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Dissolution (Matthew Shardlake #1)

4.03 of 5 stars 4.03 · rating details · 9,656 ratings · 903 reviews

Exciting and elegantly written, Dissolution is an utterly compelling first novel and a riveting portrayal of Tudor England. The year is 1537, and the country is divided between those faithful to the Catholic Church and those loyal to the king and the newly established Church of England. When a royal commissioner is brutally murdered in a monastery on the south coast of Eng...more

Paperback, 456 pages

Published 2004 by Pan Books (first published 2003)

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Sep 15, 2012 Bettie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Bettie by: Susanna

Shelves: historical-fiction, teh-brillianz, re-read, autumn-2012, tudor, hardback, paper-read, fradio, series, radio-4, published-2002, poison

RE-VISIT VIA RADIO 4

Lawyer-detective Matthew Shardlake is sent to investigate a killing at a monastery.

blurb - C J Sansom's bestselling Tudor crime novel, adapted for radio by Colin MacDonald.

London, 1537. As he plots to bring down the Abbeys, Thomas Cromwell sends his trusted lawyer-detective, Matthew Shardlake, to investigate the murder of a King's Commissioner in a monastery on the south coast of Kent. Which of the terrified monks is the murderer - and can Shardlake catch him before he strik...more

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May 29, 2012 Sam Piper rated it 4 of 5 stars

Looking at the reviews here, it seems that this book is getting hammered because it cries out to be compared with other powerhouses of books.

Set in the 1500s of Henry VIII, it clearly bears parallels with Wolf Hall which is set two wives earlier. It has to be said that it lacks the beauty of the language of that novel or its subtle, multilayered realistic characterisation. Mantell's Cromwell is a far more engaging and convincing narrator than Sansom's Shardlake.

Similarly, set in an isolated mon...more

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Aug 18, 2012 MG Mason rated it 4 of 5 stars

Continuing a recent trend for historical based crime thriller, C.J. Sansom has chosen the turmoil of Henry VIII’s reformation to start his series about the criminal investigations of a lawyer named Matthew Shardlake. Set in 1536, just before the dissolution of the monasteries, Shardlake is sent by Thomas Cromwell to the (fictional) abbey of Scarnsea to investigate the murder of a commissioner who was there evaluating the monastery’s properties. Shardlake is pro-reform and doesn’t take too kindly...more

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May 05, 2008 Chandra rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, mystery-dectective-crime, anglophilia, middle-ages

This book was so good that it's hard for me to give it only 4 stars. The ending just wasn't perfect and only perfect books get 5 stars. The rest of the book was pretty close to perfect for me.

This is an amazingly well researched historical mystery - set during the protestant reformation with an unlikely hero/protagonist - hunchbacked Matthew Shardlake - a fervant (almost zealous)reformer.

Shardlake has been commisioned by Henry VIII's Chief Minister Cromwell to investigate a murder and desecrat...more

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Sep 14, 2012 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-books, historical-mystery, read-2012

I won't miss this BBC dramatization:

Winter, 1537, the South Kent Coast. Thomas Cromwell's trusted lawyer-detective, Matthew Shardlake, arrives at Scarnsea monastery with orders to investigate the brutal killing of a King's Commissioner, Robin Singleton. As he begins to meet the prime suspects, it soon becomes clear that the case will not be as simple to solve as he had hoped.

I must agree with Hayes, the book is much better than this dramatization.

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Jan 01, 2010 Gerald Sinstadt rated it 4 of 5 stars

Matthew Shardlake, sent by Thomas Cromwell to solve a murder at a monastery on the coast of Sussex, may come to hold a place among the most credible of fictional detectives. There seems to be an assumption among some readers that the investigator-with-weaknesses has become a cliché; but doesn't that miss the point that none of us is perfect? Have we forgotten that Sherlock Holmes was a drug addict? In simple terms, Shardlake is a member of the human race. His physical deformity - he is a hunchba...more

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Dec 28, 2008 Sue rated it 5 of 5 stars

Fascinating setting of the C16 dissolution of the monasteries, brought to life with vivid detail.

