Knight of Swords

Breckon's lopsided but promising debut is thick with menacing atmosphere and begins as British army captain Francis Brookes, accused of treason by the anti-Fascist partisans he's been working with in 1944 Italy, prepares to be executed. Things go awry, however, and Brookes escapes with his lover, a young partisan he immediately accidentally kills. Wracked with remorse and pain, Brookes sets off and gets shot in the back, awakening as the guest%E2%80%94or perhaps prisoner%E2%80%94of the baron of Castelmantia's family, who have taken him in after finding him near dead in the woods. As Brookes recovers and observes more of the family's situation in their ancient, crumbling castle, it becomes clear that they are hiding many secrets, and their lives%E2%80%94and Brookes's%E2%80%94are at stake. There's a strong sense of foreboding and tension as Breckon teases out the truth about what's going on at the castle, but the home stretch is an unpolished, creaky mess of twist after twist, with a supremely off-putting big reveal. It's an unfortunate conclusion to an otherwise alluring novel. (June)