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roshk99's review against another edition
4.0
Bruno is tasked with solving the apparent suicide of a man aboard Sir Francis Drakes' fleet docked in Plymouth with an urgency: the fleet is scheduled to leave for Spain and the New World. Could it be something in Sir Francis Drakes' past coming to haunt him, some Spanish espionage plot, or something else altogether? This book is full of twists and turns and is an entertaining read all around.
didactylos's review against another edition
4.0
I had to excuse the Indiana Jones bit in there which really was not necessary, or indeed credible.
Aside from that I did enjoy this, immersive Tudor period stuff, with a good range of characters and it did feel 'authentic' to me.
Aside from that I did enjoy this, immersive Tudor period stuff, with a good range of characters and it did feel 'authentic' to me.
helenephoebe's review against another edition
4.0
In general I don't enjoy this series as much as the Shardlake one by C.J. Sansom, but it is still a good series full of little details which make it quite clear that this is the 16th century. Having so many real characters like Giordano Bruno, Francis Walsingham, and Francis Drake makes us believe that the story could happen even though it is a novel. The mystery of this story was intriguing, and I kept thinking I'd guessed who was behind it, but then something changed. It was very clever and engagingly written, but lacking something I can't quite put my finger on which the Shardlake series has.
ingejanse's review against another edition
4.0
Wederom een sterk boek in de serie. Plymouth is een erg mooie setting, waarbij Parris slim gebruikmaakt van de combinatie van schepen in de haven en het dorp zelf als plek van handeling. Schrijfstijl is wederom heel soepel. Soms zou ze iets meer over de setting mogen zeggen om een sterker beeld op te roepen, maar het voordeel is wel dat het zo lekker snel blijft gaan.
Achteraf bleef ik wel met een paar vragen over, maar 95% van het verhaal lijkt rond, en dat is binnen dit genre al heel wat. De afronding voelt ook wat gehaast (opeens moeten er heel veel details ingevuld worden, wat binnen een paar pagina's gebeurt), en daardoor wat onbevredigend. Afijn, binnen het genre wederom een uitblinker. Blind gaan lezen als je van de combinatie Engeland, mysterie en de periode rond 1600 houdt.
Achteraf bleef ik wel met een paar vragen over, maar 95% van het verhaal lijkt rond, en dat is binnen dit genre al heel wat. De afronding voelt ook wat gehaast (opeens moeten er heel veel details ingevuld worden, wat binnen een paar pagina's gebeurt), en daardoor wat onbevredigend. Afijn, binnen het genre wederom een uitblinker. Blind gaan lezen als je van de combinatie Engeland, mysterie en de periode rond 1600 houdt.
krismcd59's review
4.0
My review of this book appears in Historical Novels Review issue 90 (November 2019):
Parris’s popular series of mysteries featuring the philosopher-martyr, Giordano Bruno, is being reissued by Pegasus in the US. The fourth in the series, Treachery, originally published in 2014, finds Bruno near the end of his real-life English adventures, traveling in 1585 to Plymouth with his patron and friend, the poet Sir Philip Sidney, to help Sir Francis Drake investigate the suspicious death of one of his sailors.
Parris has been justly praised for creating a sleuth who is both the very definition of a “Renaissance man,” but who speaks to modern readers in a voice full of wit and humanity. Because Bruno was a man ahead of his time (he was martyred in 1600 for heresy, having angered the church for embracing the “new” model of an infinite universe rather than the Church’s preferred geocentric model), he offers a refreshingly irreverent perspective on the now-familiar politics and intrigues of Tudor history. An Italian and an outsider, he both admires the English for their courage and practicality, while he understands the hypocrisy and venality of such familiar Tudor “stars” as Francis Walsingham and Queen Elizabeth, who have granted him a haven in England from persecution by the Inquisition, but who demand his investigative services in return. His powers of observation make him a gifted sleuth, and his personal charm invites all kinds of people, from street urchins to tavern keepers to passionate well-born widows, to trust him with their secrets.
This novel wears both its history and its procedural aspects lightly, focusing instead on vivid characterizations, careful description, and lively dialogue. References to his earlier adventures in previous novels are brief and serve chiefly to explain his emotional reactions, but this adventure works well on its own. It’s well worth the time it takes to meander through its nearly 600 pages.
Parris’s popular series of mysteries featuring the philosopher-martyr, Giordano Bruno, is being reissued by Pegasus in the US. The fourth in the series, Treachery, originally published in 2014, finds Bruno near the end of his real-life English adventures, traveling in 1585 to Plymouth with his patron and friend, the poet Sir Philip Sidney, to help Sir Francis Drake investigate the suspicious death of one of his sailors.
Parris has been justly praised for creating a sleuth who is both the very definition of a “Renaissance man,” but who speaks to modern readers in a voice full of wit and humanity. Because Bruno was a man ahead of his time (he was martyred in 1600 for heresy, having angered the church for embracing the “new” model of an infinite universe rather than the Church’s preferred geocentric model), he offers a refreshingly irreverent perspective on the now-familiar politics and intrigues of Tudor history. An Italian and an outsider, he both admires the English for their courage and practicality, while he understands the hypocrisy and venality of such familiar Tudor “stars” as Francis Walsingham and Queen Elizabeth, who have granted him a haven in England from persecution by the Inquisition, but who demand his investigative services in return. His powers of observation make him a gifted sleuth, and his personal charm invites all kinds of people, from street urchins to tavern keepers to passionate well-born widows, to trust him with their secrets.
This novel wears both its history and its procedural aspects lightly, focusing instead on vivid characterizations, careful description, and lively dialogue. References to his earlier adventures in previous novels are brief and serve chiefly to explain his emotional reactions, but this adventure works well on its own. It’s well worth the time it takes to meander through its nearly 600 pages.
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