I only know this period from history lessons, but reading this book, I could feel what life was like at that time. The weather, the food, the hardships of life. Also the buildings and environment. We only see castles, monasteries and so on as museum pieces now, but he describes how some of the buildings were in good condition, but others were decaying, even if still lived in. The author also brings...more

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Apr 12, 2013 Steven Z. rated it 4 of 5 stars

In DISSOLUTION: A NOVEL OF TUDOR ENGLAND, C.J. Sansom introduces the character of Matthew Shardlake, a reformer who is summoned by Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's vicar general. Employing the skills of a professional historian and novelist Sansom takes the reader on a journey through sixteenth century England, at a time when the kingdom was split between those who supported the Tudor monarchy and those who supported the Catholic Church. Shardlake is charged with solving the murder of a royal offic...more

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Feb 13, 2013 Lynne King rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: to-read-again

I was very disappointed in this book as it came highly recommended by friends; four of whom I had known since I was a teenager. In fact I trusted their judgement so much, I purchased five books from this series at the same time.

I should have loved this book as it's about the Tudor period, which has always fascinated me; there were so many intrigues going on and one never knew who was going to end up in the Tower, and the central character Matthew Shardlake, the hunchback lawyer, was very interes...more

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Feb 11, 2013 Bruno Bouchet rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was one of the books that proves the joy of book giving, or more precisely book receiving. I was given this for my birthday. It’s not something I’d have probably chosen for myself, but the astute giver knew I liked history and knew I enjoyed detective programs on TV. Having said that I’ve never been a big fan of historical fiction or too many detective books. However, I really enjoyed it. Sansam’s writing style is immediately engaging and amazingly evocative. I was hooked from the first pag...more

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Dec 29, 2012 Iceman rated it 3 of 5 stars

1531, Henrique VIII, soberano inglês, apaixona-se por Ana Bolena e, sendo este casado com Catarina de Aragão, resolve solicitar ao Papa a anulação deste casamento para assim poder desposar Bolena. Porém, o Papa recusa e Henrique VIII, numa atitude insólita de revolta contra a igreja papista, faz-se proclamar Protector da igreja inglesa. Em 1534 anuncia o “acto da supremacia” que faz saber aos súbitos que se devem submeter a essa nova ordem ou então seriam excomungados e perseguidos, ou seja, que...more 1531, Henrique VIII, soberano inglês, apaixona-se por Ana Bolena e, sendo este casado com Catarina de Aragão, resolve solicitar ao Papa a anulação deste casamento para assim poder desposar Bolena. Porém, o Papa recusa e Henrique VIII, numa atitude insólita de revolta contra a igreja papista, faz-se proclamar Protector da igreja inglesa. Em 1534 anuncia o “acto da supremacia” que faz saber aos súbitos que se devem submeter a essa nova ordem ou então seriam excomungados e perseguidos, ou seja, quem fosse papista teria os dias contados. Nasce assim a Reforma religiosa na Inglaterra.

A partir de 1535, é eleito como vigário-geral Thomas Cromwell, um homem que havia subido na cadeira do poder como apoiante de Ana Bolena e que é precisamente ele o responsável principal pela acusação de adultério que a levará ao cadafalso, mas Thomas Cromwell empreende uma política conhecida como a dissolução de mosteiros que continuavam a seguir a doutrina católica de veneração a santos e relíquias, algo que a reforma considerava absoleta e anti-reformista. Porém não se pense que não havia outros e maiores interesses, os mosteiros possuíam tesouros incalculáveis, para além de terras que o rei queria para ele.

É pois este o cenário do livro que me proponho aqui alvitrar. Um livro que considero excelente , escrito por C.J. Sansom, um jovem advogado que tem aqui o seu baptismo.

“Dissolução”, como a palavra deixa entender, é um romance policial-histórico sobre um processo de dissolução de um mosteiro, com o fim de extinguir e pilhar todos os bens do mesmo, no entanto esse trabalho teria sempre que ser realizado de uma forma segura e cuidadosa, pois caso contrário e como na época a reforma ainda estava em fase de implementação junto do povo, poderia desencadear uma revolta popular que nem o rei nem Cromwell pretendiam, pese embora e isso é um facto histórico, os mosteiros e os abades residentes terem má reputação junto dos vilões e aldeões.

