' Outstanding An extraordinary recreation of ancient Rome Miss this at your peril' Ben Kane More gripping than Game of Thrones & more ruthless than House of Cards
- this a stunning new thriller of power treachery & revenge In a darkened cell a brutally deposed dictator lies crippled
- deprived of his power his freedom
- & his eyes On the edge of utter despair his only companion is the young boy who brings him his meagre rations a mere child who fears his own shadow But to one who has held & lost the highest power one thing alone is crystal clear even emperors were mere children once Ten years later the new ruler's son watches uneasily over his father's empire Wherever he looks rebellion is festering & those closest to him have turned traitor once before To this city in crisis comes a hugely wealthy senator from the very edge of the empire a young & angry ward at his heels He is witty but inscrutable generous with his time & money to a leader in desperate need of a friend
- & he wears a bandage over his blinded eyes The fallen emperor's name is Nero But this isn't his story' This marvellous debut moves backwards & forwards in time to tell the story of Nero's possible & astonishing tale' Sunday Express' Barbaree has delivered an extraordinary first novel impressing with its complex plotting powerful imagination strong & authentic characters & the author's gift for making fiction seem so palpably real Politics scheming corruption barbarity & betrayal the best bits of Roman history but with an original new twist!' Lancashire Evening Post'A blinder! 5 stars' Weekend Sport