Rome: The Emperor's Spy by M.C. Scott, Book Review

How many piles of books do you have on your bedside table? I now have two bedside tables with two piles each. As my friends will confirm I’m not very tidy, but I do have a book system: current crime fiction, novels I never got around to but mean to read one day soon, an assortment of books loaned to me by patient friends and, as yet, unread non-fiction books. The advantage of such an embarrassment of riches is that when I get a craving for a particular genre or period, I can usually lay my hands on something of interest quickly. So when, last week, I got a whopper of a hankering for something set in Ancient Rome I managed to locate M.C. Scott’s Rome: The Emperor’s Spy.

I heard Manda Scott speak at the Harrogate Crime Festival, but never got around to reading any of her works. She struck me as an interesting person who would have a lot to say and I’m only sorry I didn’t read any of her works sooner, perhaps her well-known Boudica series.

‘The Emperor’s Spy’ is set during the reign of the Emperor Nero. It doesn’t fit neatly into any one category, being part historical mystery, part spy thriller and part adventure. The plot starts in Gaul, continues in Alexandria and ends in Rome, thus taking in a large sweep of the Roman Empire as it was in Nero’s day. The catalyst for action is the discovery of an ancient prophecy that Rome will burn and our protagonists wish to stop this from happening.

What makes this book such an entertaining read is that each of the main characters is so well-drawn - be it Pantera, the spy trained-up by Seneca, Math, a young thief, whore and apprentice charioteer, or Hannah, an undercover priestess and healer. Christians or people interested in historical authenticity might be surprised by the author’s interpretation of historical events. But if you keep in mind that M.C. Scott is a practising Pagan and seems to have an axe to grind about Christianity, then you can set historical accuracy aside and focus on the plot, the characters and their adventures. Despite being a historian I have no trouble enjoying an entertaining work of fiction even if it doesn’t conform to my understanding of events in the past. It is, after all, what it says on the tin – fiction, and entertaining at that.  

Published by Bantam Books in 2010.