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Revelation takes place in 1543, shortly after Thomas Cromwell was beheaded, and shortly before Catherine Parr married Henry VIII. This was a dangerous time: political enemies were denounced, sometimes at the cost of their heads. Good and evil shifted almost daily, ‘Each knowing, of course, that their own side is entirely in the right� (p. 97). Protestants and Papists, hot-gospellers and Laodicean were each at risk when they fell on the wrong side of this changing landscape. A fiery death may have been pleasing to some � certainly spectators � but sometimes also those joining their God.

In his notes at Revelation's end, Sansom made parallels between the religion during this period and some contemporary Christian fundamentalists, who each selectively read the Bible, believe that they're living in the last days before Armageddon, look forward to the violence predicted in the Book of Revelation, and are certain of their rightness. As Coroner Harsnet observed, I never act without praying, and God answers, and then I know that I have taken the right path� (p. 338).

During this period, medicine still believed in the four humours and used bleeding and purging to create balance in the body. The mentally ill were chained and, frequently, mistreated. The body reflected the soul, so that Shardlake is told. 'I marked your bent back, which is a sign of a twisted soul' (p. 522). Women were expected to be subservient or were perceived as gossips and nags; yet, Sansom includes some interesting counterexamples.

Against this backdrop, solving a series of difficult deaths committed by a possibly-insane serial killer is both difficult for the detectives and interesting for the reader: observational skills and logic are given priority. On the other hand, the murderer was not an obvious choice � although I'd drawn it before the unveiling � and does not seem a very credible murderer for the nature of the crimes committed.

Although there is plenty of action as the group attempts to curtail additional murders � and ugly murders � the pacing of Revelation felt good: action was balanced by thoughtful observations of Vesalius's drawings of his dissections of the human body and contemplations of medicine, religious conflict, political intrigue, and the treatment of mentally ill. Revelation satisfied my mind, not only my need for adrenaline. (I'm not an adrenaline junky.)

Revelation is the fourth in the Matthew Shardlake Tudor Mysteries. As it often goes for me, I didn't read the first three in the series first. It might have helped, but I didn't suffer for not having done it. I will return to them later.