Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Clean, crisp, riveting..., 21 Mar 2006
Picked this up in the murder mystery section, read the opening minor mystery ‘prologue’ where our laconic and overly socially responsible sleuth solves the crime merely with Holmesian observation of the crime scene and promptly put it down as it felt overly artificial and laboured. Having then read a couple of other novels I decided to give this a final go and finish it and, to my delight, found it matured remarkably quickly into a novel that was gripping, insightful and darkly murderous. By end it had become a powerful novel that promises much for its sleuth should Boast continue to write about him.
This is the first Septimus Severus Quistus mystery. Our hero is a man with a murdered family on his hands, time to mourn and an acutely observant mind. With a mores that Cato would have been proud of and an awareness of the social underclass at the time of Nero’s Imperial Rome he is able to deftly deal with the artistically insane Emperor who is portrayed in a dangerously unhinged manner as he forces Quistus to take the British princess, Claudia, back to Britannia, by having her Christian colleagues mauled by lions in front of him. However, the acutely paranoid Emperor proceeds to send Stigmus after him to fulfil a darker destiny. The novel moves through the Gaulish countryside as Claudia, daughter of the British king Caratacus takes them on a detour to locate her missing daughter, Tara. Throughout we have to deal with the viciously viperish Docilosa, who’s unhinged mind and desperation to claim her jewellery birthright leads Quistus to take her along as a captive until he fathoms out the truth.
A murderous ambush and flight to the Isle of Wight leads us into a Celtic ritual as old as time. The wicker man demands death for the regeneration of the British people and Claudia is going to provide it in the form of Tara.
With his faithful slave, Omba, Quistus finds his fellowship fracturing as personal ambition rives them apart and he is forced to rapidly find out the motivation behind them all.
In the end we have a natural death that became a murder for political reasons and was uncovered in a coliseum denouement to be what it really was. Quistus saves a thousand slaves, frees both Claudia and Tara from Nero’s hunt and earned the respect of millions with his perseverance of the truth.
This is a final novel and an expert entwining of the madness of Neronian imperial Rome and Celtic oppression that takes us from the dizzying heights of Rome to the murkier climes of Roman-Britain in a manner that is quietly engaging. Boast’s characterisation is faultless, his plot line crisp and clean and has ensured that the next novel about this stoical sleuth is a must read.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
First Book in the Series, 17 Mar 2008
This is the start of a new venture for the author Philip Boast. A series of mystery books set in the Roman period a la Lindsey Davis, Steven Saylor, David Wishart etc. Philip Boast has written some extremely good novels, Resurrection is one of my favourite books and there is no reason why he should not make a success of this series judging by this the first book.
The name Septimus Severus Quistus Quistus, the lead character in these books doesn't exactly role off the tongue but as the story progresses it is soon shortened to Quistus. Our friend Quistus had everything, he is the seventh son, how lucky can you get. He had the world at his feet until one fateful hour when the wife he loved greatly and his family are brutally murdered, all except his seventh son and only daughter.
Grief stricken and careless of his own safety, Quistus travels the empire searching for his lost children. Death would be a warm embrace for him but it seems that his carelessness with his life in a strange way acts as a cloak of invulnerability and Quistus faces many adventures on his endless travels in search of his loved ones . . .
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2.0 out of 5 stars
Low brow entertainment, 8 Jun 2009
There are lots of historical detectives in fiction right now and some of the Roman ones are well worth a read - I think of Saylor's Gordianus, Robert's Decius Metellus and Pastor's Aelius Spartianus.Unfortunately, Septimus Severius Quistus or Severius Septimus Quistus (the name varies) does not fall into this category. If you like references to a stoic Roman ex senator spearing polar bears on an ice flow accompanied by an African warrior princess, you may enjoy this. For me suspension of disbelief in reading fiction should not demand total suspension of rational intelligence. Therefore, despite the fact that Boast writes quite well and can hold the reader's interest, I give this novel the (metaphorical)thumbs down - the climactic scene between Quistus and Nero in the arena is just too dumb. It could never have happened like this.
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by Jane Finnis
by David Wishart
by Philip Boast
by Steven Saylor
by Jane Finnis
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