Pompeii had been sitting on my reading list for some time, ever since I finished Munich by the same author. Despite several attempts, I struggled to get into it. This time, I persisted - but the same problem remained.
The novel follows Marcus Attilius Primus, an aquarius tasked with restoring the flow of the Aqua Augusta, a vital aqueduct supplying the cities along the Bay of Naples. His mission uncovers the impending fate of city of Pompeii. Along the way, he grapples with the brutal realities of power, corruption, and survival in a city still recovering from its near-destruction 17 years earlier. At its core, the story is one of many rescues. First a slave, then an aqueduct, then a girl, and finally, in a way, the entire city. And you know how it went for the city...
Yet, despite the dramatic premise and meticulous historical detail, the novel never fully worked for me. The tension of impending catastrophe is ever-present, but I found it fails to deliver. While the mechanics of Roman engineering are undeniably fascinating, the narrative never made it compeling for me.