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    Review of THE GODLESS MAN by Paul Doherty

    A MYSTERY OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT

    Carroll & Graf, 2002

    After his great victory at Granicus, Alexander rests at Ephesus, a large Greek city of Asia Minor. Yet, although he has achieved victory in a battle, Persia remains strong and its fortress city of Miletus seems impregnable--and essential to Alexander's hopes for continued conquest. Worse, Ephesus, like many Greek cities, is torn between parties who use every opportunity to make war on one another. Persia's spymaster is using this civil war to keep Ephesus in turmoil, and to threaten Alexander's word, his life, and his hopes for the future.

    Alexander turns to his physician, Telamon, to discover the true explanation of a classic closed door mystery--the murder of a group of Oligachs within the sealed walls of the Temple of Hercules--after Alexander had given his word that they would be safe. The Persians attempt to destroy the myth of Alexander before they kill the man, and Telamon resolves to find the true spies within the city. With a little help from his beautiful Celtic assistant, Cassandra, and less help from Alexander's spymaster, Aristander, but with a lot of the logic he gained from studying under Aristotle, Telamon peels away at the veils of secrecy that pervade so much of Ephesus.

    Author Paul Doherty (see all BooksForABuck.com reviews of novels by this author) writes convincingly and compellingly of Alexander's conquest. Badly outnumbered, deep in the enemies territory, Alexander has enough problems from the Persians, yet his Greek 'allies' can be even more dangerous. Doherty's Alexander is powerfully, yet humanly drawn--with all of the arrogance you'd expect in a man who intends to conquer the world, yet with the keen intelligence of the man who, in all history, came closest to doing just that. Telamon, too, is a believable, yet admirable character. The slowly evolving relationship between Telamon and Cassandra adds just a hint of spice to a well-served mystery.

    Four Stars

    Reviewed 9/04/02

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