Alex Gough

Carbo and friends head down to Nola to have a look at the farm which was part of his discharge bounty. A group of bandits is preying on travellers on the roads round about.

It was obvious who the chief bandit was long before the big reveal which was supposed to give it away. I was fooled by the misdirection about his partner. The book was too violent and depressing for my taste, though it may well be closer to real life at the time for those outside the elite. The blurb for the next one sounds even worse, so I'll leave the series here.… (altro)

Carbo, a retired legionary, returns to Rome and becomes the owner of a bar. A childhood friend turns to him for help when she realises her daughter has been singled out to become a human sacrifice.

The author's style keeps the reader's attention and makes this an easy read. I've read enough of the genre to recognise certain tropes/cliches in the plot but not enough to be annoyed or bored by them. Many of the characters are stereotypes (evil foreign cult leader, treacherous eunuch) but if you are tolerant of formulaic storytelling without anything new or fresh, it does its job competently enough.… (altro)

I was so glad to meet up with Carbo and other old friends--Vespillo, Vatius, Marsia, and Sica--after such a long hiatus! I was beginning to despair there would be no more Carbo. Still with PTSD after his Teutoburg experience and also deeply mourning the loss of his wife, Carbo has sunk into the "slough of despond", using compulsive wine drinking and gambling to numb him. A mentally disturbed serial killer runs riot against what he considers immoral and undesirable people, leaving graffiti such as "Rome must be purified" at the murder scenes, which do get grisly. Besides having hit bottom, Carbo loses everything when betting on a chariot team and is left absolutely poverty-stricken. Then, Carbo is accused of the crime and the story has his friends trying to ensnare the killer and prove his innocence. After such terrible experiences Carbo goes through, I really like the steadfastness of his friends, their belief in him and how they rallied around him.

Highly recommended.… (altro)