- Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: Arrow; New edition edition (4 Mar 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0099415178
- ISBN-13: 978-0099415176
- Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 2.4 x 17.7 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 55,871 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Uniform Justice, the latest outing for Donna Leon's creation, Commissario Brunetti, is a prime example of Leon's non pareil scene-setting and brilliantly wrought plots, which often take their own sweet time to establish an inexorable grip. After the death in the first few pages that sets the narrative in progress, the reader (and Brunetti) has to crack a particularly knotty puzzle. Did the young cadet at a prestigious military school die at his own hand, or was it murder? And, if his death was self-inflicted, was it intentional or accidental?
The boy's parents are separated, and Brunetti learns that his mother was the victim of a shooting some years ago. Further, the boy's sister has disappeared. At the military school, Brunetti encounters a polite wall of silence, but that's nothing new for him, and this resourceful Italian copper thrives on unsolvable crimes. This time, however, the complex mystery he encounters lends itself to no easy solution. The heady brew here yokes in high-level corruption involving Italian army procurement and the allegation of transgressive sexual practices.
As ever, Leon juggles these elements with consummate skill, and it's a given that the Venetian setting is as impeccably conjured as ever. The treatment of Brunetti is fresh, too: the frustration and intransigence he struggles with are particularly counterpointed by his identification with the case--Brunetti has a son of the same age as the dead boy. But what's notably pleasing here is Donna Leon's refusal to tie everything up in a too-neat and orderly fashion. Its messy compromises are much more like real life than the contrivances of most crime novels. --Barry Forshaw --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
The Evening Standard - praise for Wilful Behaviour
Her novels have become successively more subtle, more complex and perhaps more serious, without ever losing their compelling power.'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Leon is the greatest!,
By Robert Cooke (USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Uniform Justice (Hardcover)
Donna Leon's latest Commissario Brunetti case is one of her best!From the opening pages, which quickly sets the tone, "Uniform Justice" is fast-paced, extremely exciting, and quite gripping. It is difficult to find an author today who is better! A young cadet at an exclusive Venetian military prep school has been found hanged in his dormitory. The school quickly has it proclaimed a suicide, but Brunetti knows otherwise. He and his team of loyal members of Venice's police department quickly begin Leon is never slow to touch up socially significant issues and she plows into this one at gale force. "Corruption in Things Italian" seems to be her middle name and she pulls no punches. One would imagine that the Italian military and even some of its other "sacred" institutions will not view this book (nor her others!) in pleased frames of mind. Still, Leon is one of the most popular American novelists read abroad today (in fact, even her recent hard-bound copies are NOT published in the US for some really strange reason!). Again,"Uniform Justice" is Leon at her best and Brunetti doing what he does best--solving murders. An excellent read!
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Back and better,
By
This review is from: Uniform Justice (Hardcover)
For those who love Venice, all Donna Leon's books are a pleasure. The look and smell of each calle and piazza are vividly conveyed, and one truly has a sense of being there. But some stories are better than others. In Uniform Justice, Ms. Leon has again given us a meaty tale of character and corruption which really satisfies. I would read any book in this series, but am especially glad to see that the richness of the earlier works has been recaptured here.
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Uniform Justice, Donna Leon,
By
This review is from: Uniform Justice (Paperback)
Having worked my way through the majority of Leon's work up to this point, I can say with great conviction that Uniform Justice is without a doubt her best. The fact that all of them are excellent and thoroughly enjoyable gives some hint as to how good this 12th Brunetti novel, which deals with the supposed suicide of a cadet at a military academy, is.As ever, all the usual ingredients which make the series so special are here: the excellent Brunetti (it's very hard to express how refreshing a detective he is among the the slew of cliched loners; he is remarkable); the sensuous yet slightly grimy portrait of Venice; Bruentti's heart-warming family; Leon's ability to create excellent character sketches in a limited number of pages; and Brunetti's children, who drift in the background with invigorating youth, like joyful spirits. It's all so comfortable and warming. What else is excellent? The plot, for one. The mystery. Leon's examination of a rather frightening military culture. I like these books in part because the social opinions Leon expounds, the messages she gives, are so incredibly sensible. Many people indeed could benefit from reading these novels - and not just Venetians. One thing symbolised so excellently is the ability of the little man, the serf, almost, to get one-up on those higher than him, despite corruptionm, which is an ability which seems rife in Venetian society. The scenes in which Brunetti is able to so easily manipulate his boss are a supreme joy to read, and very funny as well. But what, therefore, makes this one the best? The ending does. Leon is a very curious writer in that crime-fiction is just a hobby, to finance her first love - opera. You'd think that she might take, therefore, a slightly cavalier attitude toward it, but not at all. Moreso than many other exponents of this type of novel who take the form more seriously, she refuses to be bound by convention. She is, oddly, an innovator. She takes chances and turns things on their head and doesn't like to adhere to "rules", even if it means breaking some of the most strict guidlines of crime fiction (as she did in her first novel). The miracle is that she is able to break these guildlines incredibly sucessfully, and her mysteries are still satisfying. No other mystery writer breaks the rules as sucessfully, or as enjoyably. The ending to this book is superb, I thought. Obviously, it won't suit people who must have their criminals brought to justice, but for those who are impressed by a realistic portrait of justice (and a display of where it cannot reach), one could do no better than reach for the novels of Donna Leon.
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