While traveling this summer, the kids and I needed something to wile away the hours. Although we had never heard of Kevin Sands before (we’re heavy readers but are completely detached from American schools and books clubs), we were immediately intrigued by the plot of this tale.

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A Brief Summary of The Blackthorn Key

Christopher Rowe serves as the young apprentice of an apothecary named Benedict Blackthorn in 17th-century England. This apothecary, it seems, also dabbles in more than just medicine. Both alchemy and ciphers interest him as well, and when one day Blackthorn is murdered, Christopher and his pal Tom must fight suspicion and decode the messages his master has left behind. They do so even while running from bands of mysterious and evil anarchists—some of them even “friends” within the apothecary guild.

Ciphers within Ciphers

Once again, an author has succeeded in delivering the kind of book that young people (and middle-aged men like myself) eat up. We love books of puzzles and ciphers, mystery and murder, fugitives and explosions—books like The 39 Clues and even Harry Potter. This book has all of that and more.

A Time Period I Hate, but a Story I Loved

I’ll be honest, though: the 17th and 18th centuries are like bottom-of-the-historical-barrel for me when it comes to interest level. I don’t know what in my childhood did it to me, but I have a knee-jerk reaction when it comes to American and British histories from this time period—unless it’s pioneer-based or nautical—and even thinking about an entire series set in dingy London during those years just makes me groan!

But somehow, Kevin Sands has made my most-disliked period of history bearable—and even interesting! Perhaps it’s the fact that the characters are dealing with real-world issues, even if their approach seems like hokum and fantasy. Through their alchemy, Christopher and all the rest are on the verge of discovering a genuine weapon they call “The Archangel’s Fire”—which is actually something we now call nitroglycerine.

In the story, the characters spiritualized this creation, fearing it like it were some fantastical, otherworldly element—which is precisely what any 17th-century mentality would have believed! And yet, the stuff is real and traceable.

Sands took me to disgusting London and that horrible time period (I could smell it all as I read), and I actually enjoyed my stay, because I believed in the story I was reading. For me, the chemistry, codes and hidden rooms—which were my initial draws—eventually became simply extra flavor to a tale I truly found enjoyable.

Not Afraid to Mention God

I also appreciated the fact that Sands felt free to name God and the Church and Jesus in this book, and in fact made them integral to the tale, because that’s exactly how people would have spoken and thought in that era. Too many books nowadays pretend that God doesn’t exist, contrary both to fact and history, making their “universes” entirely unbelievable. Sands didn’t fall into that trap, and I thank him for it.

Conclusion

All in all, this was a dark yet pleasant mystery to read with my kids. I don’t know if we’ll tackle all 6 books in the series, but I certainly won’t shy away from Kevin Sands if I see him on the thrift-store shelves in the future. Definitely worth checking out.

©2026 E.T.