Stonehenge: 2000 B.C.

Three brooding brothers — an ambitious sorcerer, a ruthless warrior, and a reluctant hero — duke it out against a history of Britain’s famous circle of boulders in a thriller that is so packed with melodrama, betrayal, and lust (as well as human sacrifice and a mysterious cache of gold), it could be a Danielle Steel novel of yore. Though Bernard Cornwell’s Stonehenge: 2000 B.C. is intriguing, the pace ultimately flags, and the overall effect is ponderous and weighty, not unlike the great stones themselves. C+