I was quite disappointed with this story - it had the feel of being rushed through and had far too many convenient meetings and solutions at the end. Some of Sadler's books are good in parts, others good all through. This was assassinated after about one third of the way in! Maybe it was written in one afternoon and there were cakes in the oven... not one of his best but a few good points? Well, the induction into the Assassins was well written and the Arabic characterization was good.

Most of Casca's books are readable for either the characters or for the historical accuracy. This has neither and frankly was written by somebody who knew nothing about World War I other than from the cinema screen, which, as we all know, is hardly an accurate medium. Apart from the first chapter or so which was interesting about street life in 1914's London, this book offered no historical accuracy or characters you could identify with. Once the book got into the war, it was never ending and became rather predictable. I would have liked to see more dialogue between the main characters and expressions on how they felt rather than read about one attack after another. Yes, this is a war novel but other Casca's were better balanced. The writer (a ghost writer, not Sadler) was wrong about the Battle of Verdun and Romania joining the war. Both happened in 1916 yet this book took place in 1914. A poor book not to be read unless you're a Casca book collector, and then only once.