Sharpe's Prey

Copenhagen, 1807. Britain fears that Napoleon will take control of the Danish fleet, and the British military needs someone to stop it. The man chosen is Richard Sharpe, an officer of the 95th Rifles who has a decorated record and a disgraced reputation. The mission is dangerous from the moment he accepts it.

Sharpe travels to Denmark with John Lavisser, a British officer assigned as his escort. Lavisser is a double agent. The assignment turns into a contest of spying and betrayal, and Sharpe's own survival is in question from the start. He has no one to trust, and the man beside him is working against him.

The novel is military historical fiction set during the Napoleonic Wars, and it is the fifth book in Bernard Cornwell's Richard Sharpe series. Its tone is gritty and tense, with battlefield action running alongside the intrigue. Readers get a hard, close atmosphere rather than a leisurely one.

The city is under siege while Sharpe works to uncover the truth behind the conspiracy around him. Time is short, and each day of the siege brings the fleet closer to the French. If he fails, Napoleon gets the ships.