VIELLE du Pere, a village in Southern France, ekes out a living under the tyranny of its feudal Lord when the armies of the Crusade march through its streets. Inspired by the passion of a moment and the determination to win a better life for his family, Hugh Deluc leaves his wife to fight the infidel in Antioch in the Holy Land. But the march is long and bitter, the war he fights pointless and bloody.

Taking some trinkets and an old staff as a memento from his last battle, Hugh deserts. When he returns to his village he discovers that his wife has been raped and abducted by a band of hooded warriors, his baby son burnt to death. Why? What was it these hooded men sought? Resolving to find his wife and to avenge the murder of his son, Hugh adopts the disguise of a jester to infiltrate the courts at Blois. It is just the beginning of his quest.

Creator of the Alex Cross thriller series and The Women's Murder Club thriller series, in The Jester James Patterson once again demonstrates that he is the master of the page-turner. Court and countryside, terror and laughter, love and loathing are James Patterson's canvas, every chapter containing a high which urges the reader on to the next.