He watched the birds through the open window. “His lieutenants’ return has been thwarted. It falls then to mortal men alone to protect him and see that he grows into a position of power from where his plans may finally be realised.”
And it seemed to him that there were fewer crows within the square and that there were doves now returning in the dusky sky.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A huge thank you to all my friends and family who have supported and encouraged me throughout the writing of The Fallen. The demands of writing a novel, and the sacrifices you and those close to you have to make, are considerable. I would have struggled to achieve what I have without their unwavering belief and motivation.
I have been so touched by how many people have got behind both me and the books of The Darkest Hand trilogy. Heartfelt thanks to Claire Eastham, everyone in Farley (particularly the Thursday night drinkers), Waterstones Salisbury (especially Jo and Leonie), the Salisbury Writing Circle, Tom Bromley, Russell Mardell, Dave Key, Paul Malone, Joy and Andrew Bailey for the use of their ‘cliff top writing cell’ and fellow Duckworth housemate Ed Davey.
Once again, my agent Ben Clark at LAW has supported and guided me with endless wisdom and grace. If you knew just a little of what I put him through, you’d be in awe of him. I am lucky to have him and LAW on my side.
Big thanks goes to my fantastic, and ever patient, editor at Duckworth, Nikki Griffiths. Inquisitor Poldek Tacit has never been the easiest of individuals to keep under control and yet she seems to have expertly and effortlessly found a way. The whole team at Duckworth Overlook deserve a mention for the support and encouragement they’ve given me from the start. They, and Overlook Press, my American publisher, are wonderful publishing houses and I’m proud to be part of them.
Finally, many thanks to both Jon Phillips at Muen and Paul Clifton Photography for proving a sow’s ear can make a silk purse.
NOTES
There has been woefully little written about the Italian Front during the First World War. This third, seemingly forgotten, front of the conflict, fought in some of the most extreme of conditions and costing almost one and half million men, has always stood in the shadow of the desperate horrors of the Western Front and the inconceivable destruction of the Eastern Front. For Italian soldiers to have wished for nothing more than to be transported to the flooded killing fields of the Somme rather than face an enemy on a brittle inhospitable shard of rock gives you some idea of what those poor men must have experienced.
Thank goodness for Mark Thompson’s The White War, both eloquently written and passionate in its details. It was the bedrock upon which I began my research for this novel. H.P. Willmott’s World War I proved an invaluable and accessible book regarding maps and visual references for weapons and uniforms. Also, Peter Hart’s The Great War was, once again, a reliable and solid reference tome for the war as a whole.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tarn Richardson was brought up a fan of Tolkien, in a remote house, rumoured to be haunted, near Taunton, Somerset. He has worked as a copywriter, written mystery murder dinner party games and worked in digital media for nearly twenty years. He is the author of The Darkest Hand series, comprised of The Damned, The Fallen, The Risen, and free eBook prequel The Hunted. He lives near Salisbury with his wife and two sons.
ALSO BY TARN RICHARDSON
The Hunted
The Fallen
The Risen
ALSO BY TARN RICHARDSON
THE HUNTED
Discover the free eBook sequel to THE DAMNED
In the bustling streets of Sarajevo in June 1914, the dead body of a priest lies, head shattered by the impact of a fall from a building high above. As the city prepares for the arrival of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, grim-faced inquisitor Poldek Tacit is faced not only with the challenge of discovering why the priest has been killed but also confronting other menaces: the demon rumoured to be at large in the city and the conspirators of the Black Hand organisation who plan to assassinate the Archduke.
With terrible danger only ever one step away and his private demons silenced only by strong drink, The Hunted introduces us to the damaged soul that is the unorthodox Catholic inquisitor Poldek Tacit. It is a world both like and unlike our own, where evil assumes many horrific forms, from werewolves to the slaughter of the trenches and where the threat to humanity–and to love–is ever constant.
NOW AVAILABLE AS A FREE EBOOK
ALSO BY TARN RICHARDSON
THE DAMNED
1914. The outbreak of war.
In the French city of Arras, a priest is brutally murdered. The Catholic Inquisition sends its most determined and unhinged of Inquisitors, Poldek Tacit, to investigate.
On the French battlefield, armed forces, led by Britain and Germany, must confront each other. But a mutual foe more terrible than any solider can imagine lies waiting beneath the killing fields; waiting for the light of the moon for the slaughter to begin.
Faced with impossible odds and his own demons, Tacit must confront the forces of evil, and a church determined at all costs to achieve its aims, to reach the heart of a dark conspiracy that seeks to engulf the world and plunge it ever deeper into conflict.
Set in an alternative twentieth century, in a world overwhelmed by total war and mysterious dark forces, The Damned is the first gripping instalment in The Darkest Hand series.
‘A kind of three-way mash-up of horror fiction, war novel and ecclesiastical thriller…. it works surprisingly well.’ Daily Mail
‘A sublime work of dark fiction meets mystery, meets horror… It is fast paced, atmospheric, it blends genres with ease and it keeps you hooked throughout.’ Intravenous Magazine
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WORLD WAR Z
MAX BROOKS
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE
It began with rumours from China about another pandemic. Then the cases started to multiply and what had looked like the stirrings of a criminal underclass, even the beginnings of a revolution, soon revealed itself to be much, much worse. Faced with a future of mindless, man-eating horror, humanity was forced to accept the logic of world government and face events that tested our sanity and our sense of reality.
Based on extensive interviews with survivors and key players in the ten-year fight-back against the horde, World War Z brings the very finest traditions of American journalism to bear on what is surely the most incredible story in the history of civilisation.
‘An absolute must have… Brooks infuses his writing with such precise detail and authenticity, one wonders if he knows something we don’t.’ Simon Pegg
‘Max Brooks really is the godfather of all the zombie stories’ The Sun
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The Fallen Page 35