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Jack Lark #11
Diamond Hunter (Jack Lark, Book 11): Diamond Mines of South Africa, 1871
JACK SOLDIER, LEADER, IMPOSTER.
The eleventh book in the gripping military adventure series for fans of Bernard Cornwell, Conn Iggulden and Simon Scarrow.
'Brilliant' Bernard Cornwell
'A gripping adventure from start to finish. Jack Lark might not be the hero anyone wants, but he's most definitely the hero you need!' Richard Cullen/ R. S. Ford
'Paul Collard has become one of the most readable figures in Historical Fiction' Parmenion Books
South Africa, 1871. Jack Lark no longer walks alone. With the worldly Anna Baker by his side, he travels to the Cape Colony diamond fields determined to seek their fortune - and an adventurous new life together.
The journey north soon turns violent as tensions erupt between other hopeful diggers and a gang of Boer men. Everyone has their eye on the same elusive prize - and some will stop at nothing to get it.
For Jack and Anna, unearthing a diamond is only half the battle. Getting out of the mines alive will prove far more difficult - and dangerous. And when the worst happens, Jack finds himself tested as no enemy, no man and no war has ever before.
DIAMOND JACK LARK BOOK 11
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
READERS CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF JACK
'A totally immersive and absorbing adventure'
'Diamond Hunter is a book you will not want to put down'
'Paul Fraser Collard goes from strength to strength'
'A delicately balanced formula that is mixed to perfection'
'Quite simply do yourself a favour and read these books'
The eleventh book in the gripping military adventure series for fans of Bernard Cornwell, Conn Iggulden and Simon Scarrow.
'Brilliant' Bernard Cornwell
'A gripping adventure from start to finish. Jack Lark might not be the hero anyone wants, but he's most definitely the hero you need!' Richard Cullen/ R. S. Ford
'Paul Collard has become one of the most readable figures in Historical Fiction' Parmenion Books
South Africa, 1871. Jack Lark no longer walks alone. With the worldly Anna Baker by his side, he travels to the Cape Colony diamond fields determined to seek their fortune - and an adventurous new life together.
The journey north soon turns violent as tensions erupt between other hopeful diggers and a gang of Boer men. Everyone has their eye on the same elusive prize - and some will stop at nothing to get it.
For Jack and Anna, unearthing a diamond is only half the battle. Getting out of the mines alive will prove far more difficult - and dangerous. And when the worst happens, Jack finds himself tested as no enemy, no man and no war has ever before.
DIAMOND JACK LARK BOOK 11
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
READERS CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF JACK
'A totally immersive and absorbing adventure'
'Diamond Hunter is a book you will not want to put down'
'Paul Fraser Collard goes from strength to strength'
'A delicately balanced formula that is mixed to perfection'
'Quite simply do yourself a favour and read these books'
- GenresHistorical Fiction
363 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 13, 2022
31 people are currently reading
39 people want to read
About the author
Paul Fraser Collard
18 books137 followersPaul's love of military history started at an early age. A childhood spent watching films like Waterloo and Zulu whilst reading Sharpe, Flashman and the occasional Commando comic, gave him a desire to know more of the men who fought in the great wars of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. At school, Paul was determined to become an officer in the British army and he succeeded in winning an Army Scholarship. However, Paul chose to give up his boyhood ambition and instead went into the finance industry. Paul stills works in the City, and lives with his wife and three children in Kent.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 19, 2022
Paul Fraser Collard's Jack Lark series is one of the few that I drop everything else to read whenever a new one is released. The eleventh instalment has the rugged titular character in South Africa, trying his hand at diamond mining and - inevitably - making enemies of the locals. Poor old Jack is put through the ringer in this one, again and again. South Africa was not all that kind to Lark.
A great read, which is pretty much standard now. Absolutely would have read it in one sitting if I possibly could. I already can't wait for book twelve.
A great read, which is pretty much standard now. Absolutely would have read it in one sitting if I possibly could. I already can't wait for book twelve.
January 8, 2023
As usual.....a great read.
May 28, 2025
A deeply textured look into the South African diamond rush of 1871
…and a very different kind of adventure for Jack Lark.
This is the second book of the series I’ve read. I read Book One, The Scarlet Thief, a few years ago. So it was quite a leap to read Book Eleven. It was also an experiment to see if I’d be able to follow the story in Diamond Hunter, having skipped the other nine books in between. I’m happy to report that I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and whatever I needed to know was contained within its pages.
That said, I’m aware that most, if not all Jack Lark’s stories are military adventures where he’s a soldier of some sort. So, it was interesting to see him cast in a new adventure as a diamond prospector.
