Tangled Web UK Review February 2007
The Seventh Sacrament by
David Hewson
pbk out October 07
(Pan)
at £6.99
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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