So how does Green's novel stack up with what is known about both Lovell and Richard III? Richard was well liked in the North, and this fictional account based on Lovell's first-hand views are not very balanced. Richard is portrayed as something akin to Shakepseare's Macbeth wherein he is dominated by his scheming wife, with Lovell as the loyal Banquo as depicted by Holinshed in his Chronicles (from which Shakespeare borrowed copiously). As a high-profile Yorkist, the Lovell presented here is rather wishy-washy.

This type of fiction may have been forgiven had this been written a century ago, but with access to today's research, the reader requires some degree of authenticity. Then again, as historical fiction, it is every author's right to interpret events their own way.

The first person narrative severely limits the scope of the story as we only see things as and when Lovell does and gain no perspective of how these events sit in a wider purview. As a novel depicting the relationship between Richard and Lovell, this does not fully meet the brief. As a novel about Lovell, well, this hits slightly closer to the mark.