Imperium is the latest Robert Harris novel, and following on from Pompeii, he’s again set it in a Roman setting. This time, we effectively have the political life of Cicero – the lawyer and politician. The book is told by Tiro, Cicero’s slave and personal secretary, who, we’re told, essentially invented shorthand to record conversations accurately and quickly.
The book feels as though it’s in two parts, concentrating first of Cicero’s prosecution of Verres who ran amok in Sicily until finally stopped in his tracks, and his political ambitions leading to his intervention in the Catiline conspiracy.
Harris can’t help but draw a few allusions to modern day politics, first with some comparisons which you can only make with the war in Iraq, and then a general attack on the venality of many politicians.
But I enjoyed these, and the book tells a story I really didn’t know. Julius Caesar doesn’t come out of it all that well, and other incidental characters are alluded to in a knowing manner.
At the end of the book, is a brief advert for The Ghost, Harris’ forthcoming political thriller. We’re told that this is a return to political thrillers for him. Yet Imperium is nothing if not a political thriller itself. And a very good one. If I was being snobbish I’d say it makes a great beach read. But I’m not, and in any case, I didn’t read it on the beach.