Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (Trade Paperback – 26 August 2025)
Series: Will Bowman – Book One
Length: 323 pages
My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Prepare for war in Scott Mariani’s compelling and action-packed historical thriller, The Pilgrim’s Revenge, an awesome read with some real heart to it.
Scott Mariani is a veteran author whose work I have been meaning to check out for a while. A major thriller author, Mariani is best known for his long-running Ben Hope series which features modern spy fiction narratives with the protagonist unwinding puzzles and conspiracy theories from history. While I haven’t had the chance to read any of Mariani’s thrillers, his 2025 release, The Pilgrim’s Revenge caught my eye, especially as it is the first time that Mariani has written a full historical fiction novel. The first book in Mariani’s new Will Bowman series, The Pilgrim’s Revenge was an intense and captivating take on the classic medieval historical fiction adventure, featuring a great revenge twist.
Plot Synopsis:
1190 – Humble layman Will Bowman lives in the countryside with his pregnant wife, when soldiers from Richard Lionheart’s army tear through his home. Will is beaten unconscious, and awakes to find his wife murdered, his farm burnt down, and his life forever changed.
In vengeance, Will infiltrates Richard’s army to find the marauding gang, and finds himself swept along in the march of the Crusades. With the help of new allies and fuelled by his loss, Will crosses Europe with the King’s army.
Can Will avenge his wife? Or will he be swept away by the unstoppable force of Richard’s Crusade?
The Pilgrim’s Revenge was an outstanding and action-packed novel from Mariani, who dives into full historic fiction with great enthusiasm. Setting the scene quickly, with an introduction to point-of-view protagonist Will Bowman, a minor landowner and skilled hunter, the book soon takes a dark twist when a group of pillaging soldiers kill his pregnant wife, burn his farm and leave Will for dead. Determined to get revenge, Will takes up his bow and starts following the attackers, determining them to be pilgrims on the way to join Richard the Lionheart’s attack on the Holy Lands.
After a good initial period in England, where Will encounters friendship and additional heartbreak as part of his personal journey, the protagonist soon boards a ship towards the Holy Land. This middle section of the novel is useful for introducing several great supporting characters and provides some compelling historical context to the events that Will is a part of. After some exciting sequences at sea, as well as a sudden action-packed siege, the plot takes the protagonist into King Richard’s orbit in Sicily as part of some established historical events. Mariani also gives Will the first glimpses of his goal, which ends in an exciting and tense series of encounters that add some excellent drama and risk. Following some surprising developments, Mariani continues to explore the early parts of Richard’s crusade, including his landing in Cyprus, which provides some awesome fight sequences, before setting the protagonist up for the big confrontation of the novel. While the development of the later part of this story isn’t too surprising, it features some fantastic and exciting moments, and plays into the established historical events really well. Wrapping up on an excellent, if unexpectedly complete, note, Mariani leaves the story open for more adventures, which we’ll probably see very soon.
I think that the author provided a strong story for The Pilgrim’s Revenge, and this proved to be an excellent piece of historical fiction with a bit of a thriller flair to it. Loaded with action, intriguing descriptions of the period, as well as some entertaining characters, The Pilgrim’s Revenge was a great historical adventure, which Mariani ensures stands out from the various other novels set in this period thanks to its central character and he’s unique motivations. I particularly appreciated the author’s use of the third-person perspective through the eyes of protagonist Will Bowman, which really paints a personal and insightful look at the events of the Third Crusade. Having a simple English farmer, who has relatively little knowledge of the land outside his local community, slowly learn about the lands of the later 12th century as part of his own personal journey, really allowed new readers with less historical knowledge to dive into the events of this book a lot easier. At the same time, Mariani clearly puts the work in describing the historical elements of the book, whether it’s the details of the crusade, interesting depictions of real-life figures, or even complex depictions of day-to-day life and the social, technological and military element of the time. Thanks to the exciting, action-packed plot, readers can power through The Pilgrim’s Revenge quickly, but for those who stop to savour the author’s compelling writing, there are some amazing details and compelling character moments to appreciate.
Overall, The Pilgrim’s Revenge was an outstanding and captivating novel, as Scott Mariani sets up an exciting new series. Featuring an enjoyable, action-laden plot, The Pilgrim’s Revenge was an amazing novel to get through, especially with its compelling depictions of war and life in the 12th century. A very exciting read, I quickly flew through The Pilgrim’s Revenge and is worth checking out especially if you enjoy intense and detailed historical reads. I look forward to continuing the Will Bowman series going forward, and I’ve already got a copy of the sequel, The Knight’s Pledge, which I am hoping to read soon.
The Unseen Library 