Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #184 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-18
• Binding: Paperback
• 463 pages

The Tablet, August 2003
...the ending is particularly satisfying: guilt is unmasked, but at the same time, as in life, unfinished business remains.

Synopsis
Henry VIII has proclaimed himself Supreme Head of the Church and the country is waking up to savage new laws, rigged trials and the greatest network of informers ever seen. Under the order of Thomas Cromwell, a team of commissioners is sent through the country to investigate the monasteries. There can only be one outcome: the monasteries are to be dissolved. But on the Sussex coast, at the monastery of Scarnsea, events have spiralled out of control. Cromwell's Commissioner Robin Singleton, has been found dead, his head severed from his body. His horrific murder is accompanied by equally sinister acts of sacrilege - a black cockerel sacrificed on the alter, and the disappearance of Scarnsea's Great Relic. Dr Matthew Shardlake, lawyer and long-time supporter of Reform, has been sent by Cromwell into this atmosphere of treachery and death. But Shardlake's investigation soon forces him to question everything he hears, and everything that he intrinsically believes ...

Customer Reviews

Don't judge a book by its cover - Sadly disappointed
I was really looking forward to this book being a lover of Crime/Thirllers and Tudor history. I thought this would be right up my street and it seemed to be getting lots of good reviews on Amazon. Story surrounds Shardlake - lawyer and officer of Thomas Cromwell - who is sent to a monastery to investigate a murder. The book looked great and I began it with great excitement but I have to say I found it slow, dull, predictable and very put downable. Has some similarities to Name of the Rose in atmosphere (but obviously not as good) but I won't be reading any more of his.

Fantastic historical crime novel - totally unmissable
The weaving of historical detail into a complex storyline is masterful and I found this novel totally compelling. Sansom is expert at evoking the sounds and smells of London in the 1500s, and developing his characters as the story progresses. His use of language is rich and expressive, in some ways reminiscent of Hardy and Dickens, but with great pace and clever crime thriller plot. What really impressed me was the way that the reader's sympathy for the characters portrayed - including Shardlake - wavers and changes through the story, making them much more convincing. I read this straight through, then rushed off to buy Dark Fire.

Sadly disappointing
I was beginning to think I was the only person who found this book to be disappointing, after reading all the 5-star reviews on Amazon, and my family telling me I had to read it as it was 'wonderful, terrific' etc. I'm afraid I was disappointed. Firstly, I could not sympathise with ANY of the characters, especially Shardlake. I was disappointed that almost the whole story takes place within the monastery walls, which made me feel quite claustraphobic, longing to get out and see a bit more of the life and politics of the time! Although it seems historically sound and I enjoyed the little gems of information about the reformation and dissolution of the monasteries, and of life in those times, the plot just didn't grab me at all. It just seemed to be a series of one murder after another, happening to people I hadn't been able to symapthise with or identify with hardly at all. By the end I was just skipping whole paragraphs to get to the end and really couldn't have cared less 'whodunnit'. I can't understand how people have given it 5 stars! Uberto Eco's Name of the Rose is far superior...and maybe spoiled me?