The Audacious Crimes of Colonel Blood
The Spy Who Stole the Crown Jewels and Became the King’s Secret Agent

This is not a bad book, but I did not like or enjoy it much. Its promise to tell the life story of the audacious adventurer, and self-styled Colonel, Thomas Blood, remains somewhat unfulfilled. The "whizzing bullets and galloping hooves" promised by the back cover (of the paperback edition) are pres......more

Col. Blood was an interesting character at a crucial moment of England's history, but this book leaves open more doors than it closes. The promised thrills are few and spaced hundreds of pages apart in prose that borrows heavily from 17th century broadsides and records. The reader is also assumed to......more

I had heard of the exploits of Colonel Blood when I was a child, and seeing this book about his life and the times he lived in, I bought it for future reading. I am happy to have read more about the man and his misdeeds, but i did struggle with the style in which the book is written. It has clearly be......more

An astonishing true-life tale of a Cavalier who plotted to overthrow British rule in Ireland after the Restoration, to murder King Charles II and his younger brother (who soon enough became James II), and succeeded in stealing the crown jewels from the Tower of London, though he got no further with......more

Colonel Thomas Blood (what a name!) was a larger-than-life character, who flourished in the the late 17th century. Never lacking in nerve or ambition, he and his accomplices attempted to capture Dublin Castle (unsuccessfully). He and his fellow conspirators the wounded and kidnapped the Duke of Ormo......more