(This review is for the paperback version)

"Monks, monk, monks. Monks everywhere, as far as the eye can see. Rows and rows of them, crammed together on their chapter-house seats like bats in a cave. Like crows around a corpse. The rustle of their black woollen sleeves, as they point and nudge and whisper. The coughing and gurgling of old men with clogged lungs."

Lord Roland and his squire Pagan, fresh from battle in the Crusades, have renounced the sword and are seeking to become novice monks at the Abbey of St Martin. Pagan isn't sure he wants to be a monk and soon finds that neither humility nor blind obedience comes easily to him, but he is equally sure he doesn't want to leave his beloved master. He also discovers that even a supposedly holy place can swarm with danger and corruption.

Pagan himself tells the story, writing in the present tense, which usually gives me trouble. I normally find it both stilted an unnatural. However, for this story it feels absolutely right. Although I can imagine that many young readers might take a while to become accustomed to Catherine Jinks's spare, distinctive style, I took to it (and her warm, wry humour) straight away. As can be seen from the above quote (the book's first paragraph) her writing abounds in unfinished sentences, which most writers normally use sparingly. But here the oft-used effect serves to underline Pagan's irreverence, which is my only quibble. While I personally found this trait highly entertaining (indeed, almost endearing) I have difficulty believing that someone raised in a monastery in those days would be quite so irreverent, especially at only 17 years of age. One of his favourite expletives is "Christ in a cream cheese sauce", which would certainly be accounted as blasphemous in those days.

But what does it matter when Jinks provides such an entertaining, "unputdownable" read?

I'm very pleased to learn that the Pagan books are to be republished, though 5 January 2004 (the projected date for the first book, Pagan's Crusade) seems rather a long wait.

A great book! Full of action and adventure

This is a wonderful book, very easy to read, and full of emotion and angst and drama. Written in the first person, the reader is invited into Pagan's world, and an interesting place it is too.

There are 4 books in the series, this is the first, I highly recomed the others.

Her most recent book, 'Eye To Eye' is also excellent!!

Catherine Jinks is the finest author for this age group around.

This fast paced story will be sure to bring a smile to anyone's face, as our narrator and main character Pagan Kidrouk wittily tells us of his adventures. Set in Jeruselem when it was under Christian rule in the 12th century, Pagan is a half Arab, therefore a half enemy for the suspicious minded, a fact that can cause him trouble from time to time. Previously enrolled with the city garrison (and involved with some of the city's low-life), Pagan owes money and is therefore forced to enroll elsewhere. He went to the Knights of the Templar, or Knights of God. Hillariously told through his eyes, Pagan must learn about being the page for the knight Lord Roland deBram. As time and events wear on, these two build their friendship, and as the Turks threaten the holy city, Pagan is faced with losing that friendship, and so pushes his luck one more time in an effort to save it.

Early in the fourteenth century in Lazet, France Dominican Brother Bernard enjoys his pious position as assistant to Father Jacques, the Head of the Inquisition into Heretical Depravity. However, Brother Bernard's comfortable lifestyle abruptly ends in 1318 when someone kills Father Jacques, dismembering the corpse.

Ailing ascetic Father Augustin replaces Father Jacques and quickly digs deep into the homicide as well as several incidents in which his predecessor declared local VIPs free of heresy. Demanding the accounts of the Inquisitorial registers, Father Augustin learns several are missing. Father Augustin also makes inquiries into an enclave of women living just outside of Lazet, thinking females living alone practice witchcraft or prostitution. However, a massacre occurs as someone(s) slices up Augustin and his ensemble. The new Inquisition leader Pierre-Julien plans to prove that the women and Bernard are ritual murdering heretics even if he lacks any evidence.

Those readers who demand authenticity in a historical novel will prefer the uncompromising and invigorating look at the fourteenth century through the mindset of a Dominican Inquisitor. Bernard's first person narration enables the reader to observe what seems so hypocritical from the perspective of modern times as the Inquisitors use biblical doctrine to defend their "under God" actions. Catherine Jinks' well written and insightful debut novel is a triumph for those who desire accuracy, but the audience should realize that it will take the paradigm switch of a historiographer to appreciate this deep look at a period of religious fervor and terror.

