August Heat (Montalbano 10)
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Amazon.co.uk Review
As the interest of readers in crime fiction in translation continues to grow, it’s common knowledge that one writer's name guarantees highly individual writing: the veteran Italian master Andrea Camilleri. And August Heat demonstrates once again why the author is held in such high esteem -- and why Inspector Montalbano is one of the treasures of the current crime scene. This latest offering (with Montalbano dealing with the discovery of a young woman’s body) is par for the course – not vintage Montalbano, but more than serviceable -- aided by a translation courtesy of the adroit Stephen Sartarelli.
As usual with Montalbano (whose gourmet instincts are as keen as his investigative skills), his methods for learning the truth from suspects vary according to the individuals he is dealing with; here, an unpleasant paedophile comes in for some particularly no-nonsense treatment -- and the legality of some of Montalbano’s actions is distinctly questionable.
The setting, as usual, is the picturesque, non-metropolitan region of Vigata in Sicily. And it's hot --stiflingly hot. In August Heat, we are never allowed to forget the all-enveloping sultriness (the inspector -- possessor of miniature fan, the only one in the police station -- sometimes cloisters himself in his office and strips naked to deal with the heat). At the beginning of the novel, Montalbano’s lover, Livia, has arranged for some friends to stay near them. But their guests' irritating child disappears, and Montalbano undertakes a search. The house they are using yields no clues, despite being searched with a fine toothcomb. The mystery is total -- is it an abduction? Has the child wandered away? Until, that is, Montalbano finds a tunnel in the ground outside -- one that that takes him to a concealed layer of the house. He finds the child, unharmed, but there is another discovery waiting for him in the subterranean room: a trunk. Inside, wrapped in plastic, is the unclothed body of a girl -- her throat has been slashed. The clues to her killer may lie with those responsible for the concealed floor.
Camilleri fans will be more than happy with this, though there is no catch-up characterisation for Montalbano's police colleagues; the author clearly makes the assumption that we’ll be familiar with them. This reservation apart (plus a few others involving a comic secondary figure), followers of this urbane, relentless Italian copper need not hesitate. --Barry Forshaw
Review
'Camilleri underpins the story with caustic sideswipes...which always makes his books a cut above the average thriller.'
--Books Quarterly
'A friend of mine sent me a set of Camilleri's detective stories when he realized what rubbish I was reading. They're brilliant, all about a food-loving detective based in Sicily who can't get his life together.' -- Will Young, She Magazine
--Books Quarterly
'A friend of mine sent me a set of Camilleri's detective stories when he realized what rubbish I was reading. They're brilliant, all about a food-loving detective based in Sicily who can't get his life together.' -- Will Young, She Magazine
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Montalbano but not as we know him,
By Mrs Pisaroni "reading,dreaming" (yorkshire,england) - See all my reviews
This review is from: August Heat (Montalbano 10) (Hardcover)
This, the 10th in Andrea Camilleri's wonderfully evocative Montalbano series,does not disappoint. It is August in Sicily and the heat is steaming off every page as Montalbano solves the mystery over the body of a teenage girl found in a trunk in the house his girlfriend(the long suffering Livia)has rented for the summer on behalf of mutual friends. There is the usual humour, the moronic Catarella at the police station, the sly digs at Berlusconi,Montalbano's greediness,slyness,contempt of authority. There are the methods of policing which are so outrageous you just have to laugh-Montalbano and the pathologist sun bathe in deckchairs while waiting for forensics to finish their work!!! The usual variety of suspects and a beautiful girl, this time the victim's twin sister,who gets Montalbano into a sweat. But, Montalbano is feeling his age and the excellent finale in which he realises that he has been duped leaves him a more serious and reflective man. Indeed the ending has a darkness and moroseness about it that has not been apparent in the other books. Montalbano seems almost to have lost his illusions and is a sadder man for it. A worthy companion to the series and as always you are left longing for the next book.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Sicily's most famous detective feels the heat...,
By
This review is from: August Heat (Montalbano 10) (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
Camilleri's books about Sicilian detective Salvo Montalbano inevitably are compared with Donna Leon's stories about Venice's Brunetti, with Brunetti being the more cultured, better educated and more refined of the two. This also applies to the way the books are written Montalbano's more rough-and-ready, sometimes crude, but always big-hearted approach to crime solving seems to fit better with the fact that he's in Sicily and I have always enjoyed the descriptions of places, food and the sea that pepper the Montalbano books even if they aren't quite as beautifully-written or subtle as Leon's.
In this book, Montalbano discovers the body of a brutally-murdered young girl inside a trunk hidden in an illegal apartment in a building rented by friends for the summer. He, of course, solves the crime aided and abetted by a cast of characters who have featured in previous books and a beautiful and seductive young woman, who hasn't. I enjoyed this book very much, it's a very easy read with a twist at the end, and I found Montalbano's reflections on ageing touching, but agree with previous readers that there isn't really much of a mystery - the culprit is flagged up very early on. And I would have given it four stars were it not for a huge implausibility that I won't mention because it will spoil the plot, but it annoyed me no end. Very good book for easy summer beach-reading, especially if you're going to Sicily.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Summertime and the weather is sweltering,
By
This review is from: August Heat (Montalbano 10) (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
'He was sleeping so soundly that not even cannon-fire could have woken him.'
Like his last novel this one starts with Montalbano waking up - this time to a phone call from Livia. Montalbano's long suffering girlfriend knows that if they are going to be stuck in Vigata for August then she should have some friends to hang out with as Salvo's work tends to get in the way. A seemingly perfect holiday villa comes up for rent but it seems cursed...first with plagues of cockroaches and mice and then a dead body is found. This is number ten in the series and I know I've read all ten, which I confess to being a little surprised at, as I couldn't tell you the plot of many. Camilleri is excellent at evoking time and place - in this case the unbearable heat of Sicily in August is dwelt on, and there's the usual homage to Sicilian food. He's also created a memorable detective and the feisty Livia as his leading lady....but, and there is a but, the plots can be very obvious and transparent to your average seasoned reader of murder mysteries. The lasting image from this novel is of Montalbano in a mid life crisis, exhausted by the heat and his work. It's a good book for the sun bed and there's the usual entertaining expose of corruption - this time in the building trade.
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