Sharpe's Prey (The Sharpe Series): The Expedition to Copenhagen, 1807 (The Sharpe Series, Book 5)

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Copenhagen is doomed. In three nights of horror, as the city burns, Sharpe must protect a woman, find his traitor, and stay alive. Price appears in the TV adaptation Sharpe's Company, played by Scott Cleverdon. He is given a similar role to that in the book but he is shot and apparently killed by Sergeant Hakeswill during the storming of Badajoz while trying to protect Teresa, a fate that befell Captain Knowles in the book. Harper is flogged during the siege of Badajoz as a result of the machinations of Sharpe's enemy Obadiah Hakeswill.

The year is 1807; Lieutenant Richard Sharpe is planning to leave the army. Against his better judgment, he is persuaded to accompany the Hon John Lavisser to Copenhagen in what is essentially an act of political skulduggery: they are to deliver a bribe and (hopefully) avert a war. But with the French ensuring that Europe remains at boiling point, Sharpe finds himself protecting his charge against French agents and struggling to ensure that the Danish battle fleet is not used to replace every French ship destroyed at Trafalgar. Sharpe is a character we know well and like, and his customary characteristics (tenacity, bloody-mindedness) are well to the fore here, but, as always, the other characters are equally strikingly drawn: Lavisser is a splendidly complex figure, as are several of Sharpe's nemeses. But it's that wonderfully adroit orchestration of action and plot that keeps the pulse racing, with the bombardment of Copenhagen and the massive bloodshed resulting in a truly impressive set piece: Sharpe, from his vantage point on the dune, could see the smoke wreathing the wall. The city's copper spires and red roofs showed above the churning cloud. A dozen houses were burning there, fired by the Danish shells that hissed across the canal. Three windmills had their sales tethered against the blustering wind that blew the smoke westwards and fretted the moored fleet to the north of Copenhagen. Among the exploits he shares with Sharpe, Harper is credited with the capture of a French Imperial Eagle at the Battle of Talavera in 1809 and storming of one of the breaches at Badajoz in 1812 ( Sharpe's Company). Rifleman Christopher Cresacre first appeared in Sharpe's Havoc however he would have accompanied Sharpe in the retreat to Corunna but was he was never mentioned in Sharpe's Rifles. Cresacre fought in the First Battle of Oporto [4] and also partook in the Second Battle of Oporto which he survived. Cresacre fought with Sharpe in the Battle at Talavera where Sharpe captured a French Eagle. He also participated in the destruction of Almeida in Sharpe's Gold and also partook in Sharpe's Escape during the battle of Bussaco. Cresacre featured in Sharpe's Battle. [6] He partook in the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro [7] and went to fight with Sharpe in the Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo and the Siege of Badajoz. Cresacre was unfortunately killed in the siege of Badajoz in Sharpe's Company. [8] Sharpe was angered by the death of Cresacre indicating he valued the rifleman. Cresacre was described as a moaner and a grumbler. He was also one of the rifleman who was considered to be troublesome.Given the subject matter there isn’t much in the way of major battle scenes, this has a bit more of a cloak and dagger theme. Of course being Sharpe this actually transforms into a cloak and seven-barrelled gun theme! Quite how you hide one of them under a cloak is of course open to question if you should choose to . . .

Sergeant Latimer first appeared in Sharpe's Battle. [18] Although he would have accompanied Sharpe in the retreat to Corunna, was he was never mentioned in Sharpe's Rifles. He fought in the First and Second Battles of Oporto, which he survived. Latimer fought with Sharpe in the Battle at Talavera, although he was not mentioned in Sharpe's Eagle. He also participated in the destruction of Almeida but wasn't mentioned in Sharpe's Gold; he also partook in Sharpe's Escape during the battle of Bussaco. He fought in the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro [6] and went on to fight with Sharpe in the Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo and the Siege of Badajoz ( Sharpe's Company). [26] He went on to fight in the Battle of Salamanca in Sharpe's Sword but he wasn't mentioned. Latimer went on to fight alongside Sharpe in Sharpe's Enemy but he wasn't mentioned at all. [please explain how the character could be present in literature in which he was not mentioned] Latimer wasn't mentioned in Sharpe's Honour, Regiment, Christmas, Siege, Revenge, or Waterloo. Either Latimer did not fight at Waterloo or he was killed prior to the battle. It is unknown when Latimer became a Sergeant, as in Sharpe's Rifles Sharpe only saw Harper as a suitable replacement for Williams. It may be fair to assume that when the Rifles were drafted into the South Essex, Sharpe needed more Sergeants and as such Rifleman Latimer was suitable for the role. Cornwell published the non-fiction book Waterloo: The History of Four Days, Three Armies and Three Battles in September 2014, timely for the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. [2]