Harriet Klausner

Bernard Peyre enjoys his job as an inquisitor in 14th century France, and believes that he serves a critical role in rooting out heretics and preserving the church. When he gets a new boss, he wonders whether the man might be too strict, but he respects Father Augustin's faith and willingness to re-open old cases--to go after heretics that might have somehow escaped his predecessor. Still, Bernard is concerned that Augustin seems fascinated by a small group of women, living together without the benefit of a priest's oversight. Women, Bernard knows, are surely a cause of a man's downfall.

When Augustin is found, murdered, while returning from a visit to these women, Bernard is concerned that a heretic might have struck. He visits the women and finds himself in love with one of them. As a monk, Bernard's vows prohibit sexual love, but he is convinced that this love is somehow sacred despite his friend and confessor's strong warnings. When Bernard's new boss arrives with concerns over demon summoning--something that Bernard knows has not happened in his region, things begin to fall out of control.

Author Catherine Jinks gives life and insight into religious life in medieval France. To the end, Bernard believes in the inquisition, despite what it does to himself and those he loves. Bernard is a wonderful character--quick to justify his actions even when they are truly out of line, often unable to separate lust from divine rapture, and proud of his intelligence at the same time as he is aware of (at least some of) his shortcomings. THE INQUISITOR is not a who-dunnit type of mystery, but it is a fascinating exploration of man's capability for self-delusion and of good intentions leading to terrible results.

Australian author Jinks' debut features an unusual protagonist, Brother Bernard, Inquisitor of Heretical Depravity, in Lazet, France, in 1318. Bernard is a devout but irreverent soul whose narrative is a defense against accusations following his investigation of the murder of a superior, the ascetic Father Augustin.

Augustin and his guards were dismembered, their body parts strewn over the countryside. But the sharp-witted Bernard (as he is quick to declare himself) soon questions whether the butchery was only to disguise a missing body ' the culprit. Assigned a new superior who blames the murder on sorcery, the horrified Bernard struggles to discover the truth and conceal his newfound passion for a suspect.

Jinks breathes life into her narrator, a man of complex passions and humor, proud of his work in keeping heresy from taking root. Exploring the phenomenon of the Inquisition, Jinks shows how fanatics joined forces with Church bureaucrats like Bernard; how fear drove hysteria; how neighbor turned on neighbor. This world, so strange and repugnant to the modern mind, so ordinary to Bernard, gains understanding with the reader as it loses luster for Bernard. Well-written and penetrating, as well as entertaining and well paced, this deserves wide readership.

"Pagan's Scribe" marks a departure from the other three Pagan books. The story is told this time from the perspective of Isadore, a bookworm scribe who is assigned to the company of Pagan, now an Archbishop. The action takes place many years after the events in "Pagan's Vows", and enables us to stand back and watch Pagan, Roland and the other characters from previous books with the critical eyes of Isadore who has no idea what they have been through. This is quite effective; we can appreciate the strength of Pagan and Roland's friendship objectively, which makes the *developments* (I will say no more!) all the more poignant for Isadore's unknowing. Though he has many endearing qualities, Isadore never wins the total support of the reader as a fully-fledged character, his often comical fear and prejudice less appealing than Pagan's smart-alec reluctance of his youth. The description and imagery of medieval life and fighting is as vivid as always, and the tone retains most of its element of humour, even if we are bereft of Pagan's sarcastic comments. The ending is abrupt but expected, and is dealt with delicately and simply as possible (which didn't stop this reveiwer from shedding a few tears!). This is the last installment of the series; it is hard to see Jinks carry on with Isadore, now that the Pagan-Roland theme is no longer possible. Those who have been with Pagan for all his adventures will enjoy the maturity he has achieved, and lament the ending that was inevitable.

This is an easy to read book, that is quite enjoyable. I was disappointed by the ending & the characters in the book weren't developed enough, but it is an ok book to read if you have nothing to do on a lazy Sunday.