Robert Harris - Pompeii

Review by showhost 19th Feb '09.
I read this a year or two ago & really enjoyed it.
It’s a thriller/historical recreation of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
The aqua engineer Marcus Attilius, is placed in charge of the massive aqueduct that is responsible for the fresh water supply to the Bay of Naples. Despite the pride he takes in his job, Marcus has grave concerns: his predecessor in the job has mysteriously vanished, and another task is handed to Marcus by the scholar Pliny: he is to undertake crucial repairs to the aqueduct near Pompeii, the city in the shadow of the restless Mount Vesuvius.
He captures ancient Rome and takes you there, the culture, customs and corruption of the time, and also shows just how advanced the Romans were as builders and engineers.
He charts the signs that nobody realizes are leading up to the eruption. The fish which were mysteriously dying (most of the villas had fish ponds) which was due to the sulpher in the water feeding them. The it came, falling ash, pumice stone, and the final catastrophe, a cloud of poisonous gas.

Robert Harris was born in Nottingham and attended Cambridge University. He has been a reporter on both Newsnight and Panorama, Political Editor of the Observer, and a columnist on The Sunday Times.