A Life Eternal

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From the trenches of the Somme to the tranquillity of a rich English country estate; from the gangsters and molls of Prohibition New York City to the decadent nightlife of Weimar Berlin, Rob Deakin struggles to come to terms with the gift that helped him survive the trenches, while hunting a quarry both elusive and mysterious. During this journey he attracts love and death in equal – and equally devastating – measures. The writing style is solid and again, very much like reading a first person interview. It reminded me of "Interview with the Vampire" by Anne Rice, in its style, but Rob’s unburdening of self is less story and more ‘police report”...”I did this, and then I did that, and then I went here…”. This Sam is a very different man from that first novel. His alcoholism in that story saw him lurching from reality and actually believing he was in the 1930's. In this story, he has quit drinking, quit smoking, and has started boxing again to get himself straight. However, he is still on the tail of the bad guys, helped this time by the local police chief who relies on his less than 'by the book' abilities to bring in the villains. While the subject matter was sometimes confronting, I found Shadow of the Knife an enjoyable and engrossing read. I'd recommend it to any reader who enjoys gritty historical crime fiction - this is no cosy and refined parlour mystery - and/or has an interest in the early history of modern crime investigation. A riveting and heart-breaking tale, simply and elegantly written in the first person, which puts a new spin on the classic themes of the immortality tale.

Rob Deakin mungkin seorang laki-laki biasa. Ia lahir di Inggris, kemudian ikut dalam Perang Dunia Pertama. Tapi suatu ketika ia, dalam keadaan sekarat, ditemui oleh seseorang misterius yang kemudian membuat Rob menjadi manusia yang luar biasa: tubuhnya bisa sembuh dengan cepat dan akibatnya ia tidak bisa mati. A brilliant, humane, thrilling story spanning decades of significant events in world history. It explores a subject that human beings have been pondering since the beginning of time. Eternal life on this earth. Eternal youth. Wouldn’t that be wonderful! Living forever in a body that never ages yet having the wisdom of an ancient soul. The two men find themselves in a desperate race against time to find the murderer before any more people die. A race that will take them from the murky world of the East End to the even more shady world of the Victorian upper classes.If there's one thing this story has, it's atmosphere. Coming from the other end of the country I have no idea what the south west is like (apart from a few holidays in the general area), but Kruse has created a sense of time and place brilliantly. This book truly shows the talents of Fullerton; a modern John le Carre mixed with a hint of Clive Cussler. All in all a fabulous, well-researched, gripping thriller. This book should be a movie; it has everything needed.

The writing style is solid and again, very much like reading a first person interview. It reminded me of "Interview with the Vampire" by Anne Rice, in its style, but Rob’s unburdening of self is less story and more ‘police report”...”I did this, and then I did that, and then I went here...”. Still reading it. I am in LOVE! I think that I am going to have a fictional husband by the end of this book. What kind of trouble would you get into if you were immortal? Rob is a soldier in WWI and suffers injuries fighting that should have killed anyone, but when he’s on the verge of death, a strange man touches him, and Rob recovers fully. Doctors are baffled. Sooner or later it becomes obvious that Rob isn’t aging. What’s going on? A Life Eternal. To discover you are immune to death, to understand you have been chosen to live forever, an eternal life, unable to die, to be killed, to live on in perpetuity...A gift or a curse? As you do not physically age, but those who you love do and journey through their lives towards their own mortal ending. However, a chance encounter with a mysterious stranger will change the course of Rob’s life forever… Not only has he been healed, but he cannot die, and he will never age.

What follows is a cursed journey through a century of incredible change, seen through the eyes of a man immune to death, while he searches endlessly for the answers to what makes him so unique.