Title: The Silver Pigs (Marcus Didius Falco #1)
Author: Lindsey Davis
Genre: Historical fiction/mystery
Audio book narrator: Christian Rodska
Date Read: 28/08/2016 – 31/08/2016
Rating: ★★★☆
Review:
This book was a great deal of fun! It was recommended to me by a colleague who thought I’d like it, and I’m really glad I picked it up.
M. Didius Falco is a private informer in Rome in 73 AD. When he intercepts a young girl running for her life in the forum one morning, little does he know that this will result in him being hired to flush out a smuggling ring stretching all the way from Rome to Britain, and almost right up to the Emperor.
The ancient Roman setting for this book was a lot of fun, and as far as I could tell, thoroughly researched. While there were quite a few times when I thought some of the language felt a bit anachronistic, in most cases, I didn’t actually know enough about Rome to be sure, so I let it go.
Falco is a great character. At first I thought he was going to be gross and sleazy, but I soon realised he was actually pretty charming (with occasional sleaze). He’s full of witty comebacks and lots of sarcasm, which is how I like my humour. He meets his match in Helena Justina, the daughter of the Senator who employs him. Their banter was my favourite thing about the book. I don’t use this phrase very often in book reviews, but I shipped them really hard.
The mystery itself wasn’t really that compelling, and to be honest when the characters were discussing the smuggling system I did zone out a bit. But the book was short, and Christian Rodska’s narration fitted the book to a tee, so I kept listening. I’ll definitely be picking up the second book in the series sometime soon!
A Keyboard and an Open Mind 