Adam Colclough lives and works in the West Midlands, he writes regularly for a number of websites, one day he will get round to writing a book for someone else to review.
Following a triumphant defence of her PhD Dr Anya Brown lands what looks like her dream job with the secretive, but fantastically well resourced, Institute of Manuscript Studies at the University of St Andrews. On that allows her access to a library filled with rare manuscripts containing secret knowledge that could change the world.
Things though are not what they seem, her unique talents make her a person of interest to the Order of St Katherine and the Fellowship of the Larks. Two secret societies that have spent hundreds of years working behind the scenes to advance women’s role in society. Both are willing to go to any length, including murder, to get access to the secrets contained in the enigmatic Voynich manuscript.
The latest thriller from Gilly MacMillan treads similar ground to that covered by Dan Brown in his multiple bestsellers. All the elements are there from symbolic meanings in plain sight that require a brilliant mind to interpret, to secret societies with hidden agendas and a frantic race against time carried out over multiple countries.
She deploys them with a skill that will be familiar to anyone who has enjoyed her previous novels, providing plenty of thrills and tension. The premise of a glossary to decode one manuscript hidden in several others is plausibly based on research that is explained cogently without bogging the text down in lengthy exposition.
The key difference, of course, is that Macmillan comes at things from the other end of the equation, providing a new perspective, and allowing her to take a pop at the pretentions of the patriarchy along the way. This is done with a lightness of touch and a commitment to telling a rattling good yarn as well as sending a subtle message about soft power and how it can be used.
This is a book to be enjoyed by anyone who likes to select their conspiracy thrillers from the smarter and more reasoned end of the spectrum and a splendid addition to Gilly Macmillan’s already impressive back catalogue.
