Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #51 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-04
• Binding: Hardcover
• 452 pages

Oxford Times
`As a thriller writer of the (Tudor) period, he has no peer, cloaking the forces of darkness in stunning historical details.'

The Times
'Sansom's deft sense of dramatic timing takes us effortlessly through this fat, juicy book...'

Radio 4's Front Row
'If this isn't the best crime novel of the year, then we're going to have a great year.'

Customer Reviews

The Standard Maintained
If you are a fan of the Shardlake series and are wondering if C.J Sansom has been able to maintain the standard of the previous volumes, fear not. If anything the plot is even more gripping than some of the earlier ones and after a slow start, a cracking pace is maintained each page full of incident. Rest assured you are in for a treat and a few late nights.
If you are new to this series then do not hesitate to give this book a try. Sansom has no equal in evoking the sights, sounds, and smells of the period. One of the author's greatest strengths is to marry a fictional plot to real historical characters and political issues so that the story seems to follow historical imperatives and the credibility of events is greatly enhanced as a consequence.
On this occasion the story opens in 1543 where Henry VIII's courtship of his sixth wife is played out against a backdrop of religious rivalry between Catholic and Protestant elements. Into this already explosive atmosphere a serial killer begins a killing spree apparently taking The Book of Revelation as his inspiration. To read Sansom is to learn a lot of history in a uniquely entertaining way, but if you enjoy a thrilling story, cunningly plotted full of twists and turns expertly written you will be well satisfied. I know no other modern writer who gives you that delicious sense of anticipation when you return to his books after a spell away.

I'm fairly addicted to Shardlake. CJ Sansom is on a real winner.
This, the fourth novel concerning Matthew Shardlake, is superb. The characters are more developed (and the longer the series go on, the bigger and more developed the supporting cast becomes). The plot is cleverer and different - here we see Shardlake dealing with a serial killer, and although the politicians are involved this is a different kettle of fish to the rebellions and political plots that our favourite hunch-backed Tudor lawyer has found himself involved in before.

And in my opinion it's for the better - C J Sansom's writing has always been addictive (but not in an obtrusive way) and has always had totally convincing historical contexts (at least to a moderately informed one such as I). But in the past the plots have been slightly predictable - more so the classic whodunit, with a list of suspects and a ticking-clock before some disaster happens or the heroes are knocked off. In a way, that is all still true of this book (in fact, maybe it's impossible to write a whodunit without that!) but its better concealed amidst an excellent premise.

The pages and chapters fly by, and this opens an exciting future for Shardlake. I hope it won't be too long till we hear from him again!

Excellent Tudor Thriller
Most enjoyable and, despite it's hefty size, totally gripping all the way through. The characters are developing and their varied religious responses, in a age normally thought of as simply Catholic or Protestant, bring great humanity to this story which is comparatively gory.