Dissolution (Matthew Shardlake, #1) in Reading Through the Ages

Feb 20, 2018 Jo rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Although not a huge consumer of crime novels when I do read them I almost always reach for historical crime. I was therefore very happy to find this series -late to the party it has to be said- set in the Tudor England of the titular Dissolution with Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour dead and the monasteries in turmoil.

In Matthew Shardlake, a lawyer working under Thomas Cromwell, we have a main character who rather than the mental and emotional flaws that so often personifies detectives and other cr Although not a huge consumer of crime novels when I do read them I almost always reach for historical crime. I was therefore very happy to find this series -late to the party it has to be said- set in the Tudor England of the titular Dissolution with Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour dead and the monasteries in turmoil.

In Matthew Shardlake, a lawyer working under Thomas Cromwell, we have a main character who rather than the mental and emotional flaws that so often personifies detectives and other crime fighters, is physically disabled in the form of a hunchback. This disfigurement in an age where physical appearance can be a reflection of the soul within, makes for interesting scenes for many believe that touching a hunchback, for example, is bad luck. In his journey to Scarnsea Abbey to investigate the death of a commissioner, Shardlake is accompanied by his antithesis, a handsome well-built but somewhat innocent aide, Mark Poer, far less interesting but a good counterbalance.

The monks are all well fleshed out particularly physically and often sufficiently creepy and repellant although there are a few that are of true faith. Issues of sodomy and sexual harassment, racism and general cruelty to others are portrayed and Matthew Shardlake himself is shown to be flawed, but essentially good. Hints are dropped as to the identity of the murderer but there are enough red herrings to keep you unsure, cognizant before Shardlake but not by much. It was also fascinating to see the portrait of Thomas Cromwell, who makes cameo appearances, and compare it to the one Hilary Mantel paints in her brilliant two novels.

The mystery doesn’t move fast until the end but in the details of the Abbey, the atmosphere of the bitter winter and the machinations of the monks, the novel is about scene setting and historical events, showing not only the life of a monastery but the lives of the common people who are barely scraping by. It illustrates what a huge part religion played in the lives of the European population but how power, lands and money were inextricably intertwined with this –as it is today.

CJ Sansom writes a balanced picture of the Dissolution process, illustrating the decadence of some of the monks but also the faith of others and how greed and violence begets more of the same. You end the novel uncertain whether Dissolution and the destroying of so many beautiful buildings was necessary but enjoying the journey through this period and the characters it features, in particular Shardlake, who I shall be following eagerly in the five books that follow this one
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Nov 04, 2017 Roz rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Excellent ending to the reading year!

Sansom has put together an intricate murder mystery, along with a vivid historical setting, and characters that walk off the page. In all, he got the trifecta right, resulting in a gripping read, the more real for its accurate feel and its realistic characters. I am definitely going to give the next book a chance!

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