Review: Last Prophecy of Rome by Iain King

Wednesday 24 February 2016
Title: Last Prophecy of Rome
Author: Iain King
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: 28th January 2016
Pages: 440
Source: Review Copy
Rating: 4/5
Purchase: Amazon
NEW YORK: A delivery van hurtling through Wall Street blows up, showering the sky with a chilling message: America is about to be brought down like the Roman Empire. And there’s only one man who can stop it.

ROME: Maverick military historian Myles Munro is on holiday with girlfriend and journalist Helen Bridle. He’s convinced a bomb is about to be detonated at the American Embassy.

When a US Senator is taken hostage, Myles is caught in a race against time to stop a terrorist from destroying America in the same way ancient Rome was thousands of years ago.

As Myles hurtles from New York to Iraq, Istanbul and Rome, he’s desperate to save the world’s superpower. But can he stop a terrifying threat from becoming reality before it’s too late?

I love reading conspiracy thriller novels and as Bookouture are yet to let me down with any of the books that I have read from them, I had very high hopes going into Last Prophecy of Rome, especially after seeing how much some of my favourite bloggers have loved Iain's books. I wasn't disappointed with the story at all, and I'll be going back and reading Iain's first book, Secrets of the Last Nazi, very soon.

When I sat down to actually put some words together about this book I found that what I wanted to say was actually quite similar to what I've said about books such as these in the past and that's because I think there's only so much you can say (or can't say, for fear of giving too much away!) about them. Where I think then that Iain's books may have an edge over some of his competitors is in the brilliant research that he has carried out. Of course, all authors carry out research before writing their books but I have to say the ideas and history conveyed here is exemplary and despite not knowing an awful lot about what I was reading, it wasn't always clear what was fact and what was fiction and I put that down to the brilliance of Iain's storytelling as opposed to my own naivety. Myles Munro is a brilliant creation and for me, even more so because he stood out as different and unique in this genre. When I compared him to the likes of Ben Hope and Tyler Locke, two of my favourite conspiracy thriller characters, he easily stood alongside them rather than being a cardboard cutout of what a character from a thriller should be like.

Iain's writing is wonderfully descriptive and so whether it's those action-packed scenes such as a delivery van blowing up on Wall Street giving the chilling message of 'America is about to be brought down like the Roman Empire. And there’s only one man who can stop it.' or in those quieter moments where Myles is attempting to make sense of everything that is happening, the reader is right there within the story witnessing the action. For me, and I don't know whether it's bad to say it but isn't part of the excitement with books such as these in the not knowing just how far the terrorists will succeed in their plans? After all, where's the fun if the bad guys are caught early on? And so despite having an idea that eventually Myles would prevail and therefore ultimately survive, part of the excitement did come from not knowing exactly what would happen along the way.

The idea behind this story and the way in which it is executed is brilliant and it's clear that real time and effort has been spent on making this the best book that it can be, and that really shows. What I always say about books like these is that the writer has an unlimited budget to work with, there's nowhere the characters can't go and nothing that they cannot do (within reason, I suppose) because the reader is only limited by their own imagination and so in Last Prophecy of Rome we travel the world and are treated to some of the most action-packed, heartstopping and thrilling scenes that I have read in a long time. This is definitely that old cliched term of an unputdownable thriller. Iain King is definitely an author to watch and I'll be watching eagerly to see what he writes next. Iain recently featured on my blog with this guest post and it was only then that I discovered that he wrote entirely in secret until his cover was eventually blown! Iain was born to write books like this and I hope the wait for the next one isn't too far off, until then I'm off to seek out book number one.

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