Going back to the old eras is always a nice trick to add to the novel but when you pick an old era it becomes compulsory to present it most accurately. Otherwise, the impact of the novel would be lost forever. 79 A.D is the era that Caroline Lawrence has selected for the presentation of this novel. It was an era that was very notorious for thieves and criminals. Flavia Gemina a resident of Ostia once noted the disappearance of dogs in her locality.
At first, she thought it was just her assumption but then the serious decrease in the number of dogs forced her to take the things into her own hands. During her investigation, she met three odd guys i.e Jonathan, Nubia, and Lupus. Together the four people dig deep into the matter which takes a lot of turns and twists. Soon it does not remain the matter of dog extermination rather cases of burglary start appearing on the scene.
All that started just as a simple mission becomes a big corrupt tale that led the team to the criminal mastermind. There are adventure, mystery, and a race against time in this story narrated by Kim Hicks.
The author has combined The Pirates of Pompeii and The Secrets of Vesuvius in the theme here too. The story and the characters have their unique presence in the novel but the theme of the book matches these other books at certain levels. Mysteries that get revealed are not very dark or legendary but they are strong enough to make their name in literature for a long time to come.
