In the year of 77 A.D., Marcus Didius Falco, Roman informer,
faces a summer full of sorrow. He finds relief from his
unexpected miseries by confronting a set of mysteries. A
couple who supplied Falco's father with statues has
disappeared after an altercation with the Claudii, their
brutal neighbors. His longtime friend, Petronius, is on the
case of a killer who mutilates his victims. But just as they
are making headway, Anacrites (the Chief Spy) takes the case
away from them making it clear the violent Claudii have the
highest form of protection in the empire. Falco and
Petronius refuse to give up, and continue to dig deeper;
especially as the case and the killer creep closer to their
homes and loved ones.
Long time and first time readers of the Falco
series will be thrilled with NEMESIS by Lindsey Davis.
Long time readers will be anxiously awaiting the next
installment featuring Marcus Didius. First time readers
likely will be downloading or buying the previous volumes
quicker than you can say "carpe diem."
Overall, I liked NEMESIS. I enjoyed the
characters' wit, and how Davis captured the family dynamics.
I loved how Marcus and Helena worked with, and
against, each other. However, the one aspect of the story I
didn't care for was the tendency for Marcus to act out of
character. For example, instead of being a respected
informer, he was the man left paying the tab after a big
meal.
The mystery will keep you guessing who, how, and
why, and then how again. You'll want to reread the book
just to see what all you've missed. You will find yourself
asking, "Oh, how could I have missed that?". Personally, I
will be counting down the days for the next Falco book.
The much awaited latest installment in this New York Times
bestselling series brings Marcus Didius Falco back to the
city of Rome and its deadly, convoluted intrigues
In the high summer of A.D. 77, Roman informer Marcus Didius
Falco is beset by personal problems. Newly bereaved and
facing unexpected upheavals in his life, it is a relief for
him to consider someone else’s misfortunes. A middle-aged
couple who supplied statues to his father, Geminus, have
disappeared under mysterious circumstances. They had an old
feud with a bunch of notorious freedmen, the Claudii, who
live rough in the pestilential Pontine Marshes, terrorizing
the neighborhood.
When a mutilated corpse turns up near Rome, Falco and his
vigiles friend Petronius investigate, even though it means
traveling in the dread marshes. But just as they are making
progress, the Chief Spy, Anacrites, snatches their case away
from them. As his rivalry with Falco escalates, he makes
false overtures of friendship, but fails to cover up the
fact that the violent Claudii have acquired corrupt
protection at the highest level. Making further enquiries
after they have been warned off can only be dangerous—but
when did that stop Falco and Petronius?
Egged on by the slippery bureaucrats who hate Anacrites, the
dogged friends dig deeper while a psychotic killer keeps
taking more victims, and the shocking truth creeps closer
and closer to home.
After Alexandria, the first book in this long-running series
to hit the New York Times Bestseller list, Lindsey Davis
brings her beloved characters and series back to Rome in a
book that brings together a number of long-running plot
threads to surprising and compelling conclusions.
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