Only two obstacles stand between Napoleon's mighty army and its seemingly certain conquest of Portugal: a land wasted and stripped of food at Wellington's orders . . . and Captain Richard Sharpe. But perils from within and without threaten the bold captain of the Light Company the hatred and incompetence of a superior officer, the vicious treachery of a false ally, and the overwhelming numbers of a fierce, determined enemy combining to make Sharpe's escape a near impossibility.The Washington Post - Michael DirdaIt's dryly witty, violent, highly melodramatic, briskly written and an altogether rousing tale of revenge and derring-do.