Dissolution

Henry VIII has proclaimed himself Supreme Head of the Church and the country is waking up to savage new laws, rigged trials and the greatest network of informers ever seen. Under the order of Thomas Cromwell, a team of commissioners is sent through the country to investigate the monasteries. There can only be one outcome: the monasteries are to be dissolved. But on the Sussex coast, at the monastery of Scarnsea, events have spiralled out of control. Cromwell's Commissioner Robin Singleton, has been found dead, his head severed from his body. His horrific murder is accompanied by equally sinister acts of sacrilege - a black cockerel sacrificed on the alter, and the disappearance of Scarnsea's Great Relic. Dr Matthew Shardlake, lawyer and long-time supporter of Reform, has been sent by Cromwell into this atmosphere of treachery and death. But Shardlake's investigation soon forces him to question everything he hears, and everything that he intrinsically believes ...

C. J. Sansom uses his in depth historical knowledge and familiarity with structures of law to create a highly readable book and one that truly captures the imagination of readers. His meloncholic protagonist, Matthew Shardlake, conjurs up a mix of sympathy, admiration and attachment, as he and his assistant solve the mystery of the hideous death of one of Henry VIII's commissioners at the soon to be destroyed, Scarnsea Monastry. Sansom constantly keeps the reader's attention fixed as his plot continually thickens and the finale produces an explosive series of events that even the most intellectual crime fighter can't see coming.

His menagerie of accurate historical fiction combined with finger biting tension forces the reader to for-go sleep for the sake of narrative satisfaction and leaves the individual hungry for and missing Shardlake as though he were here. One almost wished that the monastic dwelling of Scarnsea was still there so you can tread in the footsteps of this heroic hunchback, who's loneliness and determination reach out of the pages.

It truly is the best book of all time. - Jessica Mountney



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