Conspirata - aka Lustrum - Cicero, Bk 2 Author:Robert Harris On the eve of Cicero’s inauguration as consul of Rome, a grisly discovery sends fear rippling through a city already racked by unrest. A young slave boy has been felled by a hammer, his throat slit and his organs removed, apparently as a human sacrifice. For Cicero, the ill omens of this hideous murder only increase his dangerous situation... more »: elected leader by the people but despised by the heads of the two rival political camps. Caught in a shell game that leaves him forever putting out fires only to have them ignite elsewhere, Cicero plays for the future of the republic…and his life. There is a plot to assassinate him, abetted by a rising young star of the Roman senate named Gaius Julius Caesar -- and it will take all the embattled consul’s wit, strength, and force of will to stop the plot and keep Rome from becoming a dictatorship.
Second of a trilogy about orator/lawyer Cicero in Rome at the time of J. Caesar. I read all three volumes and at times felt like I had to pull myself back to the real world. Excellently written; I thoroughly enjoyed the whole series.