Reviews & Overviews by Rod Cameron

Labyrinth - Kate Mosse

Publisher:	Orion
Date:	2005
Size:	702 Pages
Format:	Trade Paperback
Price:	£7.99
ISBN:	0-7528-7732-1
Reviewed by:	Rod Cameron
Review Date:	March 2007

First things first, there are two Kate Mosses out there. The other one (without an “e”) is the fashion model with a dubious reputation. This Kate Mosse was a BBC presenter, is the co-founder and honorary director of the Orange Prize for Fiction, and has been named European Woman of Achievement for her contribution to the arts.

Labyrinth is the story of two women born 800 years apart. Alais, a herbalist, lives in Carcassone, France in 1209 and whilst a Christian, her sect of Christianity is about to become the subject of the fourth crusade. In this atmosphere of brutality, religious intolerance and civil war, she tries to protect three religious books that purport to identify the location of the one true Grail. In modern Languedoc, Alice discovers two skeletons in a cave during an archaeological dig. She is overwhelmed by a sense of evil at the site, and her fears are not allayed when she appears to be come involved in a conspiracy. As it says on the front cover, “Three secrets. Two women. One Grail.”

It is obvious that the book has been well researched – there are 25 books in the bibliography at the back. But unfortunately the storyline is at times very slow. To use the Grail as a theme in a book invites comparisons with Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code (reviewed September 2005). However, Labyrinth is much more sedate. The characters are developed slowly and with some passion, but not all are necessary to the main plotlines.

Please don’t mistake my comments. There is a good storyline lurking in here somewhere. You just need a little patience to work through it. This has been a “Number One Best seller”, so a lot of readers must have gained some enjoyment from it.