September 1938, the world is on the brink of war. Hitler has his eyes set on Czechoslovakia, bringing the Sudeten-Germans into the Reich. At the eve of the invasion, Britain's prime minister Chamberlain tries everything to prevent open war. But is peace worth any cost?

That's actually the question around which this whole novel revolves. Harris adds 2 young staffers to each side to sort of add the human component to these events, the immediacy of the threat, both of impending war but also of the further unimpeded rise of Hitler. History of course tells us that war broke out nonethess, albeit a year later, after the invasion of yet another country. It also tells us that appeasement only works so far: At some point one has to draw a line, at the latest when the fundamental principles of one's own state and way of life are threatened.

So, what would have happened had the world not silently condoned the invasion of Czechoslovakia but intervened then and there? Were the allied forces truely so militarily unprepared in their (re)armaments after WW1, as is indicated here, that they wouldn't have stood a chance if the war had begun in 1938? And what would that have meant for the holocaust: fewer victims? Or even more (after the defeat of the allied forces)? Would Hitler have had the time to surround himself with sycophants and like-minded people if he had been challenged openly (which is the point that Hartmann makes why it's important that Britain doesn't give in to Hitler's demands)?

Harris already delved into these what-if scenarios with his excellent "Fatherland" set in a world where Nazi Germany had won the war... and it's still a mind-boggling thought experiment, the change of a single event causing major consequences (or, in this case, the failure of affecting said change). The only downside to this novel is the fact that it takes about 200 pages to really get going, but once you're past that, this is a page-turner.

The owner of a big hedgefund company, Alex Hoffman, physicist and inventor of an algorithm that could revolutionize trading, is attacked one evening in his home in Geneva. After getting checked at hospital which got him the recommendation to visit his neurologist with the headscans that were taken, he goes to work the next day because of a big investors' lunch. But strange things keep happening: the delivery of a book by Darwin, he finds that he apparently bought out his wife's art exhibition... and then the algorithm starts making risky trades...

This novel starts out pretty exciting, the break-in, a possible conspiracy, a computer algorithm running amok. But it all gets a bit confusing the longer the story runs: Hoffman's history of mental illness for one, his dabbling with artificial intelligence on the other side... but all this doesn't really explain what actually happened. Did Hoffman arrange for everything, including the break-in and his death, and just forget it in a psychotic break, as is suggested in the end? But what about the risk-advisor who falls into the open elevator shaft? He can't have foreseen that he would step into the lift at that moment - so, did he program the algorithm to kill any opponents? Or did he program some self-protective subroutines so that the algorithm decided for itself to kill him in self-defense in order to have no more master?

But in the end, it all gets wrapped up too easily, the company earns an enormous amount of money and all's swept under the rug, the algorithm lives on... and Hoffman disappears. Honestly, I would love to know what happens next and hate the way this novel keeps me hanging at this point of the story.

Still: a good read, albeit one that leaves me with more questions than it answers.

This is the third part of Harris' Cicero series - and it doesn't make much sense without having read the previous 2 novels, Imperium and Lustrum since it picks up right where Lustrum left off and runs through the final 20 years of Cicero's life: his exile and return, Pompey vs Caesar, Caesar's dictatorship, Caesar's assassination, the 2nd triumvirate and the end of the republic.

"Raise, praise, and erase."

But as much as especially the second half  of Lustrum captivated me, this book rushed through major events - and unfortunately also showed that Cicero, in all his idealism, didn't really learn from past events. He again put faith in people who betrayed him and/or turned out to have quite different agendas. He again tried to manipulate events, not realizing that it was he that was manipulated. In that way much of what happens with Octavian and Marc Anthony - even the ill-thought through assassination of Caesar (which Cicero had no part in but sympathized with) -, didn't offer more than what history books teach. Frankly, in some parts, there's more introspection about Tiro than about Cicero. Granted, Tiro is the narrator, but the book is about Cicero.

So, yes, this is a good book, and it concludes this trilogy in an engaging manner - but the undisputed highlight remains Lustrum where the inner workings of politics are actually put to the stand, including democracy vs the rule of the mob vs the rule of one, and Cicero's personality as a politician and as a human-being is defined.

