Revelation (Matthew Shardlake 4)

Shardlake the reluctant detective. Many threads but you never get lost. Well, not for long. Sansom brings to history to life in all its gory glory. Fantastic book. I look forward to the next one already.

SUPERB.................................. (4/4 people found this helpful)

An excellent contribution to the Matthew Shardlake Saga. The bodies drop in rapid succession, the murderer inspired by the Book of Revelations.
A lengthy book, it is sometimes repetitive and there is the odd printing error, however, it is a cracking good yarn. The characters are interesting and well developed, and frankly, I found it difficult to put down.
The book ends at the time of Henry VIII's sixth marriage, and I am hoping that Mr Sansom will continue with this marvellous series.
Readers would be advised to start with "Dissolution" the first of the saga, and read on from there, but each book stands quite well on its own.
This is a super book and I would certainly read it again.

NOT A SPOILER!!!! Fantastic return from Mr Sansom! (2/2 people found this helpful)

fantastic return to form. this book continues the story of our hero Shardlake on his fourth adventure. it doesnt take long for the action to begin and this time the killings are more gruesome than ever!!! the plot and characters leave you guessing who did it until they're revealed but that could just be me. fantastic read and a nice gruesome depiction of england at it's most turbulent time!!!(less importantly of course)but very nice looking book as well!

A gripping read - but annoyingly error-strewn (6/9 people found this helpful)

I think this is a big improvement over 'Sovereign', which I found very laboured.
There's no doubt this is a gripping read, even though it's a rather improbable Tudor serial killer story. Once again, it was also pretty easy to work out mid-way through whodunnit - think Mr Sansom needs to get a bit better at keeping us guessing, but this doesn't detract from the read overall. You certainly want to get to the end, and the characters are generally well drawn and involving.
What's really annoying is that the anachronisms and silly errors persist from the earlier books in the series.
At one point, Shardlake (the hero) describes the killer as 'a sadist'. How can a Tudor person 250 years before de Sade, possibly use the term 'a sadist'? It just spoils the otherwise generally authentic flavour.
Someone else (Sir Thomas Seymour, a rather pantomimic figure) describes the type of young man he favours in his household as 'sporty'. This is just so comically Blackadderish ('well, young Bob, you're a sporty young feller and no mistake') that it screams inauthenticity.
These occasional gaffes take the shine off what should otherwise be a well written novel.
Worse still are major plot bungles: at one point, the killer is nearly apprehended and has to abandon something - a very large item - I won't spoil it by saying what - in the street. And yet several chapters later, when the killer's lair is eventually found, said large item is found there. How?
Seems the author forgot the killer had already legged it and abandoned the item concerned in the street several chapters earlier.
There were similar boo-boos in the previous books. Are these down to the author, or to lazy, over-hasty editing?
Or are these books, clearly commercially successful, just getting churned out a little too fast?
It's a shame, because these could be great books. As it is, they're are undeniably enjoyable, but spoiled by odd little mistakes and a lack of attention to detail. A good read nonetheless, but I wish Mr Sansom's editor would raise his or her game a bit.

Entertaining, educational escapism (5/5 people found this helpful)

They don't sound like Tudor people and some of their attitudes are very obviously 21st century but the detail is cleverly done and the plots hang together. Sansom is good at creating characters that are believable and fixing the story firmly in the politics of the time; there is no doubt about it, the series is a very entertaining one which has been scrupulously researched. In any case, having studied Tudor literature, I am very certain that if they sounded Tudor the books would be unreadable.

Out of the four novels so far (and I hope there are more) this is probably the most interesting and harrowing. I found `Sovereign' a little thin plotwise but whatever was lacking there is made up for here. This has a strong sense of direction towards the final denouement. I worked out who the serial killer had to be very early on (I'm afraid I've worked out every story so far; I'm irritating like that) so it was amusing to watch Matthew gradually catch up with me but perhaps it was easier for me because he knew by then who the killer is and left sufficient clues - perhaps unconsciously (see how believable it is).

I can recommend the series. Matthew is not a detective who gets things right all the time, he has faults and flaws and a bad temper but it is the fact that he isn't perfect that makes him so appealing and realistic. What is appealing too is that the waifs and strays he picks up along the way are woven into the history. He has developed a better relationship with the horse Genesis who in `Dark Fire' he complains about as having not much of a personality but by `Sovereign' the horse is clearly pleased to see him. By now, Matthew has learned to appreciate his strength and sees him as a friend. Guy too has developed and is gradually becoming a more accepted part of the community.

Matthew doesn't have much luck with women though and I wonder if Sansom will relent and give him a break. The poor guy seems to have very little going for him and as each novel appears he seems to become more and more physically frail. Again, given that each novel has a space of a year or more between them in Matthew's life, this is well captured by Sansom.

I very rarely read novels these days, preferring fact so I'm choosey about what I spend my time on. But I have to say, this is an author I look out for. His books are fun, pure escapism and some history along the way so that even whilst I'm being entertained , I can pick up some facts along the way.

I read the novels in order and I recommend doing that if you want to get the impact of the characterisation but in fact each of the novels stands very well alone and Sansom explains sufficient of his background for a reader to start the series anywhere. Highly recommended.

Revelation (Matthew Shardlake 4)

C.J. Sansom

Reader Reviews:

Cracking good read (0/0 people found this helpful)

SUPERB.................................. (4/4 people found this helpful)

NOT A SPOILER!!!! Fantastic return from Mr Sansom! (2/2 people found this helpful)

A gripping read - but annoyingly error-strewn (6/9 people found this helpful)

Entertaining, educational escapism (5/5 people found this helpful)

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