Tom’s friend Paul is similarly obsessed and when a long-lost diary surfaces they finally seem to make a breakthrough. But only hours later, a fellow researcher is murdered and the two friends suddenly find themselves in great danger. Working desperately to expose the book’s secret, they slowly uncover a Renaissance tale of passion and blood, a hidden crypt and a secret worth dying to protect.
This was a tricky one for the end of the year. Some of us were not up to the task of unraveling the puzzle of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili! It may well have been the time of year, or, as someone suggested, the self-indulgence of the two authors. Either way, it was a struggle for most of our group to get through this scholarly mystery.
Ann, who did enjoy the challenge, felt you needed a love of history and accumulating knowledge to get the most from this book, and she loved the ‘mystery within the mystery’ that ran throughout. Viti also found some value within its pages and she loved the historical tidbits that the story supplied.
But the overall opinion was that Rule of Four did not quite make the grade for a good novel. To much work required, tedious, and characters that did not connect were among the majority of views. Would it have been different if we read this book at the beginning of the year? Probably not. Our book club has a well developed sense of what they like, and are not easily convinced otherwise.
So it is on to a new year of reading, which gets everyone excited about what we will discover. Keep an eye on this blog for our latest reviews of 2013.
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