Royal does an excellent job researching the martyrology of this past century. While the most recent murders of bishops like Michael Courtney and Luigi Locati are not yet documented, there is alot of material to chew on. The chapters are divided up by region, so you can expect to read a handful of pages about the Holocaust martyrs (almost forgotten & overshadowed witnesses of faith) then on to the genocidal machine of the Soviets, Chinese,etc. The most intersting sections are on the state-sponsored persecutions of the Church close to home-namely Mexico.
The sheer amount of facts, dates and names may make this a bit dry in places and the documentation of total numbers from some places in the tens of thousands evades the personal touch of the "one man martyr", like Kolbe or Pro. In the end expect to come away very informed, awe inspired and inclined to attempt keeping up on the new martyrs who still flood in every year.

Robert Royal's book "Catholic Martyrs" is a decent enough effort. I applaud him vigorously for his efforts. He does a decent enough job in laying out the facts concerning the men and women who have died for the Catholic faith in the 20th century. I found the chapter on the "forgotten holocaust", the deaths of 10 million Ukrainian Catholics at the hands of Stalin and the Marxist/Communists to be quite an eye opener. Likewise, his chapter on Edith Stein who died as St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross to be well written.

The same cannot be said for some of the other chapters. One reviewer pointed out the one of the more puzzling lines, "Christ told so-and-so to tell some funny stories". Okaaay.

But those minor slip ups aside, I do recommend this book to anyone who wants to find out more about the courageous men and women who gave their lives for the church. So do buy this book and read it. It is worth your time and money.