The story (no spoilers, I promise) starts with Jack Lark arriving in Port Elizabeth, South Africa (Now Gqeberha) with his “salt-stained” carpet bag in his hand and his pistol at his side. There, he meets up with his companion, Anna Baker. Together, they must find passage four hundred miles inland to the diggings at Du Toit (Now Kimberly), buy a claim, and start digging. This is a long, arduous process, but just as things go well, everything goes terribly wrong, and Jack Lark must once again fight his way out of trouble.
The story has, what I believe, a deliberately slow start. We follow the two as they hire an oxen train, find fellow passengers to help with the cost, then make the month-and-a-half-long journey to the diggings. This is where we meet the rest of the cast and plant the seeds of the main conflict of the story. There’s the shady Australian, whom we meet in the midst of taking a beating for an alleged theft. There’s the sullen youth from London, the jolly, aptly named Mr. Goodfellow, and the pair of brothers whose mischief causes the first conflict with the standoffish Boers who are sharing their journey.
Once at the diggings, author Paul Fraser Collard takes us through the grueling process of securing a thirty-by-thirty-foot claim and then digging and sieving, day after day, as the Jack Lark's hands blister and bleed in the search of a diamond big enough to make it all worth it. I think it's to impress upon the reader the sacrifice it takes to find success in this dusty, desperate place.
But that’s only half the story.
Once the slow fuse finally meets the powder keg, everything goes to hell. All those characters and the subplots that have been building come to play for a nonstop, knockdown, drag-out, no-prisoners battle that’ll take up the rest of the book. It’s full of twists, turns, and surprises. At one point, I was like, “How much can this poor guy take?!”
Diamond Hunter is a great adventure, well worth the read. Collard is very descriptive of places like Port Elizabeth and Du Toit, as well as the workings of the digging. He has obviously done his homework. I especially liked the descriptions of the weapons and how they work. This is also an interesting look at the growing tensions between the old Dutch Boers, who had been in South Africa for generations, and the newer British Colonists, which eventually erupted in the famous Boer Wars of the late nineteenth century.
Having read and enjoyed the bookends of this series, I’m confident and excited about reading any of the other books in the interior. I think you could pick up any of Collard’s books and enjoy them on their own, but Diamond Hunter is certainly a gem worth digging into.
…and a very different kind of adventure for Jack Lark.
This is the second book of the series I’ve read. I read Book One, The Scarlet Thief, a few years ago. So it was quite a leap to read Book Eleven. It was also an experiment to see if I’d be able to follow the story in Diamond Hunter, having skipped the other nine books in between. I’m happy to report that I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and whatever I needed to know was contained within its pages.
That said, I’m aware that most, if not all Jack Lark’s stories are military adventures where he’s a soldier of some sort. So, it was interesting to see him cast in a new adventure as a diamond prospector.
The story (no spoilers, I promise) starts with Jack Lark arriving in Port Elizabeth, South Africa (Now Gqeberha) with his “salt-stained” carpet bag in his hand and his pistol at his side. There, he meets up with his companion, Anna Baker. Together, they must find passage four hundred miles inland to the diggings at Du Toit (Now Kimberly), buy a claim, and start digging. This is a long, arduous process, but just as things go well, everything goes terribly wrong, and Jack Lark must once again fight his way out of trouble.
The story has, what I believe, a deliberately slow start. We follow the two as they hire an oxen train, find fellow passengers to help with the cost, then make the month-and-a-half-long journey to the diggings. This is where we meet the rest of the cast and plant the seeds of the main conflict of the story. There’s the shady Australian, whom we meet in the midst of taking a beating for an alleged theft. There’s the sullen youth from London, the jolly, aptly named Mr. Goodfellow, and the pair of brothers whose mischief causes the first conflict with the standoffish Boers who are sharing their journey.
Once at the diggings, author Paul Fraser Collard takes us through the grueling process of securing a thirty-by-thirty-foot claim and then digging and sieving, day after day, as the Jack Lark's hands blister and bleed in the search of a diamond big enough to make it all worth it. I think it's to impress upon the reader the sacrifice it takes to find success in this dusty, desperate place.
But that’s only half the story.
Once the slow fuse finally meets the powder keg, everything goes to hell. All those characters and the subplots that have been building come to play for a nonstop, knockdown, drag-out, no-prisoners battle that’ll take up the rest of the book. It’s full of twists, turns, and surprises. At one point, I was like, “How much can this poor guy take?!”
Diamond Hunter is a great adventure, well worth the read. Collard is very descriptive of places like Port Elizabeth and Du Toit, as well as the workings of the digging. He has obviously done his homework. I especially liked the descriptions of the weapons and how they work. This is also an interesting look at the growing tensions between the old Dutch Boers, who had been in South Africa for generations, and the newer British Colonists, which eventually erupted in the famous Boer Wars of the late nineteenth century.
