M. Lynes (1)

I found the first two thirds of the book absorbing. It’s such an appalling part of history and there is so much at stake (to use an unfortunate but apt phrase). The author does a good job of building tension, and de Torquemada’s machinations add to the sense of dread. However, I found the handling of the mystery aspect really unsatisfactory. How did Isaac know who the killer was? No details are given of any kind of investigation. Isaac simply states "I think I know who committed the murder", and that's it, no explanation. Most baffling is that towards the end of the book Isaac explains to Isabel about how he found out who the killer was, but the reader is not privy to this part of their conversation, we are left completely in the dark. The book is a page-turner with a fascinating historical context. I cared about the characters, and was on tenterhooks in places, but I was ultimately disappointed by a mystery that didn't feel resolved.… (more)

I was intrigued by this novel set in Spain’s Seville at the time of the Holy Inquisition. Isaac Alvarez is an official in the city. As a Jew who has converted to Catholicism but is still secretly attending Jewish prayers, he and his family are vulnerable to being denounced.

A boy is murdered, and the story is circulated that he was killed so that his blood could be drunk in some secret Jewish ritual - the ‘blood libel’ of the title.

The story is told through the written testimony of Friar Alonso, the assistant to Torquemada, alternating with a third person narrative from Isaac’s point of view. This method of telling the story works so that the motivations of both characters can be explored.

Occasionally this was spoiled by an attempt to be cinematic, for example, concluding a chapter with one-line descriptions of everyone’s predicament. ‘Isabel is locked in her cell. Isaac is in the bar. Alonso is praying in his tiny cell, etc’. As a means of building tension, I found the device superfluous.

Generally, the story is professionally presented and edited; a pleasure to read, and a delight to be so carefully taken into 15th Century Spain just at the moment when Inquisitors like Tomas Torquemada were breaking down the fragile peace between Spanish Catholics, Muslims and Jews.

I look forward to reading more of Señor Isaac Alvarez as his work takes him closer to King Ferdinand.… (more)