Dissolution (The Shardlake series, 1)

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I will try things by audio, as it may have been my trying to trudge through the book alone that left me soured the first time I tried to digest the plot. Dr Matthew Shardlake, a reformer and one of the sharpest lawyers in England, is dispatched to solve the murder at all costs and complete the dissolution of the monastery as planned. J. Sansom's number one bestselling Shardlake series, for fans of Hilary Mantel and Philippa Gregory.

This is a reread for me, the first in this historical series set in Tudor England that introduces and establishes the lawyer, Matthew Shardlake, afflicted by a deformity he was born with, leaving him in constant pain. As Shardlake inches closer to finding the killer, more bodies turn up, leaving him to wonder if this is a single killer or a group who have been targeting individuals for a variety of reasons. We are introduced to Matthew Shardlake, a hunchback lawyer, who is sent to a monastery that is being dissolved - Cromwell's commissioner has been murdered and Shardlake must discover the killer. The festive holidays are the perfect time to escape the cold, cosy up with a hot drink and lose yourself in a new book.He is the only character from Dissolution, apart from Shardlake and Cromwell, to appear in the sequel, Dark Fire. It is set in the time of Henry VIII, after the execution of his first wife, and Thomas Cromwell’s assault on the Catholic Church. Dissolution, the first book in the Matthew Shardlake series, was a fast and cosy whodunit which helped to scratch that itch in the meantime.

Clásica novela histórica de misterio que transcurre en la Inglaterra de Enrique VIII, con un protagonista que actúa como comisionado a las órdenes del vicario general del reino, Sir Thomas Cromwell, que persigue la disolución de los monasterios durante la escisión de la Iglesia Anglicana de la Iglesia Católica. In Henry VIII's reign old institutions and religious practices are threatened and as Matthew Shardlake enters Scarnsea it becomes clear he may be too. When we find out who did what and why, I found one or two of the resolutions hard to believe, and something of an anti-climax. Samson, with a PHD in history, presents the historical events without transforming the book in a history lesson, which I appreciated.

But, that aside, this is a very entertaining historical detective novel and I will be reading more in the series.

I like to be able to feel cleverer than the protagonist and the author doesn’t provide me with that opportunity.This has created a febrile atmosphere of religious unrest with Catholics being hunted down and plentiful executions. The extensive remains of an Augustinian abbey, including its abbots' quarters, refectory and cloister. The murder draws Shardlake into the depths of contemporary religious and political scheming, opening his eyes to its deadly consequences. Putting it on this personal level and seeing what happens to each of the characters Sansom creates, the reader can vividly imagine this period of history.

People used the new laws to settle old grievances, turning their enemies in for Catholic devotion that reminds me of neighbors turning on neighbors in Germany under the Third Reich. I had just been introduced to Matthew Shardlake when he is summoned to the office of Lord Thomas Cromwell.If I have a complaint about the book, it's that about halfway through the book, the story started to drag a bit. At Scarnsea monastery, one of his commissioners has been murdered, and he sends Matthew Shardlake to investigate what has happened. Whether it was the dangerous and crowded streets of London, the dank and ominous bureaucracy of Cromwell or the infested monastery where the primary action takes place, there was a palpable grittiness to the descriptions. I think the Devil works in the world through men’s evil, their greed and cruelty and ambition, rather than possessing them and driving them stark mad. And with a brutal gulp, Cromwell dissolved and swallowed the monasteries across England, beginning with smaller ones in 1536 and completing the dissolution of even the largest old ones by 1540, pensioning off a few monks but turning everyone else loose into the poor neighbouring townships.