This is the second part of Harris's Cicero-trilogy. The author claims that you should be able to read this book independently, but in my opinion you should have at least some idea about the various alliances and enmities that made up "Imperium".

Lustrum spans 5 years, beginning at the eve of Cicero's 1-year consulship when a young slave, owned by Cicero's co-consul Hybrida, is found mutilated. What follows is a row of unholy alliances to thwart the attempt of overthrowing the republic by Catilina and his followers. While Cicero is hailed saviour of the republic, his adherence to the rule of law opens the door for the rise of the mob on the one side and Caesar's rule on the other, disregarding protocol and pushing through legislation via bribery and threats. The senate's power is on the decline, the government now consists of Caesar, Crassus and Pompey with narcissist Clodius ruling the mob. And Cicero has to flee into the night.

The last 100 pages or so quite honestly gave me the chills. Cicero might have thwarted the most overt attack on the republic during his consulship... but he couldn't prevent the slow decline, the rise of the mob and Caesar's usurping power. Everytime he thinks he has slain a monster, it grows back 7 more heads. And that's rather disquieting. Of course, Cicero's not without blame, either. He chose to rest on his laurels, he made pacts that later on bit him in the behind, he wasn't careful enough about whom to trust, and that's what leads to his fall from grace.

But the chilling sensation doesn't only come from the story itself, the tale of a corrupt republic that tears itself apart. No, rather than talking about the long lost Roman republic this novel feels damningly real in this age and time where we see mob-like movements on the streets and online, where we see demagogues taking control of that mob and pointing fingers (and the mob mindlessly following), where we see established parties stuck in corruption and self-annihilation, where we see so much anger, hatred and negative campaigning instead of enthusiasm and new ideas, where we see divide and conquer instead of unity and common ground. Sounds pretty relevant in the current climate to me.

Overall, a satisfying and thought-provoking novel - on to part 3.

The pope is dead... and 117 cardinals are about to seclude themselves in the conclave to elect a new pope. No, make that 118. There are 4 favourites, but as the saying goes: Who goes into the conclave as pope, comes out a cardinal.

Although it's mostly talk and introspection, Harris manages to keep one yearning for more. Especially his point-of-view character Lomeli who presides the conclave is a surprisingly relatable protagonist, with doubts and a crisis of faith that's heart-felt, especially the conflict between faith in Christ and faith in the institution of the Catholic Church. I think that's an important difference because lots of people have lost faith in the Church but not necessarily in God or Christianity. Unfortunately, for some officials that's often the same thing and those people, now looking for a new spiritual home, are left adrift, ripe for the picking for demagogues with unsavoury goals hidden within sweet promises.

In the end it's not so much a story about the election of a new pope but of a man regaining his own faith. That's where this novel very much succeeds. As it does in portraying a range of characters, from super-progressive, to manipulative, ambitious, world-weary, some deeply flawed, others shaped by circumstances.

However, the plot itself doesn't hold many surprises and much is left unsolved (the events in the outside world, the old pope's last weeks etc), but I imagine that's due to the constraints of the conclave's seclusion which doesn't lend itself to starting investigations. Still, I was captivated throughout but mainly to see if my predictions were right (and they were, every one of them), rather than because of unforeseen twists and turns. And I could have lived with that because it's still a gripping tale of introspection and psychology. But the final twist (especially since it's obvious from a mile away) was a bit too much and went beyond credibility, even more so in modern times. I think that Harris wanted to add something unique into his story - and I agree that at some point such a development will and has to come to pass. But the way this twist was introduced doesn't necessarily mean progress for the Church itself as long as an agenda that speaks of lasting and fundamental change within the structure of the Church isn't mentionned. And let's face it, the respective character and the story itself didn't need this. So, somehow, I can't help but think of this twist as some kind of trendy publicity stunt, and an unnecessary one at that, mind you.

Therefore, the ending did put a bit of a dampener on my enjoyment of this novel - but it's still a good and suspenseful tale.