É pois num mosteiro de Scarnsae, na costa sul de Inglaterra, que vem a notícia do homicídio brutal de um dos comissário do rei. Cromwell convoca então Matthew Shardlake, um conhecido e reputado advogado, entregando-lhe a incumbência de investigar e descobrir o assassino e, ao mesmo tempo, fazer tudo para levar o abade do mosteiro a assinar a carta de capitulação e assim ter motivos para encerrar o mosteiro.

Quando Shardlake e o seu jovem ajudante chegam a Scarnsea, descobrem um local pouco religioso, cheio de vícios e de condutas menos próprias para abades...

Através deste breve texto, facilmente poderá constatar que “Dissolução” tem um argumento muito semelhante ao “Nome da Rosa”, não só enquanto romance histórico mas e principalmente, como tendo como cenário um mosteiro e um crime aí praticado. Porém são épocas completamente distintas e não tenho dúvidas em afirmar que com “Dissolução” se aprende mais sobre a época em causa.

Obviamente e isso para mim foi claro, que o escritor se baseou um pouco no “Nome da Rosa”. Há toda uma variedade de situações que na verdade fazem lembrar o romance de Eco, no entanto não se julgue que “Dissolução” se trata de um pseudo-plágio do romance de Eco, não, este “Dissolução” é muito bom porque não só nos descreve uma época turbulenta, como também é, enquanto policial, cativante, com situações de suspense bem conseguidas, personagens sólidas e descrições vivas e bem reais.

É também um romance leve, com capítulos curtos e concisos, nunca é maçudo e nunca cai, mesmo quando o escritor explica a época e a situação política e religiosa, numa madorra erudita, algo que torna o “Nome da Rosa” num excelente livro, é um facto, mas de difícil leitura. Este não, é um excelente livro.(less)

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Dec 16, 2012 Jacquelynn Luben rated it 4 of 5 stars

I’m not a great fan of historical fiction and to start with, I found the whole atmosphere of Dissolution rather dark and depressing. I didn’t really like being stuck in a monastery, either.

After a few chapters, a name became familiar and I realised I had heard the book serialised on the radio, some time back, and I remembered starting to listen without much interest and then gradually getting hooked. And so it was with the written version. I had a faint memory of ‘whodunnit’, but fortunately, I...more

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Oct 21, 2012 Jim Smith rated it 4 of 5 stars

I picked up this book as a result of an effusive recommendation from my wife. Since she's generally spot on about such things I thought I'd give it a go. The Tudor period isn't a typical stopping off point on the timeline for me as far as historical novels go, but in this case I was glad I did. The year is 1537; the English Reformation is in full swing and Jane Seymour, King Henry VIII's third wife has just been buried. The action unfolds through the eyes of Matthew Shardlake, lawyer and one of...more I picked up this book as a result of an effusive recommendation from my wife. Since she's generally spot on about such things I thought I'd give it a go. The Tudor period isn't a typical stopping off point on the timeline for me as far as historical novels go, but in this case I was glad I did. The year is 1537; the English Reformation is in full swing and Jane Seymour, King Henry VIII's third wife has just been buried. The action unfolds through the eyes of Matthew Shardlake, lawyer and one of the Commissioners of the feared 'Vicar-General' Thomas Cromwell. The so-called 'Pilgrimage of Grace' of the previous summer has been brutally suppressed and the divide between Catholic and Protestant supporters is growing wider.

Cromwell dispatches Shardlake and his young assistant Matthew Poer to the Abbey of Scarnsea on the south coast. Scarnsea is next on Cromwell's list for dissolution, but at this stage in the game he cannot simply seize the Abbey and its riches to refill the King's depleated coffers. The Abbot of Scarnsea must be persuaded that compliance is his best option. One lever at Shardlake's disposal is the grusome demise of his predecessor at Scarnsea, one Commissioner Singleton.

