideal setting to place a brutal serial killer. In fact, the vicious murders of several women seemingly occur in direct relation to bombing locations throughout Cádiz. Those who are aware of the murder spree have the added stress of the French siege of their seaport and the ensuing creation of a new constitution in efforts to reduce the strength of the monarchy that is stifling them.

"THE SIEGE is an epic novel, and the Tizón storyline stands out amidst the many colorful and rich characters.... The game of human chess he plays throughout the book is worth the price of admission and allows it to rise above what could have been just another work of historical fiction."

Police Comisario Rogelio Tizón is a man driven to the edges of sanity as he seems to be the only one committed to bringing a deadly killer to justice in the face of a society that is literally too shell-shocked to care. Tizón is obsessed with the game of chess and all its strategies, and plays it regularly with his friend, Professor Hipólito Barrull. Tizón sees the landscape of Cádiz as a metaphorical chess board, and he is having a deathmatch game against a faceless killer.

THE SIEGE is interspersed with several different narratives that fill the nearly 600 pages of text. You know that Pérez-Reverte must be an author of some unique skill in order to hold readers’ attention in a thriller that is as weighty a tome as a historical novel. One of the other storylines centers on a young woman, Lolita Palma, who utilizes her family mercantile business to interject herself into the game of cat and mouse between the Spanish and French navies.

Another storyline involves Captain Simon Desfosseux, who is the master of the bombing that strategically picks apart Cádiz. A most interesting part of the novel is when Tizón and Desfosseux finally meet and the tension that results as Tizón seeks to learn from Desfosseux if there is any possibility that a member of their brigade might be behind the string of murders that happen so coincidentally in the same spots as his bombing targets.

THE SIEGE is an epic novel, and the Tizón storyline stands out amidst the many colorful and rich characters. He has a dogged sense of justice and plans to carry it out to the end, no matter how ruthless that may be. The game of human chess he plays throughout the book is worth the price of admission and allows it to rise above what could have been just another work of historical fiction.