Having read and enjoyed the bookends of this series, I’m confident and excited about reading any of the other books in the interior. I think you could pick up any of Collard’s books and enjoy them on their own, but Diamond Hunter is certainly a gem worth digging into.
June 18, 2023
I can barely believe we're already up to entry number 11 in Paul Fraser Collard's Jack Lark series
A series that started quite like a slightly-more modern Sharpe, before taking on it's own identity.
Which is perhaps ironic, in that - in the early days of the series - Jack Lark main 'hook', as it were, was that he kept stealing other identities: the original novel (The Scarlet Thief) has him stealing the identity of an officer during the Crimean War.
Since then, Jack has been to - and fought in/alongside - an Indian Mutiny, the French Foreign Legion, both sides of the American Civil War and been on an expedition down the Sudan: the last of those in the novel previous to this, Commander.
During that previous novel, Lark first encounters Anna Baker, the niece of the expedition's leader.
Anna plays a pivotal role in this, with she and Jack both now off to the Diamond Mines of South Africa - not something I really knew all that much about - in search of their fortune, with Jack (of course) making new friends and enemies along the way.
I'd heard, relatively recently - post publication, maybe? - that this was to be the last Jack Lark book for the foreseeable; if so then Paul Fraser Collard has left Lark at a good point!
A series that started quite like a slightly-more modern Sharpe, before taking on it's own identity.
Which is perhaps ironic, in that - in the early days of the series - Jack Lark main 'hook', as it were, was that he kept stealing other identities: the original novel (The Scarlet Thief) has him stealing the identity of an officer during the Crimean War.
Since then, Jack has been to - and fought in/alongside - an Indian Mutiny, the French Foreign Legion, both sides of the American Civil War and been on an expedition down the Sudan: the last of those in the novel previous to this, Commander.
During that previous novel, Lark first encounters Anna Baker, the niece of the expedition's leader.
Anna plays a pivotal role in this, with she and Jack both now off to the Diamond Mines of South Africa - not something I really knew all that much about - in search of their fortune, with Jack (of course) making new friends and enemies along the way.
I'd heard, relatively recently - post publication, maybe? - that this was to be the last Jack Lark book for the foreseeable; if so then Paul Fraser Collard has left Lark at a good point!
February 26, 2023
Something different for Jack Lark in this novel, no major wars, no battles and for once he's got a partner in the guise of Anna Baker ( from the last book: Commander ). But don't feel shorted, for 1871 Jack and Anna have ended up in South Africa in the wild and wooly times of the diamond rush which like the Gold Rush here sent people from all over the world to California. Of course along with the excitement of finding the big diamond, there comes fighting over claims, greed, with a bit of disease and hard feelings especially between the Boars and the the rest of the encampment.
This is more of a personal journey for Jack who endures not only the hard back-breaking work of actually digging tunnels for diamonds, but having run ins with fellow miners and a group of Boars who just don't like anyone, but particularly Jack. Worse is the fact that Jack makes some downright stupid decisions which jeopardizes his and Anna's relationship. There is a 'trust no one' atmosphere that grips everyone inn this book. Jack learns a lot about himself in this book, some good some pretty bad.
It will interesting to see what's next, There's a lot of nineteenth century still to go.
This is more of a personal journey for Jack who endures not only the hard back-breaking work of actually digging tunnels for diamonds, but having run ins with fellow miners and a group of Boars who just don't like anyone, but particularly Jack. Worse is the fact that Jack makes some downright stupid decisions which jeopardizes his and Anna's relationship. There is a 'trust no one' atmosphere that grips everyone inn this book. Jack learns a lot about himself in this book, some good some pretty bad.
It will interesting to see what's next, There's a lot of nineteenth century still to go.
November 23, 2024
a must read
Not normally my type of book but found nothing else to read and so I bought the first one
It was a great read and I followed reading all eleven books in the series,absolutely mega reading
Clint meets sharpe,amazing what a great tv series it would make
Well done mate
Not normally my type of book but found nothing else to read and so I bought the first one
It was a great read and I followed reading all eleven books in the series,absolutely mega reading
Clint meets sharpe,amazing what a great tv series it would make
Well done mate
June 30, 2023
Paul Collard tells a great story. Breathless action, great characters and a harrowing evocation of the diamond fields.
September 30, 2023
Truly entertaining
Another Jack Lark adventure but this time Jack is himself, responsible for the fantastic outcome and swashbuckling adventure . Another great undertaking
Another Jack Lark adventure but this time Jack is himself, responsible for the fantastic outcome and swashbuckling adventure . Another great undertaking
April 17, 2025
The story was OK, but I really didn't like the graphic language in places - it felt forced and out of place.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews