Sejanus

Sejanus is another excellent historical novel by David Wishart featuring the Roman amateur sleuth Marcus Corvinus. Assisted by his beautiful wife Perilla he finds himself commanded from beyond the grave by the formidable Empress Livia to bring down Sejanus, the most powerful man in Rome. Lucius Aelius Sejanus is commander of the dreaded Praetorian Guard and the Emperor's deputy in Rome. As the Emperor Tiberius is permanently ensconced in his palace on the Isle of Capri this makes Sejanus Emperor in all but name and he has used this power to wipe out every member of the Julian familly who might have a claim to the throne. Tiberius is happy to let him do this but Sejanus' plots run deeper than the ailing Emperor imagines. Corvinus' task is to find sufficient evidence to put before Tiberius that will persuade him to bring down the man he has trusted for so long. Finding people with the relevant information, and more importantly, getting them to "grass" on a man with such a blood chilling reputation is not easy but Corvinus receives help from an enexpected source almost as frightening as his quarry. Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus was a Roman noble who lived at the time though his detective work is the product of the writer's imagination. Likewise his penchant for talking like a Glaswegian taxi driver - know what I mean pal - though thankfully the four letter words are rare and in context. David Wishart writes an excellent flowing narrative and his classical scholarship shows without being showy. Know what I mean pal?

The Dark Tower

The Dark Tower by Stephen King is the seventh and final volume of his Dark Tower epic and if one has not read the preceeding six will be pretty much incomprehensible. It is very difficult to write about one volume of this saga (and I use the word in it's dictionary definition) in isolation. From it's beginning in Volume One The Gunslinger King weaves a complex web of narrative with doors into other parallel worlds, crossing time zones, introducing new characters, killing characters and sometimes resurecting them further down the line. Without this background the reader is lost as so much that has gone before is brought to conclusion. Or is it? In the previous volume The Song of Susannah King introduces himself into the story as his characters seek him out on their passage to the Tower. In this final volume he plays an even bigger part and I am not altogether sure that this device, brave as it is, works. The ending of a seven volume narrative has to be special. A long and dangerous quest has to have an ending worthy of the sacrifices demanded of the characters involved and I have to admit that King's neo-Budhist ending was not quite satisfying for me. However, I am sure that the legions of followers for whom King can do no wrong will dismiss my minor criticism and they are probably right to do so. Perhaps I should start again with The Gunslinger and follow the adventure Roland-like and reach the ending that King wishes the reader to perceive. Such a project,I fear, would be likely to lead me to the Dark Tower of divorce. Stephen King writes that he was inspired to write this by reading Robert Browning's poem "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came" what a pity he is not alive to tell us what he thinks of this book.

The Benevent Treasure

Patricia Wentworth has created another of her classic country house mysteries. The country house in question is Underhill and it was built in the sixteenth century by Ugo Benevento, an Italian nobleman, who has fled his native land bringing with him a considerable fortune in plate and jewels. In England he marries an heiress, changes his name to Benevent and builds Underhill in which he hides his jewels hence The Benevent Treasure. The action of the story takes place in what appears to be the late nineteen forties when Candida Sayle is invited to stay with her great aunts the Benevent sisters. However, what appears to be an act of generosity to a relative in reduced circumstances turns out to be a plot that places Candida in fear of her life. Fortunately a knight errant is at hand to come to her aid and, combined with her fortitude in the face of danger, she wins through in the end. The final scene where she refuses to benefit from the treasure because of the circumstances by which it came to her show the difference in morality between the age in which the book was written and the present day. When one considers that this gap is a mere half century it is a telling comment on the times in which we live.

The Tomb of Zeus

Barbara Cleverly is justly famous for her novels featuring Joe Sandilands oof Scotland Yard but in The Tomb of Zeus she introduces a heroine, Laetitia Talbot. In 1928 Mis Talbot, an aspiring archeologist, arrives in Crete to join the famous Theo Russell who is second only to Sir Arthur Evans as an expert on Minoan civilisation. Russell has spent his life, and his wife's fortune, in a search for the fabled Tomb of Zeus and has only accepted Laetitia into his team because of her father's wealth and connections. Things soon begin to go wrong and the past of the small group of English people round Russell looms as large as the ancient Cretan civilisation that they have come to explore. The aptly named Miss Cleverly has given us another enthralling read and I, for one, look forward to her next Laetitia Talbot novel promised for 2009.

Dead Line

Dead Line by Stella Rimington is a first class spy novel set round a Middle East peace conference due to take place at Gleneagles, the luxury golf complex in Scotland. I am sure that I am not alone in noticing that these conferences always take place at luxury venues. MI6 receives information from a highly placed Syrian source that there is a plot to disrupt the conference probably in such a way as to put the blame on Syria. Apart from the fact that two individuals are involved there is no information as to who they are or what they plan to do. As MI5 deals with espionage inside Britain the problem is passed to them and lands on the desk of Intelligence Officer Liz Carlyle. Stella Rimington has created a lead character that is just the right side of believable for example when she is injured she is off work for a month not bouncing back in ten minutes sporting a grimy bandage a la Bruce Willis. The writing is pacy and compelling and the plot as complex as a spy thriller should be. No black hatted villains or Boy Scout heroes all have their personal problems and the conflicts between agencies, even those belonging to the same country, are portrayed in all their petty pointlessness. Miss Rimington (I am sure that she was made a Dame at some point although it is not mentioned in her CV at the back of the book) has used all her experience as a Director of MI5 to produce a book that keeps one " glued to the page" as the saying goes. If she ran MI5 half as well as she writes spy novels then Britain was indeed in safe hands.

The Prophet Murders

For the first time I feel justified in writing "and now for something completely different". The Prophet Murders by Mehmet Murat Somer is set in Istanbul amongst what must be an extensive network of homosexuals and transvestites. Does this world really exist in Istanbul or is it the author's imagination? Having never visited Turkey I have no idea but it certainly makes an exotic background for what is, in fact, a fairly routine murder story. The narrator is part owner of a club where men go to pick up transvestites most of whom seem to work as prostitutes. As the story opens several of the "girls" from the club have died and all were originally mnamed after prophets from the Koran. The narrator does the detective work aided by some well placed friends and the identity of the killer is obvious from half way in. Nonetheless this is a very entertaining book with an excellent narrative flow due in no small part to the translation by Kenneth Dakan.

October Skies

Alex Scarrow has produced another thumping good read in October Skies to follow his previous outstanding novel Last Light. Switching between 1856 and the present he tells a gripping story of a lost wagon train and the documentary film maker who stumbles on the remains of their last camp and tries to piece together their tragic story. In the manner of the famously ill-fated Donner Party a group of settlers composed mainly of Mormons together with some others are trapped in the forests of Wyoming by the onset of winter. The Mormons, under their charismatic leader John Preston, insist on their own separate camp and offer minimal cooperation with the others who they consider ungodly. A camp of Paiute hunters is discovered nearby and when one of the tribesmen walks into camp carrying the mutilated body of one of the Mormon women only the firm intervention of the wagon master,Keats, keeps things under control. In the present time the film maker and his partner find the diary of an Englishman with the party which chronicles the steady break up of the group and the descent into to madness of the Mormon leader. However, there are forces at work that want the story of the wagon train suppressed as it links with one of the candidates in the Presedential election and they are ready to take extreme measures to ensure that this is so. Alex Scarrow has cleverly intertwined the past and present in a story that never slackens it's pace or it's grip on this reader.