Lustrum

Harris is the master. With Lustrum, [he] has surpassed himself. It is one of the most exciting thrillers I have ever read

Peter Jones, Evening Standard

Harris communicates such a strong sense of imperial Rome - the book is awesomely well-informed about the minutiae of everyday life

Guardian

Thoroughly engaging ... The allure of power and the perils that attend it have seldom been so brilliantly anatomised in a thriller

Sunday Times

Harris never makes his comparisons between Rome and modern Britain explicit, but they are certainly there. And that's the principal charm of his ancient thrillers - their up-to-dateness

Sunday Telegraph

Magnificent ... Better than Robert Graves's Claudius novels

Allan Massie, Standpoint

A read to be savoured

Scotland on Sunday

Wry, clever, thoughtful, with a terrific sense of timing and eye for character.

Observer

Thrillingly paced and narrated ... What grips most about Lustrum is the seriousness with which the political issues at stake are taken, and the vividness of the characterisation

Tom Holland, Spectator

Offers great insight into the psychology of political calculation

Independent

Deeply satisfying, impeccably researched and spectacularly topical ... This is a thriller to die for ... The pace never falters, and the politics are sharply relevant

Wendy Holden, Daily Mail

A fascinating world, a world of subtle political machinations and fine oratory and nuanced debate, and complex legislation, and intrigue ... Extremely absorbing

Christina Patterson, Independent

as sleek and well-crafted as any classic of the genre...a timeless political thriller

Tom Holland, Sunday Telegraph

A historical thriller of rare ambition

Boyd Tonkin, Independent

Vivid, so beguiling ... Lustrum is assiduously researched, and it conjures a trick often missed by historical novels: flavoursome facts give a sense not just of a place and time but of developing lives. Harris remembers that we all exist in our own past and in visions of our future as well as in the present ... It is this concertinaing of history into a series of cogent, life-changing memories that gives Lustrum its concentrated excellence

Bettany Hughes, The Times

No one delivers thrilling yet timeless games of power, sex, fame and Rome like Robert Harris.

Sebag Montefiore, Sunday Telegraph

Robert Harris brings the cut-throat republic to life... He understands politics and how to dramatise them

Richard T Kelly, Financial Times

Harris has replaced John le Carre ... stupendous plots, good characters and lightly applied erudition

Sarah Sands, New Statesman

Lustrum is a serious piece of storytelling, enormously enjoyable to read, with an insider's political tone which makes the dedication much more than a matter of convention or duty

Peter Stothard, TLS

Harris has taken the DNA of Cicero's great speeches and animated them with utterly believable dialogue...Harris's greatest triumph is perhaps in the evocation of Roman politics, the constant bending of ancient principles before the realities of power, and in his depiction of what it was like to live in the city: the mud, the guttering lamps, the smell of the blood from the temples ... I would take my hat off to Harris, if I hadn't already dashed it to the ground in jealous awe. *****

Boris Johnson, Mail on Sunday

Gripping ... A compelling narrative, full of plots, murder, lust, fear, greed and corruption ... No writes is better at creating excitement over political theatre

Leo McKinstry, Daily Express

The thrilling pace of the narrative does not let up from start to finish. Lustrum is an utterly engrossing, suspense-filled read

Ronan Sheehan, Irish Times

Dripping in detail it brings ancient Rome to vivid life, yet the political intrigue has echoes in today's ruling classes. And while the pace gallops along, the action is reined in just enough to crank the tension up. *****

News of the World

Conspiracy, betrayal and political upheaval are the keys that turn this brilliantly researched page-turner

Woman & Home

For a page turner...I would go for Lustrum (Hutchinson, £18.99) the second volume of Robert Harris's semi-fictional trilogy on the life of the Roman politician Cicero. The oldest stories really are often the best!

Mary Beard, The Scotsman

Harris is one of the consummate storytellers of the age, a master of narrative who - whatever genre he tackles - delivers books that are definitions of the word compulsive. In Lustrum, we have the mechanics of the thriller applied to ancient Rome, with immensely powerful results

The Good Book Guide

A fine achievement: a hefty, politically serious thriller that effortlessly reanimates the dusty quarrels of Roman government while casting ironic and instructive sidelight on those of our own

Literary Review

Supreme story-telling

Geoffrey Wansell, Daily Mail

Deeply satisfying, impeccably researched and spectacularly topical ... a thriller to die for ... Harris brilliantly evokes Rome on the edge of political chaos through the eyes of Cicero's slave Tiro, who acts as his mater's secretary ... The pace never falters, and the politics are sharply relevant for today

Geoffrey Wansell, Daily Mail

Harris communicates such a strong sense of Imperial Rome - the book is awesomely well-informed about the minutiae of everyday life