Shardlake soon finds that his job is much trickier than even his most pessimistic expectations. Not only must he investigate Singleton's murder and get the result Cromwell wants, but he must also deal with further murders that plunge him into a morass of murder, religious hatred, bigotry and sexual tension.

Many reviewers of this book have waxed lyrical about how poorly it compares to Umberto Ecco's 'Name of the Rose'. Yes, both books are set in a monestary but that's really as far as it goes. 'Dissolution' is set at least two centuries later and deals with a different set of issues entirely. It's as if someone compared 'Sherlock Holmes' unfavourably with 'Oliver Twist' because both are set in London.

Contrary to some other reviewers I found myself drawn to the character of Matthew Shardlake. He is clearly a man of his time and a true believer in the cause of reform but he is not without compassion and sympathy for the problems of others. I look forward to the next in the series...

(less)

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Oct 14, 2012 Heidi rated it 3 of 5 stars

This came very highly recommended, but I had a hard time getting into it and didn't much like the main character. But I think I'll give the author the benefit of the doubt and try the second book in the series (even more highly recommended).

Matthew Shardlake is a hunchback reformist in 1500s England, trying to solve a murder mystery. This is possibly the most creative setting for a novel that I've ever stumbled across. A fellow reformist (both men working for Cromwell) was sent to threaten a mon...more

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Sep 17, 2012 Matthew Head rated it 3 of 5 stars

There were a few moments which genuinely made me gasp, which is always a good sign. I would say perhaps three in total, three genuine gasps of shock, those kind of “ahhhhhh-hahhhhhh” moments. They were good. The chapters set in London were my favourite ones, as I felt there you really got a sense of the times when the story is set. Rotting heads on spikes, people wondering in amazement at Parrots – creatures that hadn’t been seen in England until that point. Brilliant, yes – those chapters stood...more There were a few moments which genuinely made me gasp, which is always a good sign. I would say perhaps three in total, three genuine gasps of shock, those kind of “ahhhhhh-hahhhhhh” moments. They were good. The chapters set in London were my favourite ones, as I felt there you really got a sense of the times when the story is set. Rotting heads on spikes, people wondering in amazement at Parrots – creatures that hadn’t been seen in England until that point. Brilliant, yes – those chapters stood out. Unfortunately, most of the novel was set in the fictional monastery of Scarnsea somewhere near Rye on the south coast, and it was there that I sometimes forgot that this was a Tudor tale. Monks are monks, at the end of the day – the occasional use of the word “ye” was the main indicator of the 16th century. Maybe I’m being a bit harsh, all I know is that the scenes in London had me reading more keenly than the scenes in Scarnsea.

I was dissapointed too that at only a quarter of the way through I had guessed the culprit behind the primary murder in the story. It was sort of obvious, which is a shame as I really wanted to be suprised. And the culprit of the subsequent murders, well, I didn’t guess that for sure, but it still wasn’t a shock because to be honest, I didn’t care that much by that point. I didn’t form an attachment to that character at all, I didn’t love him nor hate him, and so when I found out he was the murderer it was just a bit of an “oh” moment really.

Talking about forming attachments, I didn’t remotely become attached to Matthew Shardlake. I can’t say I loved him, and I can’t say I hated him. He had moments of vulnerability which were nice, but still I can’t say I really warmed to him. I warmed to Mark Poer no end (I even shared Brother Gabriels lustings somewhat) and something about the way he was written just made him leap off the page. I was dissapointed with the way it ended for him – and to me it seemed almost out of character. There had been some suggestion of a falling out between Mark and Matthew, but it seemed really odd that suddenly he was pulling daggers on his master and shoving him in a cupboard to run off with a murderess – no matter how pretty and sharp minded she was. It stuck in my mind that earlier in the story he had been willing to defend Matthew against ignorant and narrow minded people who took the mickey out of him for his deformity, he really felt like a son, but also a best friend. Then suddenly he turns. Well, that’s just my feeling anyway.

