- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Vintage Books (Jan 1996)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0679753117
- ISBN-13: 978-0679753117
- Product Dimensions: 13.1 x 1.7 x 20.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,107,685 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Among the emerging generation of crime writers, none is as stylish and intelligent as Michael Dibdin, who, in Dead Lagoon, gives us a deliciously creepy new novel featuring the urbane and skeptical Aurelio Zen, a detective whose unenviable task it is to combat crime in a country where today's superiors may be tomorrow's defendants.Zen returns to his native Venice. He is searching for the ghostly tormentors of a half-demented contessa and a vanished American millionaire whose family is paying Zen under the table to determine his whereabouts-dead or alive. But he keeps stumbling over corpses that are distressingly concrete: from the crooked cop found drowned in one of the city's noisome "black wells" to a brand-new skeleton that surfaces on the Isle of the Dead. The result is a mystery rich in character and deduction, and intensely informed about the history, politics, and manners of its Venetian setting.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Zen finally gets a chance to get back to his home town of Venice, where it's pretty much business as usual - decay, corruption, and murder. As always, well-crafted and well-written. Vintage Zen, in other words.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
23 reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Highly recommended, richly atmospheric mystery set in Venice
18 Aug 1996
Format:Paperback
Dead Lagoon is a richly atmospheric and complex psychological
mystery set in Venice. Michael Dibdin does an excellent job
of using the Venetian landscape as a supporting character in
the mystery at hand. Best of all for armchair travelers, the
two maps included in the book help you follow the action
which ranges across the lagoon in all directions on land,
sea and air. Following the main character, Aurelio Zen, as
he resolves the dual interwoven mysteries and his personal
romantic problems is a most enjoyable reading experience.
Zen is deep, dark and driven. His peregrinations across
Venice in winter are a source of pure delight. The mysteries
at the core of the book are well formulated and keep the
reader guessing until the very end. Dibdin leavens the
darkness of the novel with a touch of black humor. Highly
recommended!
mystery set in Venice. Michael Dibdin does an excellent job
of using the Venetian landscape as a supporting character in
the mystery at hand. Best of all for armchair travelers, the
two maps included in the book help you follow the action
which ranges across the lagoon in all directions on land,
sea and air. Following the main character, Aurelio Zen, as
he resolves the dual interwoven mysteries and his personal
romantic problems is a most enjoyable reading experience.
Zen is deep, dark and driven. His peregrinations across
Venice in winter are a source of pure delight. The mysteries
at the core of the book are well formulated and keep the
reader guessing until the very end. Dibdin leavens the
darkness of the novel with a touch of black humor. Highly
recommended!
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Absolutely a page turner
26 Jun 2000
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I had read Iain Pears books on the recommendation that they were full of Italian background. I found them lacking. Now, this writer and this book take you into the heart of Venice. He captures the italian personality so well. For those of you who have visited Venice you will relive the experience. Great read. Don't miss it! The previous reader didnt enjoy Zen drinking his expresso con grappa. It is the national drink. CinCin
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Venice as character
27 April 2004
Format:Paperback
Misty, mysterious Venice is always a favourite "character", whether it be in fiction or biography. Venice does not give up its secrets easily, and Dibdin is a master at ensuring the tension builds and the plot is assisted through location. He is equally adept at characterisation - the restless, driven Zen, who confronts several ethical dilemmas along the way, and several of the supporting "cast" , all of whom come to life and populate the setting magnificently.
The story itself is intriguing, with enough revelations along the way. There is no great finale denouement, more a piecing together of the jigsaw, and one great personal revelation about Zen's family background.
I thought Dibdin was at his very best when the action moves to the Questura (police headquarters). I half expected Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti to come strollign along the corridor!
The "chase" sequence - on foot and boat through wintry night time Venice was also excellent.
Thoroughly recommended for anyone who enjoys top quality crime fiction. No formulaic writing here!
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