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Young engineer Marcus Attilius is sent from Rome to wealthy and glamorous Pompeii to solve a pesky mystery: why has the aqueduct failed? It's his big chance to prove himself with the powers that be, and he's frustrated at every turn by heat, surly locals, and bureaucratic bungling and corruption. He can't even ask the former Aquarius of the Aqua Augusta for hints, because the man has simply disappeared without a trace.
We meet his main adversary, the rich and powerful former slave Ampliatus, just as he is throwing one of his own slaves to the moray eels. This poor man was charged with the care of red mullet in Ampliatus's fish farm, and the red mullets have all died. The slave's distraught mother enlists the help of Ampliatus's lovely daughter Corelia to spare the man. And Corelia, who hates her dissolute and cruel father, tracks down the new Aquarius to support the slave's charge that there is something wrong with the water.
Of course there is something wrong with the water: sulfur, although this information comes too late to save the unfortunate slave. And then there is no more water at all, at city after city up the coast. Attilius convinces the elderly Pliny to help him with ships and men, then get back to the spot where they have deduced the blockage must be.
Along the way Robert Harris spins a fast-paced mystery, and we learn much about life in Pompeii and the amazing engineering feat of the aqueduct itself. The decadence of the rich with their gorging and purging and young boyfriends is nicely counterbalanced against the practical, smart Attilius, who increasingly suspects an imminent disaster that is much bigger than a failure in the water supply. The impetuous young Corelia (who reminds Attilius of his beloved deceased wife) displays pluck and courage, spying on her scheming father and providing Attilius with information he needs to solve the puzzle. Human treachery and the forces of nature provide a spectacular finish.
Mr. Harris couldn't have chosen a more compelling period in a more compelling city than the four days leading up to the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D. Anyone who has visited the fascinating ruins there will be intrigued by this very satisfying historical thriller.
--- Reviewed by Eileen Zimmerman-Nicol
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