Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #78 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

Brilliant book
There aren't many books that can hold my attention but this one did. I saw an advertisment for C.J Sansom's book entitled, "Revelation" when I was on a trip to London recently and remarked I fancied reading it to which my mum replied that she already had 3 C.J Sansom books. I started with this, "Dissolution". I was hooked from the start. I really did not want it to end. It's a really enjoyable read and I'm onto my next one now. Apparently there are 4 in the Shardlake series so I've got some reading ahead of me! If you have an interest in history, then this is a really impressive read.

Excellent stuff
What an excellent read this was. Gripping from begining to end and left me wanting more from C J Sansom. Well ballanced characters and a believable plot all the way through. As good as it gets for this type of fiction and absolutely worth the read.

Good History
Sansom captures beautifully the spirit of one of the most volatile and passionate periods of english history. It's well enough written to be tense, gripping and very atmospheric. As history, it is well-researched and, rare for a book on reformation England, gives a sense of the changing sentiments and confusion of ordinary people. It is as informative as any straight history on the period that I've read, and better than most.