Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-18
• Binding: Paperback
• 300 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

Engaging and well-written mystery
Dissolution is an intelligent, literary murder mystery set in England at the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries. And I loved it. Ok, so it's not fine literature - although it is well written and well researched - but it is a gripping story, with plenty of pace, twists and turns of plot and a range of well drawn and recognisable characters.

Samson at his strongest
This is a novel which appeals to the senses, paticularly of touch and smell. Although a morarally focused book there are no 21st century judements, leaving the reader with a clear impression of the social structures of the time.It emphasises fear of the monarchy and reform regardless of your position. There is a simmering anger created by the need for the people to repress their thoughts,despite holding powerful beliefs. Emotions of the reader are exposed continually and it is impossible to put the book down (I woke in the night compelled to read the next chapter (or 2)). Hiistorical fact and the authors supposition about the era are interlinked in a whodunnit where the language is simple, but informative of the time. The plot is complicated, but is revisited through reflective passages,providing the reader with reminders of significant events (a great plus for readers who lack 100% concentration, such as me!).
The author sets the scene innocently and develops the characters with consistency. The conclusion is satisfying and unpredictable, although totally believable. Fantastic novel.

ABSOLUTELY SPLENDID...................................
As one who normally only reads in bed, I could not lay this book down, and got stuck into it every chance I could. There is a certain magic about it, not that the plot is fantastic, but it is compulsive reading,
I loved the main character, the hunchback Master Shardlake, and the physicician Brother Guy, a black face in Tudor England - a rare man indeed.
There are four murders and a lengthy list of suspects in an Abbey destined for closure by the Crown. King Henry VIII has distanced himself from the Pope in his need to divorce Catherine of Aaragon and marry Anne Boleyn......and on the story goes...............
Commissioner Shardlake is sent to Scarnsea Abbey by Lord Thomas Cromwell to investigate the murder of the previous Commissioner, Singleton. Then they start dropping like flies. Can one of the monks be a murderer?
Where is Cadfael when you need him?
The author has done some considerable research into this period and has given us an absolute cracker of a good old-fashioned whodunnit. The characters are colourful, diverse and interesting and the dialogue spontaneous - when it could have seemed olde worlde. The landscape and surroundings well described without becoming boring and you can picture yourself there.There is no shortage of excitement and at times I was reading faster and faster and turning the pages like the clappers.
Let us hope it the start of a long series.
I could take a lot more of this.
A fabulous read, not to be missed!!!