| Lustrum is Robert Harris's third venture into the world | | | | Lustrum pokes a stick at all those responsible, two |
| of ancient Rome, after Pompeii and Imperium. Lustrum | | | | thousand years or so apart. |
| is a sequel to Imperium, featuring the same characters, | | | | Never underestimate a stick poker. |
| primarily the lawyer and schemer, Cicero, and the main | | | | The story develops into an outright conflict between |
| man himself, Julius Caesar. | | | | the two main characters, Cicero and Caesar, narrated |
| Of course you can't have Caesar without his main rival | | | | through the eyes of Cicero's slave and secretary, Tiro. |
| too, Pompey, and he is there with his vainglorious | | | | As with all of Robert Harris's works it is wonderfully |
| victory parades as he tries to garner support and | | | | well researched and written, though for me this is not |
| favours, just like the all rest. | | | | one of his most exciting works. Plenty of others |
| The story opens with the discovery of a child's | | | | disagree. Please make up your own mind. |
| mutilated body, fished from the banks of the river | | | | Lustrum is Mister Harris's seventh work of fiction and |
| Tiber. It bears all the signs of a ritualistic killing, but who | | | | all have been bestsellers and it is easy to see why, but |
| would do such a terrible thing? | | | | where would you rank this one against the others? |
| No shortage of candidates as it turns out. | | | | Fifth or sixth for me, but as I say, others see things |
| This book is all about politics, just as his previous book | | | | differently. |
| Ghost was. It looks into the justice and rights and | | | | This is, we are told, the second of a trilogy, which |
| wrongs of waging wars in overseas territories, and | | | | presumably fits in with the somewhat loose ending. |
| questions if such things are really needed, or | | | | May be the third and final act in the play will bring the |
| necessary. Sound familiar? It should, and it's not the | | | | curtain down with a bang, and that might make us |
| only thing that rings true today, as politicians bend the | | | | want to re-read Lustrum too, and re-evaluate it, and |
| truth and bring influence to bear to get what they really | | | | that is no bad thing either. |
| want. | | | | |