Captain Alatriste (novel)

Captain Alatriste (Spanish: El capitán Alatriste) is a 1996 novel by the Spanish writer Arturo Pérez-Reverte. It is the first book in the Captain Alatriste series.^[1]

Captain Alatriste

Author	Arturo Pérez-Reverte
Original title	El capitán Alatriste
Translator	Margaret Sayers Peden
Language	Spanish
Publisher	Alfaguara
Publication date	1996
Publication place	Spain
Published in English	2005
Pages	237
ISBN	9788420483535

Plot

Diego Alatriste [es] is a former soldier turned contract killer in Madrid. It is the early 1620s and he takes in the fatherless boy Iñigo Balboa. When Alatriste is tasked by the president of the Spanish Inquisition to team up with an Italian and kill two Englishmen who have arrived in the city, he becomes entangled in international intrigues and has to balance between different factions.^[1]

Reception

Kirkus Reviews described the book as a "pleasure of swash, buckle and atmosphere" with "tidy infomercials" about 17th-century Spain.^[1] Publishers Weekly called it "a winning swashbuckler" and "popular entertainment at its best", complimenting its pace and sense of time and place.^[2]