I have no idea why I continue on with this series.  I guess for the same reason I keep watching shows like NCIS and NYPD.

 Now and again I like a good bit of creep but it is so hard to find, the more books you read, the less creepy they are but his story had atmosphere. This is your typical gothic horror novel that has been done to death over the years - it has supernatural elements, a grieving widow, a crumbling mansion, hereditary insanity, villagers that won't go near the big house and a mysterious 200 year old diary written by a witch in the mid 17th century. What puts it above the others for me are the 'Silent Companions' themselves. They remind me strongly of the weeping angels in Doctor Who - take your eyes off them for a minute and you're a gonner.

This book does a fairly good job of doing what it sets out to do: describing the fates of the 'men who dared to execute Charles I'. If that wasn't exactly what I was expecting, despite the fact that it states it right there on the cover, the deficiency is clearly mine. I picked up this book to expand my study of British history beyond the Tudor era, but this was probably not the best introduction to the English Civil War.

Instead of looking at Charles I and why the people decided to rise up and kill him, this book details the punishments that were meted out or avoided at great cost when Charles II came to the throne. Since I knew little or nothing about the people involved, it was difficult for me to remain interested in their stories. I really needed more background and broader knowledge in order to appreciate these individual stories.

I was impressed by the demonstrations of deep faith on the part of the men who were methodically hunted down and executed employing the most violent methods. They had dared to kill a king and were still certain that God was on their side. The hunters are more difficult to sympathize with as they spend years and valuable resources tracking down men, even once they are silenced and aged, so that they can be brought to 'justice'.

I received this book through NetGalley. Opinions are my own.