The fourth historical mystery in the compelling Shardlake series.

'C. J. Sansom’s books are arguably the best Tudor novels going' – The Sunday Times

Revelation is the haunting fourth book in C. J. Sansom's bestselling Shardlake series, perfect for fans of Hilary Mantel and Philippa Gregory.

England, 1543. King Henry VIII is wooing Catherine Parr, whom he wants for his sixth wife. Archbishop Thomas Cranmer and the embattled Protestant faction at court are watching keenly, for Lady Catherine is known to have reformist sympathies.

Matthew Shardlake, meanwhile, is working on the case of a teenage zealot detained in the Bedlam insane asylum, and whom he fears could be burned as a heretic. But when an old friend is horrifically murdered, Shardlake determines to bring the killer to justice. His search leads him to Cranmer and Catherine Parr – and to the dark prophecies of the Book of Revelation.

As London’s Bishop Bonner prepares a purge of Protestants, Shardlake, together with his assistant Jack Barak and physician friend Guy Malton, uncovers a series of terrible murders which soon bring talk of sorcery and demonic possession – for what else would the Tudor mind make of a serial killer . . . ?

This is the fourth novel in C. J. Sansom's thrilling historical series. Continue the series with Heartstone.

"Sansom’s meticulous attention to historical detail and vivid characters make this Tudor mystery as gripping and vital as any modern thriller" - The Times

"The fourth in C. J. Sansom’s superb Tudor detective series . . . As with the previous books, Samson’s narrative is highly visual and Revelation will clearly make a white-knuckle film . . . don’t expect to put the book down until you’ve seen it through to the apocalyptic finale" - Observer

"Sansom’s deeply resonant novel depicts Tudor London as a benighted city overrun by fundamentalist fanatics, heretic-burners and the madness of crowds, while his narrative’s tingling intrigues will have you hooked from first page to last" - Sunday Times

"Historical mysteries are all the rage, but Sansom’s are in a class of their own. His sheer narrative skill is matchless" - Mail on Sunday

"This ambitious panorama of a book, the fourth in Sansom’s series set in not-so-merrie Tudor England, more than lives up to the promise of the previous three . . . With wonderful scene-setting . . . plus some deft plotting, Revelation is an absorbing and thought-provoking window on the Tudor world" - Guardian

"Terror stalks Tudor London in this latest pungently atmospheric novel from the master of the historical murder mystery" - Sunday Times Culture

"Sansom’s powerful and seductive historicism militates against the particular and the personal, or, indeed, the naturalistic. His vivid Tudor London is larger than life, just as we fondly imagine it to be: dangerous, dirty, noisy, picturesque and, above all, different" - TLS