Bristol House

February 25, 2013
The 1995 assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Judaica possibly from Second Temple times, and a claimant to the papacy known as the Speckled Egg all figure in this predictable suspense novel from Swerling (City of Dreams). The Shalom Foundation has hired historian Annie Kendall, who has come to London from New York City, to run down reports that around 1535, “a man known as the Jew of Holborn uncovered a remarkable trove of ancient Judaica” in Jerusalem—and to try to locate this treasure. Soon after moving into lodgings at Bristol House near the British Museum, Annie begins seeing the ghost of a monk; to her amazement, she later discovers that the ghost is the spitting image of Geoff Harris, an investigative journalist she meets. Some readers may find it odd that Annie calls Geoff an Inspector Javert for still caring whether a sinister conspiracy arranged the killing of Rabin. Others may find aspects of the plot unintentionally funny. Agent: Michael Radulescu, Marly Rusoff Literary Agency.

February 1, 2013
An intricately woven plot with voices from the past give Swerling's latest historical thriller an otherworldly aura. Annie, a recovered alcoholic, has been hired by a Jewish foundation, spearheaded by a controversial and very wealthy man, to spend three months in London looking for evidence of an elusive historical figure known as the Jew of Holborn. She moves into a flat whose owner is visiting her son in another country and almost immediately is confronted by the ghost of a Carthusian monk in the back bedroom. Frightened and worried that the vision could be the result of hallucinations from years of drinking, Annie begins her research on specific ancient Jewish artifacts, all of which are holy to the Jewish people. In the meantime, Annie meets Geoffrey, a famous British television news personality, who joins forces to determine whether she is indeed on the right track to finding those artifacts, the Jew of Holborn and the identity of the monk who keeps appearing to her. But when Geoffrey introduces her to his mother, Maggie, a brilliant Jewish woman who worked as a codebreaker for England during World War II and was brought over at the beginning of the war as a child, both Geoffrey and Annie begin delving deeper into the Jew of Holborn and what they believe may be a code that will lead them closer to conspiracies both past and present. The author writes well, but readers have a lot to swallow when it comes to gullibility, particularly when no one who finds out about Annie's ghostly visions, which only she can see, bats an eye. The story is also weighted down with so much historical minutiae that readers will both find themselves lost and wondering on occasion. This latest effort by Swerling is nicely penned but also ponderous and overloaded with out-of-place sexual vernacular, an overabundance of detail, and a tired, evil Catholic Church conspiracy.

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March 1, 2013
Swerling, best known for her City of Dreams quartet, adds a paranormal dimension to her latest novel, interweaving narratives set in contemporary and Tudor London. Commissioned by the Shalom Foundation to unearth some ancient artifacts from the Holy Land, recovering alcoholic and architectural historian Annie Kendall arrives in London determined to resurrect more than her career. After subletting a flat in Bristol House, Annie begins receiving disturbing visits by the ghost of a Carthusian monk. Initially fearing that she is hallucinating, she eventually joins forces with investigative reporter Geoffrey Harriswho coincidentally looks just like the ghostand together they attempt to solve a present-day mystery that is firmly rooted in the past. Elements of romance, religious mythology, cultism, and the supernatural abound as this genre-blending thriller stretches back and forth through time to a suitably dramatic denouement.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)