Customer Reviews

The Jupiter Myth

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Couple of firsts here for Davis. Initially a direct continuance from `A Body in the Bathhouse' where the culprit who Marcus had exiled to Gaul, turns up in Londinium as the murdered party, secondly Marcus has a more personal reason for investigating the case. A step away from his usual informing, though it is given an official air by Hilarius and Frontinus, the Roman Britain procurator and governor, respectively. What Davis also does, is impose an even tighter deadline for Marcus to carry out his sleuthing, than in the preceding novel.
After the somewhat muddied effort in `Bathhouse', the Jupiter Myth is a better offering from Davis (however, I still believe Marcus is at his very best when operating in the familiar surroundings of Rome). It is, however, very slow after opening with Verovolcus' body headfirst in the Shower of Gold's well. By the end, it is ironic that this murder was more a catalyst for the remaining action, rather than particularly relevant. In fact, more effort is given to Marcus' search for Petro who inexplicably takes off over the first hundred-plus pages than any cohesive effort at establishing motive and suspects. Indeed, Petronius' behaviour doesn't match with the character Davis has so painstakingly created over the series. His rough treatment of Marcus, ordering him to stay out of it before he gets killed is blatantly ignored in the immediate as the pair begin to openly meet. I am still not entirely sure what the purpose of the scene was.
Other than mutterings about a widespread protection racket and liberal descriptions of Londinium after Boudicca's revolt the book then stumbles through until we meet Marcus' old flame - the new gladiatrix Amzonia, more personally known as Chloris. It is at the point the entire novel is rescued as Davis' writing lifts, the action becomes precise, fast-flowing and Marcus becomes the fast-witted informer we all love.
We leap from a battle in Londinium's wooden ampitheatre (Helena even gets involved with a pack of dogs), to ballistae at warehouses, legionary fights at locales to the breathless end with Petro's saving and Maia's somewhat exasperated final action.
So, a tale of two parts. On the first part you could see a continuance of `A Body in the Bathhouse' in that it was beoming more and more evident that Falco doesn't travel very well. However, in the second part, Davis rescues it with the final hours from Maia's `capture' to the breaking of the racketeering gang. Perhaps this is due to the fact that, this time, Rome follows Falco to Britain and thus the easy familiarity is readily established. By the end of the novel Falco is back to his sleuthing best with plenty of action thrown in making this latest installment a delight to read. However, his insistence on going `home' to Rome, gives hope that the whole of Falco's next installment (The Accusers) will be back to its very best.

I generally like it when Falco goes out of town. Falco gets to make fun of the colonials, and Davis gets to descibe a new setting and (often) a different cuture. But Falco shouldn't be out of town for too long at a time.

The Jupiter Myth was fairly well executed, but it had two major problems.

First of all, Falco works best when he alternates between the provinces and Rome. Two books in the same province (Body In The Bathhouse, Jupiter Myth) are too much. Especially a province where he has already been (The Silver Pigs). It is obvious that for a British author there is a certain natural appeal to setting the books in Britain, but I'd rather see Falco continue to be on the move. The endless references to Britain's weather are somewhat trying (especially to a reader from a rainy climate, like me). I want to just shake Falco and tell him, "Get over it, already!"

The second problem is the Helena dispute. It seems so forced. Falco has a rough past, but never once has he been anything but devoted to Helena since they first met. Why now would she suddenly take seriously a chance meeting with an old flame? I think Davis is looking for a substitution for the old tension between Falco and Helena from back before Falco was established enough for them to securely marry. This isn't the right way to do it, though. It just seems out of character for Helena.

The story was also rather grim, almost as grim as The Silver Pigs. Beloved children die, mobsters corrupt the town, problems erupt between Helena and Marcus, a very morose Petro wanders around in a funk ... it certainly is not a happy story. Even for a murder mystery.

On the whole, though, I liked it. Falco and Helena are still engaging characters, and their companions are all nicely three dimensional. I look forward to the return to Rome.

Perhaps what is needed is a new perspective. I wonder what a Falco book would be like from Helena's point of view? Or Petro's?

I was introduced to Falco through my daughter's Latin teacher, who loaned us all of the books except this one. I whipped through them all, loving Falco, Helena, and all the rest of the colorful characters. I also liked this one, though it was darker than the others. It might have been the gloomy/chilly/too hot weather (Falco is never happy about the weather!). It might have been the reports of the deaths of two children back in Rome, though I'm pretty sure this was a common occurance. It might just have been Falco's black mood through most of the book. He seemed to be sulking just a bit, wanting to go back to sunny Rome, not staying in murky Britain with his wife's relatives. Either way, I enjoyed it a lot. Fans of the Falco mysteries will, too. Beginners should start with the first one.

