Dark Fire – by CJ Sansom
The second of fifty-two books I will read this year is Dark Fire. A cajoling crime novel set in Henry VIII’s sixteenth century London. Falling from the pen of Christopher Sansom, himself qualified to practice law in England and Wales, the plot follows humble, honest, and yet streetwise barrister Matthew Shardlake as he investigates a murder and the disappearance of the eponymous Dark Fire. You take a curious character, hump and all, and drop him in the thick of the historic plots against Thomas Cromwell.
I should be candid. This is not a great work of literature. I have not yet acquired new books to read and so while I struggle to find the time to visit my local library I have taken to borrowing books from the shelves of willing friends. Sansom brings the plot along at wondrous pace and where I found myself sometimes lonely and wandering in works such as Captain Corelli’s Mandolin or Music and Silence there is not a moment to spare for middle aged Matthew as he hurries around the capital unearthing a slew of plots and bodies on the way.
While there are those who have complained about the constant references to the weather I found them refreshingly repetitive. After all, my own life is full of comments about the weather, it’s an important part of practically every conversation I am involved in. Well, perhaps at least those which include strangers. For the peripatetic hero, Shardlake to make a reference or two to the weather in London felt very natural to me. So much so that I wouldn’t have even commented on it should it not have been picked up elsewhere.
When he isn’t commenting on the weather or feeling hungry Master Shardlake is a very entertaining man to follow. His honesty with not only others but with himself is a delight to follow. I would perhaps have preferred it if he had remained an entirely sedentary character but must wistfully admit that his involvement in the little physical action in the book does lend to the drama of the novel as a whole.
Despite the lack of splendour in the writing the novel provided plenty of entertainment. I suppose I should say something of what it is about, but I’m not going to. At least, not beyond mentioning that the discovery of a barrel of Greek Fire serves as an excellent vehicle for a romp around the London of the time with all of its customs, features, persons and laws well explained and explored by an intriguing character. I learned all too late that this is the third in a trilogy. Will I read the first? No. The third? Probably.
Mind you I would be most pleased if I could write something like this.
Word of the day: Abscission
-noun
1 – The act of cutting off; sudden termination
2 – Botany. The normal separation of leaves, petals, and fruit from plants
