After Bruno's initial character development, I just couldn't stop listening. The only reaction I had was that I wished that Lee would have slowed his narration during the first fourth of the book. I like him so much that I have searched for books he narrated vs books by author.ĭid you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry? Have you listened to any of John Lee?s other performances before? How does this one compare? Like The Dante Club and The Alienist, this clever, sophisticated, exceptionally enjoyable novel is written with the unstoppable narrative propulsion and stylistic flair of the very best historical thrillers. Bruno must attempt to outwit a killer who appears obsessed with the boundary between truth and heresy. As Bruno begins to discover a pattern in these killings, he realizes that no one at Oxford is who he seems to be.

His mission is dramatically thrown off course by a series of grisly murders and a spirited and beautiful young woman. Officially Bruno is to take part in a debate on the Copernican theory of the universe unofficially, he is to find out whatever he can about a Catholic plot to overthrow the queen. Parris's gripping novel, Bruno's pursuit of this rare knowledge brings him to London, where he is unexpectedly recruited by Queen Elizabeth I and is sent undercover to Oxford University on the pretext of a royal visitation. This alone could have got him burned at the stake, but he was also a student of occult philosophies and magic. Giordano Bruno was a monk, poet, scientist, and magician on the run from the Roman Inquisition on charges of heresy for his belief that the Earth orbits the sun and that the universe is infinite.

Masterfully blending true events with fiction, this blockbuster historical thriller delivers a pause-resisting murder mystery set on the 16th-century Oxford University campus.

Heresy by S.J. Parris