Lindsey Davis is the author of the hugely popular series about Marcus Didius Falco, her detective from the first century, AD. This episode, occurring in 75AD relocates Falco and his family to Londinium, the Roman London of today. A hemchman of a tribal king is found drowned in a barrel. This places the Roamns in a diplomatic quandry as they must discover the murderer to satisfy the king. Falco is called upon to solve the crime. His investigation takes him to the dregs of this early settlement where we are treated to a virtual tour of London, 75AD.
This is the second year in a row that Lindsey Davis has been nominated for the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger, an award she previously received. The problem that I had with the last book was a feeling that there was a general lack of authenticity. The characters and the locale was so remniscent of today that it just as well could have been a modern crime novel. This is almost certainly intentional on the part of the author. This is not the problem at all with this current volume. Londinium is described in loving detail. The early Londoner's recreation, entertainment, living arrangements, bars, shops are all rendered with care. What was perceived by myself as the major weakness of the last book is the major strength of this one. Characters are well known to the readers of the series including Falco's family. They are very well rendered and are another strength of this work. The major weakness is the tepid plot that barely holds this book together as we plod through the pages endlessly progressing to the uninspiring conclusion. I am not yet a fan of this series.

Marcus Didius Falco and his family are waiting to return to Rome after a successful investigation in Britain when a body is discovered in a bar well. Falco is an informant so he gets the job of investigating. Unfortunately, the dead man was one Falco knew--a criminal. And Falco soon learns that the death is associated with a criminal gang that seems to have virtually taken over Roman London. Falco's problems escalate when his wife adopts a teenaged runaway girl, and when Falco himself runs into the lover he left behind--a beautiful acrobat who has become a female gladiator.

In the first century A.D., Roman Britain is still fresh, Rome is still an expanding power, and Britain is the ragged edge of Empire. Still, Roman customs are being introduced to Britain--baths, gladiators, olives, and wine. And the gods, of course. But it takes a while for Falco to determine that there is a connection between all of the wineshops, whorehouses, and theaters named after Jupiter. The connection is the gang--a gang that is another very Roman innovation in Britain. And it turns out that Falco and his best friend Petronius Longus had faced that gang before, back in Rome.

Author Lindsey Davis does a fine job drawing a picture of early Empire law enforcement. In each of the Falco books, Falco seems to emerge as a more interesting character and his relationship with Helena continues to deepen. Politics and corruption are not modern inventions and Davis describes the ancient version of the Mafia in intriguing detail. In THE JUPITER MYTH, Falco spends a lot of time chasing badguys, battling for his life and generally adventuring rather than sneakily crime-solving, but that doesn't keep MYTH from being an exciting story and even, occasionally, a heart-warming romance.

"Spartacus" and JULIUS CAESAR meet "Goodfellas" in this Ancient Rome mystery that's literally classic noir. You can smell the wine and the sweat from a female gladiator named Amazonia, a.k.a. femme fatale (literally) Chloris, who's just one of the complications auditor and secret Roman Empire sleuth Marcus Didius Falco, happily maried to partner in solving crime Helena, runs into while on holiday in Britain after an old enemy, Verovolcus, who's connected to native Britain king Togidubnus, is found stuffed down a well in a gin, er, wine joint named the Shower of Gold, after the form Jupiter (that's Zeus to you Greek fans) took to seduce one of his many conquests.

The description of ancient Romans living with ancient Britons is a vivid portrait of the age and the headaches of colonization. Marcus, formerly a man acquainted with the seamy side of life that old girlfriend Chrloris represents, now finds himself going up against it again when he uncovers evidence that Verovolcus' death may be linked to organized crime through a wimp of a mob boss whom Tony Soprano would whack on the spot. Not only that, the wimp boss in question has a personal grudge against hero and Falco friend L. Petronius Longus, who in turn has a personal, intimate tension with Falco's widowed sister Maia, who, in true noir tradition, reportedly is kidnapped by the mob in the book's final third.

But all is not as it seems...and you'll have fun deciphering the ending with Marcus and his cast of strong women.

After Marcus Didio Falco solved the mystery of A BODY IN THE BATHOUSE, the thirteenth book in the Marcus Didio Falco Mystery Series, the Falcos planned to remain in Londinium for a vacation, staying with relatives. Then, a man suspiciously drowns at a local pub and the Falcos learn they will be staying in Londinium a little longer than they'd first anticipated.

