Deposed by David Barbaree, Book Review

How do we know that events in the past which we are told happened actually happened? Most historians accept that history is written by the victors, and spin doesn’t only apply to current politics and news reporting, but also to the writings of historians. What has this got to do with Deposed, a thriller set in ancient Rome?

Everything. The author David Barbaree presents an interesting scenario. What if the Emperor Nero hadn’t actually died when and as the history books tell us? What if he managed to survive a life-changing attack, re-invent himself and step into a breath-taking mystery? The standard of research undertaken these days for the writing of historical crime fiction is usually so high, that I have to look to other features to isolate what makes this book so particularly engaging. The plot is pacey and the style approachable, if a big modern.

What lifts it above the average read is that the psychological development of the characters is so astute. It’s an honest book, in that it doesn’t pretend people are better than they are, that some people aren’t power-hungry and won’t do anything to get to the top and stay there.

You get dead bodies, the Maffia equivalent of the ancient world, intri.S.gue and violence, but all in all, it’s a political thriller - a cracking debut by a Canadian lawyer. 

Published by Zaffre, May 2017, hardback, £12.99.
(P.S. I wish I'd known about the list of characters at the back while I was reading the book. )