Tangled Web UK Review February 2007
The Seventh Sacrament by
David Hewson
hbk out January 07
Published by Macmillan
at £12.99
It is intriguing that a Yorkshire author living in Kent writes a series about
the Rome police, but he does it exceedingly well. There are four previous books
recounting the exploits of detective Nic Costa and his colleagues; both the previous
one that I read, The Villa of Mysteries and this present one, are partially
sited in the extensive ancient underground passages and chambers that ramify beneath
Rome's seven hills.
Fourteen years previously, a respected archaeologist, Giorgio Bramante, is sent
to prison for beating to death one of his students, who he claims killed his small
son Alessio, in a subterranean Mithraic temple under the Aventine Hill. Now out
of jail, the police find that all six of a student group involved, have suffered
violent deaths and that Inspector Falcone, Nic Costa's superior officer, is also
threatened by Giorgio, who blames him for preventing the death of his son.
The exciting story is laced with Roman history, especially of the Mithraic religion,
the cult of the army and from which Christianity took many elements. In fact,
Hewson describes how Constantine's newly-Christian troops immediately destroyed
the Praetorian Guard, who were the most ardent Mithraists. The climax of the story
takes place underground near the Circus Maximus, in one of these underground temples
with a surprising twist in the plot.
A very intelligent and enthralling book, with a complex plot expertly handled.
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
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