Vernon Baker

If you love mysteries surrounding Knights Templar, hidden secrets and celestial beings, this is the one for you.  I really enjoyed it.

Slow Boat to Purgatory

Amazon.com Slow Boat to Purgatory


I have just finished this Slow Boat to Purgatory (Book 1) and rushed to check that Book 2 is available.  I will certainly be reading this before too long.  The story, telling as it does of an immortal Knight Templar, a secret Order of the Broken Cross who search for him and Alex, the ex-serviceman who has been left details of a 'secret' by his grandfather, invites comparison with Dan Brown's books. I think it's a pity to try to classify Slow Boat in that manner as it's complex and has its own structure and cast of 'celestial beings'. The story is rich with demonology, a view of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory which harks back to medieval times and 'good' and 'fallen' angels who are barely distinguishable.

I enjoyed the story, its pace, its easy movement from modern times to the thirteenth century and its cast of sometimes strange beings.  It was easy to like Gaspar, the Templar, easy to dislike the Order, who had fingers in pies everywhere, yet even when they met their doom I felt a little sad for them.  This is the first of Vernon Baker's books I have read and I enjoyed it thoroughly.  He creates a frightening 'other world' populated by powerful unseen creatures and I'm eager to immerse myself in there a second time!