Pompeii by Robert Harris

This was a sort of thriller about an aquarius, or water engineer in charge of the aqueducts and water supplies in Rome. It had a bit of a plot about a disappeared aquarius who had been taking bribes to provide cheap water to Pompeii and make the bad guy rich, but had realised an eruption was going to take place and had been caught by the sulphur and died. The young aquarius has to find the problem (caused by preliminary earthquakes as it turns out) and he discovers the corruption as part of that. Most of the book is detailed description of the eruption itself and as such is a bit dull unless you’re a vulcanologist. The aquarius escapes by going down an aquifer with the bad guy’s beautiful daughter. Ho hum. 1 1/2 stars