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Title: Deposed

Subtitle: An Epic Thriller of Power, Treachery and Revenge

Author: David Barbaree

Narrator: Jonathan Keeble

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 18 mins

Language: English

Release date: 05-04-17

Publisher: Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

More gripping than Game of Thrones and more ruthless than House of Cards - this a stunning new thriller of power, treachery and revenge.

In a darkened cell, a brutally deposed dictator lies crippled - deprived of his power, his freedom and his eyes. On the edge of utter despair, his only companion is the young boy who brings him his meagre rations, a mere child who fears his own shadow. But to one who has held and lost the highest power, one thing alone is crystal clear: even emperors were mere children once.

Ten years later the new ruler's son watches uneasily over his father's empire. Wherever he looks rebellion is festering, and those closest to him have turned traitor once before. To this city in crisis comes a hugely wealthy senator from the very edge of the empire, a young and angry ward at his heels. He is witty but inscrutable, generous with his time and money to a leader in desperate need of a friend - and he wears a bandage over his blinded eyes. The fallen emperor's name is Nero. But this isn't his story.

Members Reviews:

"Accounts of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated..."

DEPOSED is an imaginative tale that starts in 68 AD, when the 31-year-old emperor Nero is secretly kidnapped, blinded, and imprisoned, and continues through his return to Rome in 79 seeking revenge, disguised as a wealthy foreigner named Ulpius. During this decade, after several usurpersâ short-lived reigns, Vespasian has become emperor.

The author switches back and forth, showing us how Neroâwhom the world believes to have killed himselfâsurvives with the help of a young slave named Marcus and a few loyal retainers. The Rome they return to is vividly portrayed as a snakepit of treachery and murder. While Nero and his allies pursue those who betrayed him, they become aware of bloody conspiracies targeting Vespasian. Alternating chapter by chapter among different charactersâ accounts of the past and present, the author kept me turning pages to witness Neroâs retribution and learn the identity of the mastermind(s) behind the plots.

DEPOSEDâs dust jacket points out, âThis isnât [Neroâs] story.â But itâs impossible for him not to be the central character, given the MacGuffin of his falsified death and disguised return. What was he like before his sudden fall from the highest height? How did becoming a crippled non-person affect him? Nero himself sums up late in the book: âI was spoilt, unfair, vengeful, lazy. I was profligate . . . . I was selfish, mean, close-minded, cynical. I was a tyrant . . . .â As we see him, though, heâs patient, sagacious, self-confident, and generous almost from the start of his captivity. Maybe his self-description was too harsh, or his personality changed quickly. In any case, the pace and ingenuity of the plot twists are what matter in this tale.

I liked the authorâs fluent style, minimally marred by a few errors along the lines of âCollege of Augersâ and âTemple of Caster.â As for the comment that this isnât Neroâs story, Mr. Barbaree hints that the slaveboy Marcus, now known by the assumed family name of Ulpius Traianus, is likely to be heard from in the future. Hm, I wonder . . . .

Well-written, intriguing, and does not read like a debut novel.

I really enjoyed this book.