Revisiting ancient Rome

Politics junkies will recognise Robert Harris as the guy who keeps turning up in the oped pages of the London Times to bat for Peter Mandelson whenever he gets sacked from Labour’s cabinet (the two men are long-standing friends).

Over the past decade or so, however, he’s also quietly established himself as one of the best thriller writers in the business, producing a series of efficiently suspenseful, well researched historical yarns.

Harris made ...