I must just also quickly praise Brother Gabriel. Sansom did a great job there – and that was a character which I was sad to see die. Some could say I’m biased, and maybe I am, but I just felt so sorry for the bloke – after all, he clearly couldn’t help being gay. His lust for Mark was understandable, and in a time when gays could be executed, it was very sad. My redeeming moment for Matthew was that he didn’t entirely condemn Brother Gabriel – he clearly didn’t entirely aspprove, but he showed humanity and compassion towards someone who was also suffering with an “affliction” that society condemned.

Overall, despite a few nagging points, I say bravo. I must have liked it well enough as I want to read the next one – that’s always a good sign.

(less)

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Aug 26, 2012 Majanka rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: drama, historical-fiction, mystery, read-2012

In the middle of King Henry VIII’s Reformation in sixteenth century England, lawyer Matthew Shardlake is sent out by none other than Thomas Cromwell to solve a murder mystery in a nearby monestary. With the monestaries dissolving rapidly as the revolution passes through the country, and the King’s Men disband the corrupt monestaries at lightning speed, this is a very tumultuous era in English history, and the ideal background for the story.

That said, Dissolution reminded me an awful lot of The N...more In the middle of King Henry VIII’s Reformation in sixteenth century England, lawyer Matthew Shardlake is sent out by none other than Thomas Cromwell to solve a murder mystery in a nearby monestary. With the monestaries dissolving rapidly as the revolution passes through the country, and the King’s Men disband the corrupt monestaries at lightning speed, this is a very tumultuous era in English history, and the ideal background for the story.

That said, Dissolution reminded me an awful lot of The Name of The Rose. Unfortunately though, The Name of The Rose was a lot better. I have nothing against C.J. Sansom’s writing style or narrative, but it pales in comparison to this classic. In the abbey of Scarnsea, a commissioner sent by Cromwell himself, who was evaluating the monestary, was found murdered. Shardlake and his assistant travel to the abbey to find the identity of the murderer and solve the crime. But as soon as they arrive in Scarnsea, it’s obvious that they’re the target of a menacing presence who wouldn’t back away from hurting them as well. Secrets are buried deep inside the monestary, and Shardlake needs to find them before they find him.

Dissolution‘s historical research is impressive. The characters are fascinating in their originality. Take the main character for example. Matthew Shardlake is a lawyer, pro the reformation, but he also feels mixed emotions at seeing the monestaries disappear. He cares about people, some more than others, but he has a keen eye on seeing through lies and solving mysteries. He’s physically deformed, and often complains about is – which is great, because it’s completely human to do so. He’s flawed, more than a little bit, and this makes him so deliciously human I fell in love with this character right away. I’m so glad this author realized not all main characters need to be perfect or have flaws that aren’t really flaws to be intriguing.

The side characters were intriguing as well. I especially liked Guy a lot, and hope he makes a return in the follow-up novels.

The mystery was a tad bit predictable. It reminded me of the typical Agatha Christie style, although it’s obviously set many centuries earlier. The character’s motivations were a bit too obvious, the possible culprits too easy to pick out. While each may have their own motivations for committing the murder, I had a faint idea of who’d done it about halfway through the novel. The mystery itself isn’t that impressive, but the historical setting, the way it’s painted with an astonishing amount of detail and the author’s ability to really get into the mind of the sixteenth-century inhabitants of England, is fascinating and brilliant.

Dissolution is a great read. It’s enjoyable from start to finish, and makes the sixteenth century come to life on the pages. I recommend it to all historical fiction fans. I’ll definitely read the next one in the series, Dark Fire. Don’t go looking for the most complicated mystery of all times, but with all the rest this book offers, the mystery hardly matters that much. If you like historical fiction, you need to give this book a try. Spectacular for a debut author, and I can’t wait to see what else the author comes up with.(less)

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Jul 02, 2012 Evelyn rated it 4 of 5 stars

After reading both Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, this book offers a really nice counterpoint.

