SPQR VIII: The River God's Vengeance [Hardcover]

John Maddox Roberts (Author)

Book Description

Series: SPQR | Publication Date: January 19, 2004

Ancient Rome, in this accurate and evocative series, is just as politics driven as any major American city -- possibly even more. Decius Caecilius Metellus has, through a series of rather wild adventure, and in the act of tracking down killers and other reprobates, barely escaped annhilation several times. Now, newly elected to the office of aedile, the lowest rung on the ladder of Roman authority, he must smoke out corruption and conspiracy that threaten to destroy all of Rome.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Roberts's entertaining, fast-paced Roman historical, his eighth to feature Decius Caecilius Metellus (after 2003's The Tribune's Curse), Decius has just become an aedile, a city manager responsible for overseeing urban infrastructure, when he's summoned to a fatal building collapse that claims more than 200 lives. While the evidence of shoddy workmanship is consistent with the pervasive but tolerated corruption in the construction trade, Decius's trained investigative eye notes anomalies on several of the corpses; he risks his political future and his life to follow the clues. His powerful family's efforts to navigate the treacherous shifting alliances that preceded Julius Caesar's return from the Gallic Wars add to the pressures the aedile faces. Once again, Roberts does a nice job of bringing the past to life, though his scholarship and detail fall short of Steven Saylor's Roma Sub Rosa series, which serves as the gold standard for ancient historicals. Despite the small universe of suspects and a solution involving nearly as much luck as dogged legwork, the book's many fine qualities should boost the ranks of Roberts's readers and send newcomers in search of the previous entries.
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About the Author

John Maddox Roberts is the author of several science fiction, private eye, and fantasy novels in addition to his popular SPQR mystery series. He lives in New Mexico.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1st edition (January 19, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312323190
• ISBN-13: 978-0312323196
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #494,640 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Maddox Roberts has written numerous works of science fiction and fantasy, in addition to his successful historical SPQR mystery series. He lives in New Mexico with his wife.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great fun. Fascinating historical mystery, March 5, 2004

By 

booksforabuck "BooksForABuck" (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: SPQR VIII: The River God's Vengeance (Hardcover)

Roman tenement apartments fall down all the time and aedile Decius Caecilius Metellus figures this is just another straightforward prosecution of building code violations. But as he investigates, he discovers that the pattern of late Roman Republican corruption has spread even further into the city than he had imagined. The building collapse might not be just bad building materials, but premeditated murder. And his investigations put him in both physical danger and at odds with his powerful family. And then there are the filthy sewers. With the Tiber River set to flood, the sewers seem ready to back up. To a good Roman, the crimes threaten to go beyond criminal all the way to impious.

Decius makes a wonderful and memorable character with his offhand comments on Roman society, on figures like Caesar, Pompey, and Cicero that have become history, and with his strangely consistent attitudes toward corruption and friendship. This case pushes Decius outside of his comfort zone--making him deal with the one man he hates more than any other--the stuffy Cato. It also gives him plenty of opportunity to walk the streets of ancient Rome, dodge the gangs fighting for control of the dying republic, and give his pithy observations on the curious and fascinating social structures that made Rome work.

Author John Maddox Roberts does a fine job recreating a critical period in world history, delivering an interesting mystery that fits the historical period, and offering a fascinating first-person protagonist. I found myself laughing out loud at Decius's observations on his world--and his thoughts on humanity in general. Roberts's writing is fast-paced and compelling. I read the book in a single sitting then checked to make sure there weren't more books in the series that I need to get my hands on right away. I recommend THE RIVER GOD'S VENGEANCE to anyone who enjoys history, democratic government, or a rollicking good mystery.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As brilliant as ever, April 15, 2005

By 

ilmk "ilmk" (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The River God's Vengeance (SPQR VIII) (Paperback)

Decius Quintus Caecilius Metellus is back for his eighth installment and JMR doesn't disappoint.
It's the interregnum of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio Nasica and our erstwhile hero is three months into his first aedileship having returned from Gaul from his previous outing with Julius Caesar. Being responsible for the maintenance of Rome's public buildings and highways he finds himself picking over the rubble of a collapsed insula, while some astute observations from Hermes, his irreverent personal slave, leads him to commence an investigation of a shoddy construction business that has claimed the lives of the slaves Galatea and Antaeus and over two hundred more inhabitants. And all this whilst he is preparing his own costly munera in order to fulfil his political ambition.
As ever, the culprits are somewhat higher up the political ladder than he initially thinks and several warnings from people including his own paterfamilias do not deter our sleuth with a reputation for intractable honesty from launching into a full investigation. Both he and Hermes work their way through dishonest construction foremen, previous aediles, censors, brothels, the Cloaca Maxima and the Forum before uncovering a crime of passion that was merely a pointer to a greater corruption. In the end the initial deaths were some what justified and Decius neatly sinks two great men during an eventful four days, during which the Tiber river floods ensuring, as Marcius Porcius Cato so neatly concludes: "the finest manifestation of divine will in my lifetime".
As ever there are an assortment of colourful characters including Caninus, Marcus Aemilius Scauras, Justus, Harmodias, Lucilius, Folius and Messala. With him are the Greek physician Asklepiodes and his wife Julia, niece of Caesar.
The cast move around Decius with slow inexorability as his Socratic sleuthing takes him into the mire of truth in a manner that is perfect to read. JMR took a long break after the opening novel of the SPQR series but his return in recent novels has proven a major success in the world of the ancient murder mystery. Whilst he showed the likes of Saylor and Davis what to do all those years ago, his newest efforts are right up their with them. Any fan of the genre must read and own JMR's SPQR series and I eagerly look forward to `The Princess and the Pirates'.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable series, July 14, 2004

By 

Judson Roberts (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: SPQR VIII: The River God's Vengeance (Hardcover)

I found this to be another enjoyable entry in an entertaining series. The SPQR series is set in the last days of the Roman Republic, as powerful men, including Julius Caesar, Pompey, Crassus, and various lesser figures, including the heads of criminal gangs within the city of Rome, compete against each other to gain power over Rome. Each novel in the series fits a mystery plot into actual historical events of the period. The protagonist, a young nobleman who is an idealistic believer in the Republic, always fights hard not only to solve the mystery confronting him, but also to protect the Republic. An intrepid investigator, he invariably solves the mystery, but sees the Republic nevertheless growing ever more endangered as the series progresses.

While the main characters are not as strongly created as those in Lindsey Davis' somewhat similar mystery series, set later during the Roman Empire, the author's wryly humorous reinterpretations of Roman history and the figures who shaped it never fail to entertain.