David Morrell – The Mortalist, Frank Balenger, and Thomas De Quincey series
So back in the 1980s (Ok think about that Edward the 1980s were 35 years ago! Ouch! When you were 14 in 1965 would you have thought about anything that happened in 1930 as anything but ancient history? Nope!) I read a lot of thrillers from the likes of Robert Ludlum, Clive Cussler, Bill Granger (November Man), Richard Hoyt and others. And right up there with the best of them were books from David Morrell. Morrell’s 1972 debut novel was First Blood was adapted into Sylvester Stallone’s movie Rambo.
My three favorite books from David Morrell were The Brotherhood of the Rose, The Fraternity of the Stone and The League of Night and Fog. The sad thing is that aside from the fact that I remember that I really liked the books, I remember little bit about them. I rarely read books a second time but thinking about how much I liked the books starts me thinking may I should read at least The Brotherhood of the Rose again! I do remember that The Brotherhood of the Rose was made into TV a mini-series that I thought starred Richard Chamberlain. In looking it up on IMDb I see that it started Peter Strauss, Robert Mitchum and Connie Sellecca. Richard Chamberlain starred as Jason Bourne in a TV Mini-series based on Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Identity. I never watched either of the series!
About The Brotherhood of the Rose from Goodreads:
They were orphans, Chris and Saul–raised in a Philadelphia school for boys, bonded by friendship, and devoted to a mysterious man called Eliot. He visited them and brought them candy. He treated them like sons. He trained them to be assassins. Now he is trying desperately to have them killed.
Spanning the globe and full of heart-stopping action, The Brotherhood of the Rose is an astonishing novel of fierce loyalty and violent betrayal, of murders planned and coolly executed, of revenge bitterly, urgently desired. More
Through the years I’ve read several more books by David Morrell and I enjoyed them all but none have even been as good as the three books from above. That is until 2013’s Murder as a Fine Art set in 1850s London Morrell wrote a terrific book using The Opium Eater Thomas De Quincey and his daughter Emily as the lead characters! Read More Here. The conclusion of that book left me and many other readers clamoring for more! In March Morrell released The Inspector of the Dead making me and others very happy campers! In this installment De Quincey and Emily are still in London and end up in the midst of a killing spree targeting the aristocrats of London. Cards left by the murderers reference members of Young England that have attempted to assassinate Queen Victoria. Could the queen be the ultimate target? I just picked up the book on Friday, couldn’t put it down and have already finished it!! The review of the book will be forthcoming. In the meantime here is a list of the other books that I have read from the pen of David Morrell……Check him out!!
| David Morrell Books I’ve Read | ||||
| Title | My Rating | Average Rating* | Original Publication Year | Date Read |
| Inspector of the Dead | 4 | 05/10/15 | ||
| Murder as a Fine Art | 5 | 3.84 | 2013 | 2013/07/23 |
| The Shimmer | 4 | 3.31 | 2009 | 2009/08/08 |
| Scavenger | 4 | 3.56 | 2007 | 2007/07/01 |
| Creepers | 4 | 3.59 | 2005 | 2005/09/01 |
| Assumed Identity | 3 | 3.77 | 1993 | 1994/05/12 |
| The Covenant of the Flame | 4 | 3.92 | 1991 | 1991/05/18 |
| The Fifth Profession | 4 | 3.94 | 1969 | 1990/06/02 |
| The League of Night and Fog | 4 | 4.06 | 1987 | 1987/01/01 |
| The Fraternity Of The Stone | 4 | 4.14 | 1985 | 1986 |
| The Brotherhood Of The Rose | 4 | 4.13 | 1983 | 1985 |
* Goodreads – rating is out of 5