| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Product details
Would you like to give feedback on images?
|
A serial killer is terrorising the people of Bologna, and rookie Detective Inspector Grazia Negro is determined to solve the case. She only has one witness who can identify the killer - and he is blind.
Simone spends his nights listening to Chet Baker and scanning the radio waves of the city, eavesdropping on other people's lives. He imagines what people are like - based on the 'colour' of their voice - and his acute hearing sets alarm bells ringing when he tunes in to the killer.
Together, Simone and Negro are the only people able to stop the killer, before he closes in on Simone.
From the diverse perspectives of the detective, the blind Simone and the killer, Lucarelli, master of Italian noir, weaves a gripping thriller.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
As I say, I was surprised, but having read it now, I'm not at all, because this is an absolutely excellent crime novel. Let me start by saying, I love short books, and this is definitely one of them, at only about 170 pages. Short books can be read quickly, and can provide the same payoff as reading a novel, if done absolutely right. And this one is. Novels like this that condense plots that other authors would use hundreds of pages for into a mere 170, show just how much superfluity is packed into many novels. Because Almost Blue is none less rewarding, and is practically stuffed with plot. The result is a quick, immediately engaging read. As The Guardian blurb on the cover says, this is a "compact and powerful masterpiece".
It's darn original, too. Set in Bologna, it's a dark serial killer story. On the trail is Inspectore Grazia Negro, who's an officer in a new task-force that's just been set-up, and is rather just finding its feet and its confidence. Simone is blind, and lives in a room at the top of his mother's house. All day, he listens to his record player in between bouts of tuning into a radio scanner that picks up the voices of people all across the city. This is hobby. Listening to Bologna's inhabitants, imagining them as they go about their lives and, frequently, their illicit loves. One day, though, Simone is terrified when he tunes into the killer.
As I say, it's a completely original book. (Oonagh Stransky's excellent, fluent translation shouldn't go without a mention, either. Nor should Lucarelli's absolutely remarkable descriptions of sound, which Simone is of course so attuned to.) Almost Blue is an excellent English-language debut from a talented crime writer. Short, sharp, and very thrilling. I look forward to more. Definitely.
| |||||
Amazon Home | |
| International Sites: United States | Germany | France | Japan | Canada | China | |
| Business Programs: Sell on Amazon | Fulfilment by Amazon | Join Associates | Join Advantage | |
| Customer Service | Help | View Basket | Your Account | |
| About Amazon.co.uk | Careers at Amazon | |
| Conditions of Use & Sale | Privacy Notice © 1996-2012, Amazon.com, Inc. and its affiliates |
