Lamentation

This gripping new novel by the inventive C. J. Sansom shows that, when it comes to intriguing Tudor-based narratives, Hilary Mantel has a serious rival . . . Lamentation is sure to give Sansom’s many fans further cause for jubilationSunday Times

Shardlake’s back and better than ever . . . Lamentation, like its predecessors, is a triumph both as detective fiction and as a novel . . . Sansom’s deep feeling for the psychology of religious faith and for the defenceless makes him, in my view, superior to Hilary Mantel.Independent

Sansom is highly skilled at weaving together the threads of his plot with the real and riveting history . . . Lamentation is a wonderful, engaging read. The atmosphere of fear and suspicion is brilliantly renderedThe Times

As always, Sansom conjures the atmosphere, costumes and smells of Tudor London with vigour, from the gilded halls of Whitehall Palace to the dungeons of the Tower . . . once Shardlake finds himself in real jeopardy [the novel] quickly picks up pace, all the way to a shocking climax that promises to mark a new chapter for Shardlake, and for EnglandObserver