Matthew Shardlake is a lawyer in the service of Thomas Cromwell, who is sent to a monastery in Southern England to investigate the murder of Cromwell's emissary, killed--it seems--while investigating charges of corruption which have been leveled at all Catholic monasteries as Reformation rolls through England. I'm not sure the mystery is all that special, but the historical details paint an amazing...more

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Jan 18, 2012 Indiana rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009, historical, mystery, tudor-england

Really enjoyed it. This is the first book in the Matthew Shardlake Series. There are four so far. Shardlake is a property lawyer in 1537 in London (out of Lincoln’s Inn) who also does occassional assignments for Thomas Cromwell. In this story he is sent to investigate a murder in a monastery that is in the midst of being considered for dissolution and what results is one of those “closed setting” mysteries where the people in the monastery are closed off from the outside world and Shardlake must...more

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Jan 16, 2012 Mark rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Mark by: Stephen and Tracy

Shelves: history, first-person-narration

What can I say. Really exciting, really atmospheric and the novel for which the phrase 'page turner' was created. Its the first in a series, in which i shall most definitely be heavily indulging, revolving around a well drawn character called Matthew Shardlake who, when the novel begins, is an ardent if gentle reformer working for Thomas Cromwell just as, with the death of Jane Seymour, Henry VIII is set free to vomit his horrible nastiness over a few more women.

Shardlake, a lawyer who struggles...more What can I say. Really exciting, really atmospheric and the novel for which the phrase 'page turner' was created. Its the first in a series, in which i shall most definitely be heavily indulging, revolving around a well drawn character called Matthew Shardlake who, when the novel begins, is an ardent if gentle reformer working for Thomas Cromwell just as, with the death of Jane Seymour, Henry VIII is set free to vomit his horrible nastiness over a few more women.

Shardlake, a lawyer who struggles with the disadvantage of suffering from a hunchback, is sent to a Monastery on the East Coast at Scarnsea to investigate the brutal murder of one of Cromwell's men who had been sent there so as to speed up the process of dissolution. In the latter part of the 1530's Cromwell had taken on the role of destroying the monastic tradition of England couching it in terms of cleansing the realm of the filth of papist domination. This Shardlake applauds and spends the first part of his stay at St Donatus monastery sneering and judging and belittling. The monastic community is painted as a community almost without saving grace. Overly worldy and lazy, riven by division and hate and all of the monks bar the black moorish convert Brother Guy are represented as gross hypocrites.

Initially this ridiculous sweeping generalization, dismissing every monk as a fatuous idiot or hypocrite, annoyed and jarred as i read but of course the whole point is that the novel is in the first person. We walk in Matthew's world, caught up in his bigotry and judgements, we see the protestant reform and its leaders through his idealized and naive eyes and the catholicism is tarnished by his experiences, including his cruel rejection, because of his deformity, when he sought priesthood as a lad.

Gradually, though he does not come to think particularly highly of catholicism, he does begin to realize that perhaps it is not the monstrous fetid swamp he believed and nor is the longed for Protestant Commonwealth just around the corner. He sees more clearly and thus more sadly.

The story itself is wonderfully exciting with marvelous hiss/boo villains, a handsome manservant and long-suffering servant girl who provide the opening for ramblings on love and loss as the snobbery of social division in which even Shardlake partakes threatens there future, a mad tortured monk who might not be as mad as Shardlake first thinks and all sorts of links to the court of Henry and his shadowy henchmen as well as suspects galore for the brutal beheading.

The story is cleverly written in that Sansom does not make Shardlake anything other than a man of his time. He is not made to think and speak in a way that no man of his time would( Please note writers of the british farcical courtroom drama 'Garrow's Law' which makes our hero some 21st Century reformer thinking and speaking and behaving in a way that is about 200 years ahead of his time.) This is not what Sansom has done in the character of Matthew. He is zealous for the reform, though not a vicious zealot, but his hatreds and prejudices are similar to those of his peers if not expressed with such brutal cruelty as was perhaps the norm. His disability perhaps makes him less likely to condemn the outsider but he is not made to look at the 1530's as an enlightened man of the 2000's. Homosexuality is seen as nothing but foul and perverse and beyond the pale, catholics and anabaptists are to be scorned and loathed and, at the beginning of the book at least, your betters, those above you in society, are to be trusted and believed. God has given you a position and you should not be anything but content with that.

