Revelation (The Shardlake series, 4)

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Revelation takes a little time to get its main plot rolling but it is very skilfully structured - not an incident is wasted - and once the killer's intentions become clear, don't expect to put the book down until you've seen it through to the apocalyptic finale. The twists and turns along the path to the revealing of the murderer are also good and so rich with details of that period. So, the new news is that Matthew Shardlake, and the announced BBC filming of Dissolution, will be left lurking back in the 16th century for the moment, while a more contemporary Swedish detective is brought to BBC screens. Intelligent and wise, he’s gets himself entangled within the politics of the time, as he always manages to get to the bottom of a case.

Revelation by C. J. Sansom: 9780143116240

A new character, Ellen Fettiplace, was intriguing and I was pleased to see her mentioned in the description of the next book as I would love to know more about her. In his notes at Revelation's end, Sansom made parallels between the religion during this period and some contemporary Christian fundamentalists, who each selectively read the Bible, believe that they're living in the last days before Armageddon, look forward to the violence predicted in the Book of Revelation, and are certain of their rightness. The murderer is using the prophecies from the Book of Revelations as an inspiration for his killings.His Shardlake series have also been recommended highly as well, winning the ‘Dagger in the Library’ award in 2007.

Guardian Morse in doublet and hose | Fiction | The Guardian

Shardlake is a barrister with a hunched back - this means he suffers physical pain as well as mental anguish from cruel comments. He went on to describe the party as "deeply dangerous, with no politics in the conventional sense, believing only in the old dream that the unleashing of 'national spirit' and 'national pride' can solve a country's problems". From predicting the wars, plagues and rebellions, the Black Book of Bran is also alleged to have prophesied about the Black Death and the Gunpowder Plot.Just after Adam’s inquest, one of Shardlake’s lawyer friends, Roger Elliard, is found murdered inside Lincoln’s Inn. Although we do not know what these kind of facilities were like during the Tudor times, Sansom’s descriptions of mental illness and how people were treated is so believable that you forget that it is fiction. It is also a bit long, as this follows the trail of a serial killer who has a list of targets, making Shardlake’s work doubly difficult, as he and the others try to figure out who will be the next one chosen to represent the madman’s vision of revenge.