Little is known of Morris's subsequent career, until 1812, when Hakeswill joins the South Essex Regiment and informs Sharpe that Morris is part of the garrison of Dublin Castle in Ireland ( Sharpe's Company). Rifleman Gataker is one of the original riflemen who was involved in the retreat to Corunna in Sharpe's Rifles. He was not considered for a promotion to sergeant as Sharpe saw him as being too fly [vernacular?] for his own good. He may not have been one of the best shots of the riflemen, as in Sharpe's Eagle he was asked to keep reloading for Hagman. [15] Rifleman Gataker was mentioned in Sharpe's Havoc where he fought in the First Battle of Oporto [16] and also partook in the Second Battle of Oporto which he survived. He also featured in Sharpe's Eagle where Gataker fought with Sharpe in the Battle at Talavera. Gataker was unfortunately killed at the beginning of the battle when a shell landed next to him and exploded. [17] Following Napoleon's defeat, Sharpe ends up in Paris with the occupying allied armies. There he uncovers and defeats a secret Bonapartist group ( Sharpe's Assassin). Afterwards, he retires from the army. The small band of surviving riflemen (from the 95th Rifles) join with Spanish Major Don Blas Vivar, not realizing at first that he has his own agenda. They try to stir the Spanish in the city of Santiago de Compostela to fight for the cause of Spain against Napoleon. He was one of three provosts on duty in a small deserted Portuguese village. Their equipment was new, and their faces burned red, indicating that they had newly arrived on the Peninsula.

Hakeswill's early history is related in every novel in which he appears. He was raised by his mother, Biddy, in an unknown " dale" town in England, where he sexually assaulted a parson's daughter. To protect the girl's reputation, he was charged and convicted of stealing a sheep and sentenced to death by public hanging. On the day of his execution, the hangman hoisted the numerous victims into the air to die by strangulation, for the amusement of the crowd, and paid little attention to the small boy struggling at the far end of the scaffold. When a heavy rainstorm scattered both executioner and crowd, Hakeswill's uncle was able to cut the boy from the scaffold "for his mother's sake". Hakeswill fled south and enlisted in the 33rd Regiment of Foot as a drummer boy. Captain Dunnett – Sharpe's superior officer in the 95th Rifles, with whom he has a strained relationship Subsequently, Sharpe was forced to apologize to an embarrassed Lieutenant Ayers, in the company of the Provost Marshal and Colonel Williams. Sharpe's smart apology caused Ayers to agree to his own regret over the incident, to the confusion of Colonel Williams (Sharpe's Gold: Chapter 3). But the matter was dropped.

After General Harris and General Baird send Private Sharpe and Lieutenant William Lawford to rescue McCandless and his information he is almost shot by Sharpe as the Tippoo tells Sharpe to kill McCandless to prove his loyalty. Sharpe fires but McCandless survives due to the Tippoo's use of fake gunpowder. He first appeared in Sharpe's Prey and, including Harper, was one of the only two men remaining from Major Dunnett's original company, from the Battle of Copenhagen. He is referred to as one of Sharpe's best marksmen, along with Hagman and Thompson. [5] Harris last appears in Sharpe's Skirmish, but he may be alive as of Sharpe's Enemy, as he is likely to be one of the last nine from the retreat to Corunna left at the time. He possibly fought with Sharpe at the Battle of Vitoria and presumably the Battle of Nivelle. He most likely fought with Sharpe at the final Battle of Toulouse, and may still be alive as of Sharpe's Revenge, though Harris is absent in Sharpe's Waterloo. He does not appear at Waterloo and is absent from the battle. In Sharpe's Rifles it was with Hagman that Sharpe made his first inroads toward connecting with his new command. He stopped to speak with the former poacher and helped him through a boggy ground. When he and Sharpe meet again at Waterloo, he is thin and worn, and is incredulous Harper had survived, expecting the man should have died long since, and calling him a rogue. He then apologizes to Sharpe, saying he had been wrong in his opinion of the man from the ranks, and that it was good to see him again; so few of the old battalion still lived, so many had died at New Orleans. Harry Price is a fictional character in the Richard Sharpe stories written by Bernard Cornwell. Characters named Harry Price appeared in two episodes of the Sharpe television series, played by different actors.

He is mentioned in passing in the subsequent novels as having returned to England and resumed his political activities, in particular helping to implement the new income tax, and becomes "Commissioner of the Excise".Author Bernard Cornwell has admitted that he regrets finishing the character off, as he has struggled since to create an antagonist of equal depravity and energy. Before the complaints let me touch on the positives. As pure escapism in isolation of the series Sharpe's Prey is fine. Richard Sharpe remains a likeable but roguish character and the pace of the romp never slows and the story never lags.