I found the world he painted pulsed with life, the brutality and degradation, the despair and fear, the struggles and unrest all whirled round in a great turmoil of a society being changed irrevocably. The reign of Henry resulted in far more changes than just a wife or two and this rumbling underground, gradually heading towards the surface is well captured by the prose and plot of 'Dissolution'.

Clever(less)

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Jan 14, 2012 Paul rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

Reasonably good crime thriller set in Tudor England at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries (1537). Matthew Shardlake is one of Thomas Cromwell's commissioners who is charged with investigating the death of another commissioner at Scarnsea, a Benedictine Monastery on the south coast. Shardlake is a hunchback and physically weak; another addition to the detectives with imperfections genre. It is pretty well written, a bit flowery at times, but an easy read and not too demanding.
I found...more

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Jan 06, 2012 Steven rated it 3 of 5 stars

I see the other reviews and the raves, and while I generally enjoyed all the Shardlake books, there is a minor but regular and insurmountable hiccup in Sansom's writing that jars me very time I come across it.

By Book 5, it was unavoidable, and I failed to finish the book as aresult (in fact I deliberately left it in the hotel room I was staying in at the time in Singapore).

He has a habit of insisting on adverbs where there doesn't need to be one, and he does it sentence after sentence in some c...more

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Jan 01, 2012 Carl rated it 4 of 5 stars

More history and less mystery, please.
OK, I’m not a huge mystery fan; most seem so formulaic: flawed but good hearted sleuth (unless maybe he’s Adam Dalgliesh, Published Poet,.....pulleeeeze), overly complicated plot giving the reader many suspects, but hiding the real killer, until all is revealed at the end, etc., etc. For me, they need something more for redemption: generally an informative look at another time, place, culture, etc., and are well written. So I always eagerly awaited the next...more

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Sep 13, 2011 Gregory House rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: tudor

A very sound first novel

I must admit to coming to Sansom’s historical mystery stories only very recently, although I had been aware of the series for a couple of years. Since at the time I was writing my own collection set during the reign of Henry VIII and while my main character like Sansom’s Shardlake is a lawyer in London, Ned is but a lowly apprentice. So rather than be accused of plagiarism I stuck well clear until I’d finished my first quintal of stories. In fact I finally read my first S...more

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Jul 26, 2011 Ian Young added it · review of another edition

Dissolution is the first of CJ Sansom’s novels, set against the background of the dissolution of the monasteries. However, the title also refers to the dissolution of the main protagonist’s belief system through the course of the novel. Matthew Shardlake is an unusual hero, a hunchback who struggles with the physical and emotional pain brought by his disability, and who will be played by Kenneth Branagh in a forthcoming television adaptation. This is a book which is easy to read – characters are...more

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Jun 20, 2011 Mrsgaskell rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 9-star, bookcrossing, british

This book was a perfect blend of mystery and historical fiction - I wouldn’t be able to say which aspect of the novel I enjoyed more. As I suspected when I first looked it over, it was a gripping read. The period detail was fascinating, life in Tudor times and the dissolution of the monasteries after Henry VIII proclaimed himself head of the English Church. There was an excellent cast of characters, some likeable, some less so, but even some of the most flawed had sympathetic traits. Matthew Sha...more

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Jun 02, 2011 Lorraine rated it 4 of 5 stars

“A’things sae broon!” I had to laugh at this statement made by my book group chum because it really summed up Dissolution. It seems all the colours on the palette of this novel are shades of brown; the clothes, horses, city, town, monastery, marsh, road, pond, relics and even the story itself. Everyone is, poor, oppressed, nervous and suspicious. It was a bleak time to be alive. What would you do if someone instructed you to change your beliefs – the things that you trust in, the things that mak...more

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May 23, 2011 Dan rated it 3 of 5 stars

