A review by rebeccazh
Dissolution by C.J. Sansom
3.0
3.5 stars. This is a pretty unique take on the usual detective narrative - it's set in England during the time of the dissolution of the monasteries. A murder was committed in one of the monasteries and one of Thomas Cromwell's commissioners is sent to investigate. I was not familiar with the socio-historical background that the story is set in and struggled to grasp the context, the implications and the cast of characters. I also found the first 50% to be a bit of a drag, but things pick up wonderfully as the stakes keep amping up.
The main character, Shardlake, is not the type of detective that you see in Holmes and Poirot novels - all-knowing, unerringly intuitive and smart - but he is someone very human. He has biases and is often clouded by emotions as he assesses each person, leaving the reader in a similar guessing game. I found the last 20% very gripping, making up for the slow pace of the majority of the book and was flipping very quickly through my Kindle to see who did it. I did guess the murderer halfway through the book -- Shardlake's bias leaves huge blindspots which makes the murderer obvious - but other mysteries left me wondering. The air of danger and urgency also ramps up progressively as the book continues, leaving me fearing for the main characters.
Overall, a really solid introduction to the series and I'm definitely picking up the next few books.
The main character, Shardlake, is not the type of detective that you see in Holmes and Poirot novels - all-knowing, unerringly intuitive and smart - but he is someone very human. He has biases and is often clouded by emotions as he assesses each person, leaving the reader in a similar guessing game. I found the last 20% very gripping, making up for the slow pace of the majority of the book and was flipping very quickly through my Kindle to see who did it. I did guess the murderer halfway through the book -- Shardlake's bias leaves huge blindspots which makes the murderer obvious - but other mysteries left me wondering. The air of danger and urgency also ramps up progressively as the book continues, leaving me fearing for the main characters.
Overall, a really solid introduction to the series and I'm definitely picking up the next few books.