"After his daughter overdosed and died, William Thomas Knox brutally murdered billionaire Skip Buchanan, patriarch of the family many hold responsible for the American opioid epidemic. Online communities glorified Skip's death - one murder to balance out the loss of one million innocent people - and turned Knox into a hero.
One year later, veteran Harper Scott is out of work and just desperate enough to take a job protecting members of the hated Buchanan family. Then, as the online mob grows and death threats against the Buchanans reach a fevered pitch, another Buchanan is murdered and Harper is thrown into a race to find the killer.
There are precious few Americans who have not been harmed by the opiod crisis. But how do you find a killer when there are millions of suspects?"
"A gripping historical thriller for fans of Robert Harris's Cicero trilogy
A.D. 79. Parthia is gripped by civil war. One king vying for the throne, desperate for help, welcomes an alliance from an unlikely source: a man claiming to be Nero, the dethroned Roman emperor.
Meanwhile, young Gaius wishes he could spend his summer on the Bay of Naples amongst his books. Instead Pliny, the famous admiral, has sent him to befriend the nephew of Ulpius, the mysterious blind senator from Spain. A man Pliny does not trust.
But when a Parthian hostage is nearly killed, days before Parthian emissaries are expected, and as rumours of the False Nero entering the land reaches Rome, Gaius and Pliny race to learn how these events are connected.
As the political intrigue comes to a head, something happens that only the mysterious clairvoyant Sibyl could have foreseen: Mount Vesuvius erupts, and black ash fills the sky . . .
Praise for David Barbaree:
'Outstanding. An extraordinary recreation of ancient Rome. Miss this at your peril' Ben Kane
'Marvellous . . . an astonishing tale' Sunday Express
'Extraordinary first novel... the best bits of Roman history but with an original new twist!' Lancashire Evening Post
'A blinder! 5 stars' Weekend Sport"
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