Guardian

Lustrum... was a fascinating world, a world of subtle political machinations and fine oratory and nuanced debate, and complex legislation, and intrigue, and an extremely absorbing one

Christina Patterson, Independent

It is a tribute to Harris's deftness of touch that this book feels so fresh ... he has a lovely dry, debunking style ... Harris writes about the life of politics with an insight rare among historical novelists ... It is as a pure thriller ... wry, clever, thoughtful, with a terrific sense of timing and eye for character

Observer

Lustrum offers a great insight into the psychology of political calculation. The story of Cicero's fall from power to the point where even sworn allies close their doors on him offers little consolation over the next few months for our own leader

Jonathan Beckman, Independent

What a storm it is. The five year period covered by the novel, the 'lustrum' of its title, has some claim to be the most thrilling in the entire span of classical history ... Remorseless it may be; but it is also, as one would expect of Harris, thrillingly paced and narrated. The excitements of a classic thriller, however, are almost the least of the novel's virtues: virtues which derive in large part, from Cicero himself. What grips most about Lustrum is the seriousness with which the political issues at stake are taken, and the vividness of the characterisation: both of which, in large part, reflect the closeness of Harris's reading of his hero's speeches and correspondence

Tom Holland, Spectator

Robert Harris brings the cut-throat republic to life... He understands politics and how to dramatise them.

Financial Times

A fascinating world, a world of subtle political machinations and fine oratory and nuanced debate, and complex legislation, and intrigue ... Extremely absorbing

Christina Patterson, Independent

Offers great insight into the psychology of political calculation

Independent

[Lustrum] stands on its own merits as a thoroughly engaging historical novel. Republican Rome, with all its grandeur and corruption, has rarely been made as vivid as it appears in Harris's book. The allure of power and the perils that attend it have seldom been so brilliantly anatomised in a thriller.

The Sunday Times

Harris never makes his comparisons between Rome and modern Britain explicit, but they are certainly there. And that's the principal charm of his ancient thrillers - their up-to-dateness.

Sunday Telegraph

Intrigue and excitement all the way, brilliantly read by Oliver Ford Davies.

Kati Nicholl, Daily Express

Lustrum offers a great insight into the psychology of political calculation. The story of Cicero's fall from power to the point where even sworn allies close their doors on him offers little consolation over the next few months for our own leader

Jonathan Beckman, Independent

Lustrum... was a fascinating world, a world of subtle political machinations and fine oratory and nuanced debate, and complex legislation, and intrigue, and an extremely absorbing one

Christina Patterson, Independent

A fascinating world, a world of subtle political machinations and fine oratory and nuanced debate, and complex legislation, and intrigue ... Extremely absorbing

Christina Patterson, Independent

A read to be savoured

Scotland on Sunday

Deeply satisfying, impeccably researched and spectacularly topical ... This is a thriller to die for ... The pace never falters, and the politics are sharply relevant

Wendy Holden, Daily Mail

Harris communicates such a strong sense of Imperial Rome - the book is awesomely well-informed about the minutiae of everyday life

Guardian

Harris is the master. With Lustrum, [he] has surpassed himself. It is one of the most exciting thrillers I have ever read

Peter Jones, Evening Standard

Harris never makes his comparisons between Rome and modern Britain explicit, but they are certainly there. And that's the principal charm of his ancient thrillers - their up-to-dateness

Sunday Telegraph

It is a tribute to Harris's deftness of touch that this book feels so fresh ... he has a lovely dry, debunking style ... Harris writes about the life of politics with an insight rare among historical novelists ... It is as a pure thriller ... wry, clever, thoughtful, with a terrific sense of timing and eye for character

Observer

Magnificent ... Better than Robert Graves's Claudius novels

Allan Massie, Standpoint

Offers great insight into the psychology of political calculation

Independent

Robert Harris brings the cut-throat republic to life... He understands politics and how to dramatise them.

Financial Times

Thoroughly engaging ... The allure of power and the perils that attend it have seldom been so brilliantly anatomised in a thriller

Sunday Times

What a storm it is. The five year period covered by the novel, the 'lustrum' of its title, has some claim to be the most thrilling in the entire span of classical history ... Remorseless it may be; but it is also, as one would expect of Harris, thrillingly paced and narrated. The excitements of a classic thriller, however, are almost the least of the novel's virtues: virtues which derive in large part, from Cicero himself. What grips most about Lustrum is the seriousness with which the political issues at stake are taken, and the vividness of the characterisation: both of which, in large part, reflect the closeness of Harris's reading of his hero's speeches and correspondence

Tom Holland, Spectator