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| Revelation (Matthew Shardlake 4) | 
 enlarge | Author: C.j. Sansom
Publisher: Macmillan
Category: Book
List Price: £17.99
Buy New: £8.99
You Save: £9.00 (50%)
New (25) from £6.12
Avg. Customer Rating:  17 reviews
Sales Rank: 70
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 452
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.1 x 2.1
ISBN: 1405092726
EAN: 9781405092722
ASIN: 1405092726
Publication Date: April 4, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews: Read 12 more reviews...
 The Standard Maintained July 20, 2008
If you are a fan of the Shardlake series and are wondering if C.J Sansom has been able to maintain the standard of the previous volumes, fear not. If anything the plot is even more gripping than some of the earlier ones and after a slow start, a cracking pace is maintained each page full of incident. Rest assured you are in for a treat and a few late nights.
If you are new to this series then do not hesitate to give this book a try. Sansom has no equal in evoking the sights, sounds, and smells of the period. One of the author's greatest strengths is to marry a fictional plot to real historical characters and political issues so that the story seems to follow historical imperatives and the credibility of events is greatly enhanced as a consequence.
On this occasion the story opens in 1543 where Henry VIII's courtship of his sixth wife is played out against a backdrop of religious rivalry between Catholic and Protestant elements. Into this already explosive atmosphere a serial killer begins a killing spree apparently taking The Book of Revelation as his inspiration. To read Sansom is to learn a lot of history in a uniquely entertaining way, but if you enjoy a thrilling story, cunningly plotted full of twists and turns expertly written you will be well satisfied. I know no other modern writer who gives you that delicious sense of anticipation when you return to his books after a spell away.
I'm fairly addicted to Shardlake. CJ Sansom is on a real winner. June 19, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This, the fourth novel concerning Matthew Shardlake, is superb. The characters are more developed (and the longer the series go on, the bigger and more developed the supporting cast becomes). The plot is cleverer and different - here we see Shardlake dealing with a serial killer, and although the politicians are involved this is a different kettle of fish to the rebellions and political plots that our favourite hunch-backed Tudor lawyer has found himself involved in before.
And in my opinion it's for the better - C J Sansom's writing has always been addictive (but not in an obtrusive way) and has always had totally convincing historical contexts (at least to a moderately informed one such as I). But in the past the plots have been slightly predictable - more so the classic whodunit, with a list of suspects and a ticking-clock before some disaster happens or the heroes are knocked off. In a way, that is all still true of this book (in fact, maybe it's impossible to write a whodunit without that!) but its better concealed amidst an excellent premise.
The pages and chapters fly by, and this opens an exciting future for Shardlake. I hope it won't be too long till we hear from him again!
Excellent Tudor Thriller June 9, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Most enjoyable and, despite it's hefty size, totally gripping all the way through. The characters are developing and their varied religious responses, in a age normally thought of as simply Catholic or Protestant, bring great humanity to this story which is comparatively gory.
Different but no less brilliant! June 4, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
Although I wouldn't say it is my favourite of the series it is certainly a masterpiece, taking Matthew to another level and engaging to the degree it actually frightened me in places. As with Sovereign I felt that if I hadn't established an understanding of the characters from the previosu books (esp. Guy and Matthew) it would have lost some of its magic :)
 Good Stuff Once Again June 3, 2008
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
What would the Tudors have made of the serial killer? Or perhaps more specifically, what would they make of the current literary creation of what a serial killer is, for here the killer is more than simply a psycopath, but a mad man with a monsterous plan in the mould of the killer in 'Se7en' or 'The Dante Club'; we should be grateful that Sansom has delivered a story much better than those it appears to imitate.
Shardlake battles to find the killer who murders people in various grisly ways, with the backdrop of closed monastries, increasing numbers of men reduced to begging and the King's courting of Lady Catherine Parr. Anyone who has read the previous Sharlake books won't be suprised to learn that this captures the feeling of the age brilliantly. The plot moves with a definite pace that 'Soveriegn' lacked and its different threads are bound taughtly together. It benefits from the return to the London used to such good effect in 'Dark Fire'. There is then, much to enjoy here. If one has a complaint, it is, as another reviewer noted, that some of the book now feels more familiar than it did in the first few books.
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