The Secret Chord is a retelling of the story of King David through the eyes of his prophet Natan. Set in an ancient land among a people on the verge of greatness, it is laced with faith and doubt, loyalty and deception. It’s an excellent exploration of the art of state craft in an age of brutality.

As with every Geraldine Brooks book, there’s a lot to enjoy here. The descriptions are vivid and sharp, the scenes readily imaginable even though they are set in such a strange context. The relationships among the characters are complex and constantly shifting, so that we never quite know what to think of a given scene. At the same time, the ominous foreshadowing throughout - which seems only appropriate in a book narrated by a prophet - nicely builds dramatic tension without giving too much away. As always I appreciated Brooks’s unique revisionist perspective - she turns the story of Batsheva on its head, and makes David a real human being, rather than a legend. The insight into state craft is also pretty impressive; this story reveals greater understanding of the skills needed to govern a complex society than some of our leading politicians do, and it’s interesting to see these problems turned over again and again. Finally, I quite enjoyed the narrative structure, which seems to begin as a retrospective, before turning slowly into a jeremiad, and closing with a slow but satisfying denouement.

I did however find this book to fall a bit short of her other works, especially People of the Book. The central metaphor in this book - music as statecraft - is creative, insightful, and rife with narrative possibilities. Alas, it falls a bit flat here, and it even seems to me to be forgotten for about the middle third of the book, only to be picked up half heartedly in the last part. I had hoped for a metaphor as fully developed and cleverly explored as the one in People of the Book, but I suppose it’s easier said than done.

There is a similar missed opportunity in exploring the device of naming, especially for a book in which one of the central characters is called The Name. The character names here are fascinating and have meanings which comment rather intriguingly on the plot… But Brooks doesn’t really draw out that idea, and it’s left to die on the vine, as it were. Similarly, there’s relatively little contemplation of what it means for an entire city to change its name, which seems like a shame for a city like Jerusalem, with its rich and fascinating history.

On the whole I should say I enjoyed this book and am very glad I read it - this writer never disappoints. It’s really only when I compare this book to her other works that I wish it could have just a bit more.