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Dissolution (Matthew Shardlake 1)

Author: C.j. Sansom
Publisher: Pan Books
Category: Book

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Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

59 reviews
Sales Rank: 118

Media: Paperback
Pages: 463
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 4.9 x 1.4

ISBN: 0330450794
EAN: 9780330450799
ASIN: 0330450794

Publication Date: May 18, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new, in stock. Shipped from the UK by First Class Royal Mail service in eco-friendly packaging.

Customer Reviews:

Showing reviews 31-35 of 59

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interesting historical crime novel June 24, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

... but the pacing could have been improved: the first half drifted slowly with not much happening, and then everything was resolved within the last 100 pages or so. As well as the pace picking up, I felt that it was only towards the end that any real emotion crept into the narrative, as if the author had finally found his voice.

I won't re-tell the story as so many other reviews here have done that already. Shardlake is an oddly unpympathetic character and I did find his 'voice' (this is a first person narrative) quite irritating at times: he spends so long talking about how exhausted he is, how he's in so much pain, and was so self-pitying that I wanted to slap him! (Without giving away the plot, the scene in the bell-tower was completely unbelievable: this man who can barely make it up the stairs suddenly launching himself into mid-air acrobatics??!)

However despite my niggles, I did read it to the end, and as I said I think the second half of the book is much better. The atmosphere is interesting and credible, though perhaps there were just too many perverse crimes all taking place in one monastery to be completely believable! Would I read another Shardlake book: probably, on holiday and from the library. It's a good escapist read, competent rather than enthralling.

5 out of 5 stars

A Well Structured Plot May 26, 2007
5 out of 6 found this review helpful

I enjoyed this book very much. It will certainly please the myriads of historical crime novel readers. Period crime novels are probably at their highest level for many years and this is certainly one of the better ones. Not a classic but certainly a very enjoyable and interesting read.

1537 and the English Reformation is in full swing. Lord Thomas Cromwell Vicar-General of his majesty King Henry VIII is ready and willing to shut down any papist institutions he can find. When one of his commissioners is found beheaded at a remote Benedictine monastery, Cromwell sends another, the lawyer, Matthew Shardlake to investigate the murder . . .

The author gives an excellent portrayal of the corruption that abounded in England during the reign of Henry VIII. His plot is well structured and his characters charismatic and believable.

5 out of 5 stars

A Well Structured Plot May 26, 2007
9 out of 11 found this review helpful

I enjoyed this book very much. It will certainly please the myriads of historical crime novel readers. Period crime novels are probably at their highest level for many years and this is certainly one of the better ones. Not a classic but certainly a very enjoyable and interesting read.

1537 and the English Reformation is in full swing. Lord Thomas Cromwell Vicar-General of his majesty King Henry VIII is ready and willing to shut down any papist institutions he can find. When one of his commissioners is found beheaded at a remote Benedictine monastery, Cromwell sends another, the lawyer, Matthew Shardlake to investigate the murder . . .

The author gives an excellent portrayal of the corruption that abounded in England during the reign of Henry VIII. His plot is well structured and his characters charismatic and believable.

4 out of 5 stars

Superb whodunnit! May 10, 2007
11 out of 12 found this review helpful

Mathew Shardlake is a hunchback lawyer in the time of Henry VIII. He is honest and thoroughly moralistic which is why he is chosen by Thomas Cromwell to find the culprit of a heinous murder of a government official at a monastery which he had been sent to close...

Having read Shadow of the wind and thoroughly enjoyed it, I decided to read this trilogy. Initially I found Dissolution difficult to get into with it being set Tudor times but once I got over that I was hooked! Normally you get an idea who the murderer is but the plot is so well weaved that I didn't get it until near to the end. It gives you a fascinating (terrifying) insight into how life was during that time. Dissolution sets the scene for the next two books which are even better hence the reason I only gave this 4 stars as the others are most definitely 5. They are a must for anyone who likes a good thriller/detective novel based around historical fact.

3 out of 5 stars

DISappointing reSOLUTION April 20, 2007
7 out of 13 found this review helpful

This is sort of Name of the Rose Lite - a worthy attempt to capture the turbulent mood of Henry 8th's brutal religious persecution during the Reformation as the backdrop for a pretty average murder mystery. The trouble is that, apart from hunchback hero Shardlake, none of the characters are fully fleshed out. With a couple of exceptions i found them all instantly forgettable and a few times got mixed up when they cropped up in the action. Sansom tries to decoy your suspicions down lots of blind alleys by introducing parallel sub-plots with all sorts of period themes and throws in a few shocks when the plot flags. The monastery life is well researched and the claustrophobic (cloisterophobic?) atmosphere well described and Sansom paints a fair picture of the socio-economic, religious/political motives driving Henry's policy and its effects on the inhabitants. However by the end I didn't really care who the murderer was, and if i read the book again (unlikely) i'll have forgotten. The final melodramatic outcome is a bit contrived, and you're left with an interesting social history but disappointing detective costume drama.