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Books : Fiction : Contemporary Fiction: 1970 Onwards : Authors A-Z : S : Saylor, Steven
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Steven Saylor's seventh instalment in his Roma Sub Rosa series begins with a character saying, "Pompey will be mightily pissed." Scholars might argue that there is no evidence of this particular synonym for anger ever being used in 49 BC, but the author would no doubt respond that poetic license includes doing whatever it takes to bridge the gap for modern audiences. And indeed, the head of the Roman Senate is mightily pissed. Rome is on the verge of another civil war and the forces of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony have crossed the Rubicon River and are marching toward the capital. To top it all off, one of Pompey's favourite cousins has been garrotted to death.Before Pompey flees the city, he asks Rome's greatest detective, Gordianus the Finder, to solve the murder. But Pompey has reason to distrust Gordianus, who may have an allegiance with Caesar. To force his loyalty, Pompey seizes the detective's son-in-law and makes him join his household army. By doing so, he ensures that Gordianus's involvement in the coming conflict will be a very personal one. Confused and troubled, Gordianus walks through Rome toward the house of his former friend and mentor, the poet Cicero. "All around me, I felt the uneasiness of the city, like a sleeper in the throes of a nightmare." Awakening from the nightmare, surviving the chaos and solving this whodunit will be the Finder's toughest battle yet. --Dick Adler
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Steven Saylor's series of thrillers about Gordianus the Finder play cleverly with what we think we know about the last days of the Roman Republic. Gordianus does the legwork for prosecutors and defenders in a system of trials which have become increasingly politicised; even his former patron Cicero has become less interested in justice than in winning and Gordianus is, almost notoriously, the last honest man in Rome. Most of his cases deal with murder trials in which Cicero appeared--part of the fun of reading Saylor is his attentive reading of the great advocate's brilliantly partisan rhetoric. And for those less interested in such intellectual games, the books are attractively atmospheric, showing a Rome still small enough for everyone to know each other's business. Here Gordianus finds himself investigating the murder of a former mentor, Dio, a philosopher and leader of an embassy from Egypt; the triumvirs, Pompey, Caesar and Crassus, are contemplating annexing Egypt and its exiled king is only too prepared to act as their catspaw. And Gordianus finds himself the ally of Clodius and Clodia, the two most notoriously dissolute siblings ...There is nothing so deceptive as what we think we know and Gordianus is as often tricked here as is the reader. --Roz Kaveney
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There are those who say that Steven Saylor's stunningly atmospheric novels featuring an ancient Roman sleuth are the last word in this particular genre. But there are also those who say that Lindsey Davis's Falco (in her own series of Roman mysteries) is every inch the equal of Saylor's Gordianus the Finder. Actually, it doesn't matter a damn who does this kind of thing best: both writers are such masters of their craft, that readers should be grateful two such adroit practitioners are working at the height of their powers. The latest in Saylor's Roma sub Rosa series, Last Seen in Massilia, is probably his most compelling yet, and his wry hero's first-person narration again pulls off the brilliant sleight-of-hand of transplanting a modern sensibility into a denizen of the ancient world, while always avoiding anachronism. As a guide through the bloody back alleys of Rome and the decadent splendours of its Senatorial palaces, Gordianus is non-pareil: the perfect cynical survivor.The Roman world is torn apart by a civil war, and Caesar and Pompey struggle for ascendancy. But life goes on pretty much as normal for Gordianus, who receives an anonymous message telling him that his son is dead. Meto was playing the dangerous game of acting as a double agent for Caesar, and as Gordianus tries to find who is behind the murder, he finds himself in the blockaded seaport of Massilia, with famine and bloodshed an ever-present threat. And as he pursues what seems an impossible quest, Gordianus' only friend in the city has been chosen by the corrupt officials to die for the sins of a populace and stave off catastrophe. And then there is the young woman Gordianus has seen fall from the Sacrifice Rock outside the city.
Saylor's plotting remains as deliriously convoluted as ever, while his grasp of historical detail never falters. The reader, while transfixed by the narrative, is continually aware of the sights and smells of the eternal city when it was the centre of the civilised world. One reads each new Gordianus novel thinking, "Is this the one in which Saylor loses that golden touch?" But so far, it hasn't happened--the burnish the author gives his work still dazzles.
--Barry Forshaw
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There are those who say that Steven Saylor's stunningly atmospheric novels featuring an ancient Roman sleuth are the last word in this particular genre. But there are also those who say that Lindsey Davis's Falco (in her own series of Roman mysteries) is every inch the equal of Saylor's Gordianus the Finder. Actually, it doesn't matter a damn who does this kind of thing best: both writers are such masters of their craft, that readers should be grateful two such adroit practitioners are working at the height of their powers. The latest in Saylor's Roma sub Rosa series, Last Seen in Massilia, is probably his most compelling yet, and his wry hero's first-person narration again pulls off the brilliant sleight-of-hand of transplanting a modern sensibility into a denizen of the ancient world, while always avoiding anachronism. As a guide through the bloody back alleys of Rome and the decadent splendours of its Senatorial palaces, Gordianus is non-pareil: the perfect cynical survivor.The Roman world is torn apart by a civil war, and Caesar and Pompey struggle for ascendancy. But life goes on pretty much as normal for Gordianus, who receives an anonymous message telling him that his son is dead. Meto was playing the dangerous game of acting as a double agent for Caesar, and as Gordianus tries to find who is behind the murder, he finds himself in the blockaded seaport of Massilia, with famine and bloodshed an ever-present threat. And as he pursues what seems an impossible quest, Gordianus' only friend in the city has been chosen by the corrupt officials to die for the sins of a populace and stave off catastrophe. And then there is the young woman Gordianus has seen fall from the Sacrifice Rock outside the city.
Saylor's plotting remains as deliriously convoluted as ever, while his grasp of historical detail never falters. The reader, while transfixed by the narrative, is continually aware of the sights and smells of the eternal city when it was the centre of the civilised world. One reads each new Gordianus novel thinking, "Is this the one in which Saylor loses that golden touch?" But so far, it hasn't happened--the burnish the author gives his work still dazzles.
--Barry Forshaw
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