Roman London, A.D. 75, is nothing like modern day London. It's primitive. With its imminent and endless downpours muddying the roads and the hearts and souls of its people, Londinium is the perfect setting for a murder mystery noir. The only smiles in this dark tale are those the reader leaks out in response to our sarcastic sleuth's wry comments to himself and others. How apropos that the unfortunate murder victim is drowned behind a pub on the wrong side of town.

Solving the murder isn't the only mystery in town. Keeping track of the suspects and the story lines is like trying to watch sideshows at the Circus Maximus. Who was the murdered man and why is his demise of such interest to the king and to Rome? Who is the waif Marcus's wife, Helena, rescues from the streets? What is Marcus's best friend, Petro, doing in London and why is he hiding from Marcus? What does Jupiter have to do with London? Why would Amazonia, the infamous female gladiator, have Marcus seized by her troops?

The plots are as thick with theories and red herrings as the streets and rivers of Londinium are with sludge, muck and bodies. Getting to know Marcus, his family and colleagues starting with this book, the fourteenth in the series, is like trying to understand I, Claudius beginning with its seventh episode. History buffs will enjoy the maps and historical references, noir fans will enjoy the ever-present gloom and disorder, and THE JUPITER MYTH will likely be best appreciated and enjoyed by faithful followers of the Marcus Didio Falco Mystery Series.

Lindsey Davis is now well into double figures with her Falco novels. They say that most people have a good book inside them, but to be able to write consistently good novels with innovative plots is a gift.

I believe it was a conscious effort on the part of Lindsey Davis to take Falco out of his normal surrounding and freshen her storylines up with a visit to Roman London.

Of course no sooner has Marcus Didius Falco and his wife Helena, who's breeding and background should put her far out of the reach of a rascal like Falco hit the streets of Londinium than a body is found stuffed down the well of a wine bar.

The unfortunate victim is a henchman of King Togidubnus an important ally of Rome.

Falco needs to pull out all the stops to find the murderer and placate the powers that be, but many things are about to happen before the mystery can be solved.

Keep it up Lindsey.

First, the positive, Lindsey Davis has skillfully worked new discoveries of London in the time of Roman occupation into the fabric of an interesting plot centering on corruption and organized criminal enforcers. The author injects some humor by allowing the reader to contrast the London of today with the dingy alleys of drab Londinium.

The bad news is that this novel is written well below Davis's usual standard with clumps of text in clumsy declarative sentences that are couched in passive construction. Even a fight scene in the arena, with criminals facing a band of female gladiators, is written in this flat colorless style. Passages of excellent writing would engage my interest and then suddenly I would be wading through dead prose as if the author was just going through the motions. It was like reading an outline with no life given to the characters and no urgency in the plot. I think the writer may lose some interest when her hero Marcus Didius Falco is working outside of Rome. I know I do. I almost gave this only two stars.

Well, continuing right along in our visit to rainy barbarian Britain, now we are in dark and dingy London town in its early days, certainly before civilisation got a good foothold. There is hope, however, for what is the new appearance there of a Roman criminal gang but the other side of Roman civilization, a sign London was becoming worthwhile?

Having resolved a problem with local ruler Togidubnus (in BODY), imperial agent Falco and his family intend to vacation with his patrician wife's cousins in London. "Intend" is the operative word. Falco soon stumbles on murder linked to that ruler, a protection racket, ugly enforcers, sharp practice, and shadowy bosses. Maybe these bosses are so shadowy because the setting is so often dark, muddy, and bleak--as life on the frontier must often have seemed to a true Roman.

Davis's acerbic wit is entertainingly honed here; in recent books it's been too too. Its anachronistic and decidedly British slang can be excused by the nationalities of the setting and the author. Both these books (BODY and JUPITER) show an increasingly literal and explicit archaeological basis for her descriptions of place in her novels. With her map it provides a better sense of distance and effort to the story's actions, and a better sense they might really have happened. The Londinium map even shows us how it "maps onto" (or rather is buried under) the center of modern London. Remarkable! Falco's adventures read like a tourist's guide to ancient London, too, as he explores its scruffy byways from top to bottom, from court to cantina, from an arena with the trendy idea of female gladiators, to criminal hangouts along the fetid Thames.

Falco and his police buddy, Petronius (who just happens to be in town on some unspecified mission), get into some very tight and dangerous corners. Long-time readers of this series will have noticed that Falco most readily gets into that sort of trouble when he hares off on his own. In his mind, noble causes often win out over caution or common sense teamwork, much to the frustration of his lovely wife, Helena. She is, once again, the most likable character in the whole series. With the children underfoot now, we don't see enough of her on the case.

It will be good to be quit of Britannia once again, by Jove, and returning to Rome where Davis shines.