Book review: The Secret Chord

KING DAVID’S life was long and bloody: whether defeating Goliath, evading deranged King Saul, or fiercely consolidating his power once crowned, he is never far from gore-soaked battles or back-stabbing politics.

In her new novelisation of his life, Pulitzer-winning Geraldine Brooks does not flinch in depicting everything from mutilation to massacre to horrific rape — raw Old Testament with a dash of Game Of Thrones.

Initially the book is a thrilling surprise, early years of war and wives recounted in flashback by David’s prophet Natan, but later chapters of the rise and gruesome fall of his children are repetitious (he had a lot of children) with an increasing over-reliance on Natan’s prophecies to drive a sagging narrative.

While understandable, its mildly reverential quest for historical accuracy is The Secret Chord’s downfall, ensuring David and family remain the historical figures they are, fixed points rather than breathing characters, and leaving the book — like its hero — a flawed success.

The Secret Chord

Geraldine Brooks

Little, Brown, £16.99;

ebook, £8.99