After Henry VIII’s little rifts with the Pope and a couple of wives, Henry, often through Thomas Cromwell, emulated the Popes, not only by claiming to be the head of the Church in England, but also by cruelly executing people who held different religious opinions. Henry, with Cromwell’s brilliant aid, also ordered the dissolution of all monasteries, their enormous wealth delivered, directly or indirectly to Henry. An era of official violence went hand in hand with greed and strongly held religio...more
After Henry VIII’s little rifts with the Pope and a couple of wives, Henry, often through Thomas Cromwell, emulated the Popes, not only by claiming to be the head of the Church in England, but also by cruelly executing people who held different religious opinions. Henry, with Cromwell’s brilliant aid, also ordered the dissolution of all monasteries, their enormous wealth delivered, directly or indirectly to Henry. An era of official violence went hand in hand with greed and strongly held religious views.

This book is set in a monastery at a very particular time in the process of dissolution. After a few monasteries were dissolved, armed rebellion broke out against Henry. Dissolution of the remaining monasteries came about through the carrot of pensions for the monks and whatever stick was at hand–the claim of treason or other crimes. The story is set in a monastery that has “reformed” according to Henry’s laws–no Latin Masses, for example–and where the monks hope that they can avoid the dissolution. You get a good picture of monastic life–monastic high-life, you might be tempted to say–as well as a picture of the monks struggling to accommodate their religious beliefs with political reality.

The mysteries in the Scarnsea monastery begins when, seeking out monkish wrongdoing as a stick for force dissolution, Cromwell’s Commissioner is beheaded. Matthew Shardlake, a second Commissioner moves into the monastery to investigate the killing, but as with so many murder mysteries, other murders and other crimes are committed. Shardlake and several of the other characters are nicely drawn.

As a mystery, Dissolution is satisfactory, partly because the both the history and the setting provide interest in themselves, as does the account of attitudes of the people. Mantell’s Wolf Hall covers the immediately preceding years and develops a complete portrait of Thomas Cromwell. It is so good that perhaps I should have waited longer to read Dissolution. Still, in a way, they go together, and if you like mysteries or histories as I do, this is a good twofer. (less)

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Mar 28, 2011 Ali rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A fast paced mystery set in Tudor England this novel is right up my street, and I don't know why it has taken me so long to read it. In Matthew Shardlake, C J Sansom has given us a fascinating character, flawed and human and a product of the times in which he lives. In the employ of Thomas Cromwell, Shardlake is certain that reform is the right way, that monasteries are corrupt. However during his investigation into the muder of Cromwell's Commissioner Robin Singleton, Shardlake is forced to loo...more

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Mar 28, 2011 Kathleen Gilroy rated it 4 of 5 stars

I discovered this murder mystery series set in the time of Henry VIII and am now completely hooked. Dissolution is book one and if you are going to read these books you should read them in order. The detective is a lawyer who also happens to be a hunchback. The crimes are very much tied to the big historical shifts going on during the reign of Henry VIII. In this first book, a murder has been committed in a monastery in the south of England and our detective Matthew Shardlake has been sent by Cr...more

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Jan 26, 2011 Jon rated it 3 of 5 stars

I share the views of other Goodreads reviewers who admired the period detail and verisimilitude of this book. I've read about the dissolution of the monasteries, but I've never before had brought home to me how thoroughly it destroyed many peoples' lives. But the book suffers a little by comparison with Wolf Hall, which is a much more three-dimensional presentation of the period. This one is set about two years after the end of Wolf Hall, after the deaths of both Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour, an...more

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About C.J. Sansom

Christopher John "C.J." Sansom is an English writer of crime novels. He was born in 1952 and was educated at the University of Birmingham, where he took a BA and then a PhD in history. After working in a variety of jobs, he decided to retrain as a solicitor. He practised for a while in Sussex as a lawyer for the disadvantaged, before quitting in order to work full-time as a writer.
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“In worshipping their nationhood men worship themselves and scorn others, and that is no healthy thing.” — 14 people liked it

“The echoes of childhood torments have great power, even when not brought to mind in such an inexplicable and horrifying way.” — 2 people liked it

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Dissolution (Matthew Shardlake #1)

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