Sacrilege: A Novel (originale 2012; edizione 2012)

Un pur bonheur! C’est un plaisir immense de vivre le temps d’une enquête aux côté du merveilleux Giordano Bruno. J’adore Giordano Bruno. C’est incontestablement le personnage historique de j’admire le plus de toute l’histoire. La quintessence du savant brillant, indépendant, libre, visionnaire et qui ira malheureusement jusqu’au bûcher de l’inquisition pour défendre ses idées.
Et sans dénaturer cet esprit sublime, SJ Parris en à fait un personnage de fiction magnifique. Avec ses convictions, son talent, ses idées mais aussi ses doutes et ses faiblesses. Passionnément attachant, immensément séduisant.
Dans ce troisième opus, l’intrique est de plus très réussie, un fond fond historique qui suscite l’intérêt et la curiosité, des rebondissements, de l’action, du suspense, et beaucoup d’émotions. Et des personnages secondaires riches et complexes, et enfin, un dénouement intelligent et surprenant. Pour moi, juste parfait! ( )

This is the third in the author's Giordano Bruno series. This time the action and the inevitable Catholic plot are centred around the precincts of Canterbury cathedral, an area which I know well, which added depth to the novel for me. The plot was rather convoluted, involving a fake miracle and the bones of St Thomas a Becket. It's colourful and absorbing and there were some interesting minor characters such as old Meg, Rebecca and Brother Anselm, but it doesn't have the impact on me of C J Sansom's novels. I think the issue for me is partly that, while Bruno is a fascinating figure in the history of religion and science, he is just not really plausible as a sleuth and spy, given that he stands out so much in Elizabethan England. ( )

Parris continues her Tudor England mysteries starring Gordiano Bruno - ex-monk, radical thinker, ladies' man, Elizabethan spy and solver of murders. Sacrilege is set in Canterbury, then a claustrophobic, inward-looking town fearful of strangers and strangenesses. Bruno has arrived to determine the true killer of his friends' husband and to determine if Canterbury is still loyal to the Queen or is being swayed to the French cause. Parris writes well and keeps the reader guessing through to the end with plenty of narrative twists and colourful characters. SHe is clearly at ease with the period, but for me there is not enough detail about the daily life in Elizabethan England to fully draw the reader into the period. Parris knows a lot about Tudor England and should let more of that knowledge bleed onto the page. ( )

A gripping historical thriller set in sixteenth-century England and centered on the highly secretive cult of Saint Thomas Becket, the twelfth-century archbishop murdered in Canterbury Cathedral.

London, summer of 1584: Radical philosopher, ex-monk, and spy Giordano Bruno suspects he is being followed by an old enemy. He is shocked to discover that his pursuer is in fact Sophia Underhill, a young woman with whom he was once in love. When Bruno learns that Sophia has been accused of murdering her husband, a prominent magistrate in Canterbury, he agrees to do anything he can to help clear her name.

In the city that was once England's greatest center of pilgrimage, Bruno begins to uncover unsuspected secrets that point to the dead man being part of a larger and more dangerous plot in the making. He must turn his detective's eye on history—on Saint Thomas Becket, the twelfth-century archbishop murdered in Canterbury Cathedral, and on the legend surrounding the disappearance of his body—in order to solve the crime.

As Bruno's feelings for Sophia grow more intense, so does his fear that another murder is about to take place—perhaps his own. But more than Bruno's life is at stake in this vividly rendered, impeccably researched, and addictively page-turning whodunit—the stability of the kingdom hangs in the balance as Bruno hunts down a brutal murderer in the shadows of England's most ancient cathedral. ( )

This is a book about power and betrayal. The first quarter reads as a rather dull fairy story, then the investigation kicks in and things pick up. The setting is over-described and the characters tend to be inconsistent or thin. There are a couple of strong set pieces and the general perspective of the presentation is intriguing. Some passages and characters borrow rather too heavily from Shardlake. ( )