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Sacrilege cover art

Sacrilege

By: S. J. Parris
Narrated by: Laurence Kennedy
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Summary

Fear haunts the streets of London after the assassination of a protestant Prince, and the recurrence of the plague.

Giordano Bruno suspects someone is following him, but on confronting his stalker, he realizes it is the woman he once loved – she is on the run, accused of murder.

Bruno travels to Canterbury to help clear her name, instructed by Sir Francis Walsingham to also search for the assassin in the shadow of England’s holiest shrine…

©2012 Stephanie Merritt (P)2013 W F Howes Ltd

Critic reviews

"Impossible to resist…Parris creates a convincing sense of the past, woven with so much intrigue that the head fairly spins." ( Daily Telegraph)
"Parris writes with confident ease of Tudor London.… The dialogue balances nicely on a tightrope of period phrases and cut-to-the-chase colloquialisms." ( The Times)

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What listeners say about Sacrilege

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Bruno is a sex pest

Ugh, Bruno is so annoying in this book. I could only make it about a third of the way through because instead of being a hero I could root for he was every annoying man who is only nice to a woman if he fancies her and thinks he's owed sex in return for basic friendship.
Sure, this is probably historically accurate for the time but it doesn't mean I want to listen to the inner workings of that kind of dickhead.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Canterbury Elizabethan Morse

This is the third book Parris' books with philosopher detective Giordano Bruno. There is a story arc in these books like in the Rebus and Bosch novels, where characters appear from other books along with some story strands. So whilst its not strictly necessary to read the books in order it does help improve the reader's enjoyment of they have read the previous books.

This book takes Bruno to Canterbury where he helps a friend discover who murdered her husband. Throw in Huguenot immigrants, small town plots, dead saints bones and a catholic threat to protestant England you've got a fast paced, well researched whodunit.!

Kennedys narration is as good as ever with lots of great voices to distinguish the large cat of characters. A very good listen. Treachery next!

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8 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

More than a great who done it

I'm really enjoying this series of books and learning more about Bruno as the books go on. He's a great character. This book is a bit of a who done it but with great twists and turns that keep you guessing and discovering.

The narrator is good though his Queen Elizabeth could have been better :)

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7 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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God's blood this is a good tudor romp

This is getting better and better, we are now getting villains from previous books and a fleshed out main character, I'm loving the narration, very good fake Italian accent. Really glad I got into this series. You don't need to have listened to the previous books but it will add to your enjoyment, SJ Parris is giving CJ Samson a run for his money!

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6 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Well narrated but frustrating plot

The performance of the narrator in this audiobook is just as good as the first two instalments. Unfortunately, the plot line suffers from an annoyingly recurrent cliche in this genre of books whereby the male protagonist only takes interest in female characters that he finds to be on his own level of intelligence and disregards any others when the very nature of the time period means that it is not their fault that they have not been educated to his level. Additionally, Bruno in particular spends much of this book worrying more about how to escape the friend zone than actually solving the murders. I found his attitude especially frustrating this time around because the female character he appears to expect a relationship from has been raped several times but this never seems to be a concern that is mentioned.

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4 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Elizabethan intrigue and betrayal writ large

A novel that holds you in its thrall once you get into the plot. The characters are all believable and the cruel and primitive nature of the first Elizabethan is graphically conveyed.
The narrator adopts an appropriate pseudo Italian accent throughout. This is a little off putting at the outset but truly enhances every aspect of the story in a very positive way once you get used to its inflections.
A well crafted story that is unpredictable and holds your interest till the end.
Happy to recommend this to other readers and I'll definitely being reading more SJ Parris in the future.

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Infinite intrigue

Bruno...to say any more would be a spoiler! Last time it was Oxford- this time it is somewhere else...great characters! Great story!!

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Best one so far!

This one really did have me guessing and was full of suspense.
Full of the usual unpleasant characters as well as the ones you care about. A good read.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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A Bloody Canterbury Tale

A great listen, a story that kept me gripped and aching with Bruno in his plight and battle to survive the lies and treachery around him. Grieving with him as he faces betrayal and the loss of what he holds as precious to him.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

WOW!

This is one of the best books I have listened to, everything was perfect ! The narration was superb and the story had me hooked from the start and I can't wait to start the next book in this series !

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1 person found this helpful