David S. Brody’s Cabal of the Westford Knight is a historical conspiracy thriller revolving around the legend of the Westford Knight. The legend states that a Templar Knight, Sir James Gunn, died in what is now Westford, Massachusetts in a pre-Columbus exploration of America. Cameron Thorne, a lawyer whose sense of honor and justice has put him at odds with others of his profession, stumbles upon an unusual scene at his local library. Thorne steps into the middle of an argument between an elderly couple and a gruff Scotsman. Once again, Thorne’s desire to help others puts him into a rather sticky situation. What began as a simple matter of land begins to spiral out of control as the lawyer finds himself entangled in a web of historical facts and dark conspiracies.
At first glance, Brody’s work is rather interesting. The pages of Cabal of the Westford Knight are filled with historical information and photographs of ancient artifacts and sites that will have many readers truly considering the possibility of the Westford Knight legend. The dialogue between characters debating and exploring historical facts is engaging and keeps the reader hungry for more. It does help to keep an open mind while reading as some of the facts are less convincing than others. In the end everything adds up to a good story.
While Brody’s story is indeed engaging, it is not without its faults. At times information is conveniently provided or a character happens to possess exactly the right past experience to take a potentially interesting moment or struggle and reduce it to what feels like unnecessary page filler. It does not help that many of the villains in the book seem to be a bit too incompetent to be believable. These buffoons turn thrilling moments into rather comedic ones and not to the story’s benefit. That is the key problem with this book. When a story is trying to set up a believable case for a Templar Knight discovering America well before Columbus it does not help to have a cast of unbelievable characters and situations.
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