Dictator

November 30, 2015
The closing volume of British bestseller Harris’s Ancient Rome trilogy, following Imperium and Conspirata, is as skillful as it is sobering. In 58 B.C.E., Cicero, the brilliant 49-year-old author and orator who was Rome’s undisputed leader only five years before, is punished with exile for his principled resistance to the triumvirate that now controls Rome. Making a reluctant peace with the trio—most notably Julius Caesar—allows him to return to Rome and his family, but even his political genius cannot return the republic to stability. The triumvirate collapses, civil war ensues, and Caesar seizes power, declaring himself dictator and god. Cicero lauds Caesar’s assassination as an act of liberation; though he is swept back into power afterward, he can neither restore the Roman government he views as “mankind’s noblest creation” nor save himself from betrayal. The perfect foil to the passionate and sometimes paradoxical protagonist, Cicero’s quietly capable secretary Tiro (a slave Cicero frees in one of the book’s most poignant scenes) remains an appealing narrator, offering readers a shrewd and stable perspective on the tumult Cicero embraces. With its complex historical context and searing scenes of violence, Dictator is not easy reading. Yet its gripping dramas and powerful themes—the fragility of democracy and the fallibility of human beings among them—richly illuminate the conflicts of its era and our own. 100,000-copy first printing.

Starred review from December 1, 2015
Set during the last gasp of the Roman Republic, the final volume of Harris' Cicero trilogy chronicles the great Roman statesman's fateful encounters with both Julius and Augustus Caesar. Harris has written smart, gripping thrillers with settings as varied as England during World War II (Enigma, 1995) and the contemporary world of international finance (The Fear Index, 2012), but his Cicero novels are more akin to Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall in their subjects--men of towering intellect and humanity--and in their visceral evocation of history. The first two books, Imperium and Conspirata, recounted events familiar only to classical history buffs--Cicero's rise from relative obscurity to become one of Rome's leading lawyers, orators, and writers and, in 63 B.C.E., getting the top job, consul. This third book starts with his exile after running afoul of Julius Caesar, the brilliant general whose dangerous ambition Cicero alone seems to grasp. The plot hurtles toward the most famous incident in all of Roman history--the assassination of Caesar. Cicero is not involved in the plot, but he assumes a major role in its aftermath as Mark Antony, an enemy, and Octavian (later Augustus), a young friend who is also Caesar's adopted son, vie for leadership of the empire. The book is charming as well as engrossing, largely due to the immensely likable person of Cicero, who is wise but not pedantic, moral but not sanctimonious, courageous but wary of the grandstanding of the martyr. In Harris' hands, the other principle actors emerge fully rounded: Cato, the uncompromising stoic; Pompey, brave but vainglorious; Crassus, greedy and self-serving; Brutus, whom Cicero feared "may have been educated out of his wits"; Julius Caesar, whose "success had made him vain, and his vanity had devoured his reason"; and Mark Antony, who "has all of Caesar's worst qualities and none of his best." Unfortunately for Cicero, his assessment of Octavian--"he's a nice boy, and I hope he survives, but he's no Caesar"--proves fatally wrong.

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December 15, 2015
Following Imperium (2006) and Conspirata (2010), Harris offers this thrilling final volume of his trilogy about Cicero, ancient Rome's most skilled orator. The novel opens as Cicero is forced into exile in 58 BCE, following Catiline's conspiracy. His story will powerfully stir the heart and mind, for it presents the coda to a life lived with intelligence and courage. A fierce defender of the Roman republic and the rule of law, Cicero struggles to promote his principles amid marital discord and increasingly volatile political circumstances. He's flawed but entirely human as he makes several disastrous mistakes and is obliged to make compromises to serve a greater goal. As before, his thoughts and exploits are rendered via the lucid narration of Tiro, his loyal secretary. Spanning 15 years, Tiro's account covers significant ground, from the breakdown of the First Triumvirate through the civil war between Caesar and Pompey, Caesar's dictatorship, and the blood-soaked chaos after his assassination. The cast is extensive, but the plotting is brisk, and Harris never loses sight of his themes, or his protagonist's relevance for today.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)