Carthage Must Be Destroyed — William Kelso

Winter 218/17 BCE. Hannibal has crossed the Alps and is ravaging the Roman colonies in Cis-Alpine Gaul. The Gallic Boii and Insubres, hostile to Rome, have risen in rebellion, joining Carthage and threatening the tenuous Roman grip on the Po valley.

At the besieged Roman colony of Placentia, deep in hostile territory, Flavius, spymaster, father and patriot of Rome, finds himself drawn deeper into a deadly cat and mouse game with Punic agents. As the war turns against Rome with military defeat followed by defeat Flavius knows that he must find a way in which to outwit Carthage or watch his home and family perish.

In Spain, Julian, Flavius's wayward eighteen-year-old son, a fresh recruit in Scipio's expeditionary army has become a soldier of the republic. Thrust immediately into the battle for control of the Iberian Peninsula and its rich resources of silver and mercenaries, Julian must adapt quickly to military life or die trying.

Late spring 217 BCE. As Hannibal advances south across the Apennines, Gisgo, proud prince of Numidia, resolves to follow Hannibal's star. Leading his barbarian mercenary cavalry into the rich lands of Etruria Gisgo hopes to win himself a fortune with which to pay off his father's debts and restore his heritage. But instead of riches he will find himself forced to make an unexpected choice.

In Rome, the city fathers have made plans to trap Hannibal. Carthage must be destroyed and the man to do that is the consul Gaius Flaminius. Soon at lake Trasimene in the heart of Italy, in the warm days of June, Carthaginian tactical brilliance and cunning will once again decisively clash with desperate Roman courage.