From Publishers Weekly

Pérez-Reverte, a former war correspondent, continues his popular Captain Alatriste series with a fourth swashbuckling volume (following The Sun over Breda). Diego Alatriste, a wily veteran of many 17th-century military campaigns, and his sidekick, Inigo Balboa—who narrates—have returned to Seville after fighting in the siege of Breda. With funds short, Alatriste accepts a dangerous mission to intercept a load of smuggled gold and deposit it in the royal coffers. Trolling the criminal underworld of Seville, Alatriste recruits a band of ruffians, and disguised as pirates, they prepare to slip aboard the ship transporting the gold, surprise and subdue the crew and beach the vessel. What Alatriste doesn't expect to find on board is his old adversary Gualterio Malatesta and a large contingent of mercenaries. Fans of the series have come to expect historical authenticity, crisp prose, complex characters, exotic settings and plenty of sanguinary action. They won't be disappointed. (Aug.) ""
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."

From Booklist

This Spanish author’s fourth installment in his internationally popular series of works featuring seventeenth-century Spanish swordsman-for-hire Captain Diego Alatriste now makes its American appearance, and it lives up to, or perhaps even exceeds, the intense reader enticement established by its predecessors. The Spain that is the setting is a country in decline; on paper, Spain remains the center of a vast world empire, but, in truth, it is the head of a decaying colonial system of graft and corruption. Captain Alatriste and his devoted companion, Inigo Balboa (who tells the story here and who features in a side story of young love), have just returned to Seville from fighting the Dutch and English in Flanders when the captain is approached with a new offer. A certain grandee of Spain is, so King Philip III fears, plotting against him, and a load of contraband gold from the New World will certainly aid the high-standing nobleman’s efforts against regal authority. The king wants Alatriste and any group of ruffians he can muster to snatch the shipment and hand it over to His Majesty. Off and running we are—adventures and swordplay abound. As always in the series, the author deftly mixes the traits of historical fiction with those of the spy thriller. --Brad Hooper