- 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: 232,956 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
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 Times - Praise for Wilful Behaviour
‘Compelling…brilliantly evoking Venetian atmosphere, and the characters of Brunetti and his family continue to deepen throughout this series.’
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format: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!
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
their investigation--an investigation that, once more, leads us into the power structures of "the Pearl of the Adriatic."
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
Format: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
Format: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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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A great series but a below par addition
Finished this the other night and genuinely wished I had missed this volume out and gone to the next Brunetti. Read more
Published 22 months ago by David M. Graves
FLIPPING DEPRESSING
i like brunetti and i like his venice - leon always leave the denoument til the last minute 0but bloody hell this was a depressing finale.!
Published on 18 Jun 2009 by Ms. L. Mead
Look Beyond the Obvious
Uniform Justice doesn't match up very well to the excellent Wilful Behaviour that precedes it in this fine series. Read more
Published on 11 Feb 2008 by Donald Mitchell
Another outing for Brunetti and the best yet
Donna Leon has struck the gold standard of police procedural crime fiction again with Uniform Justice, another outing for her engagingly fallible and thoughtful detective,... Read more
Published on 29 July 2007 by Rivercassini
Overrated.
Tried this after reading reviews in Guardian etc.of this series ,and was surprised that none of the attributes complimented by reviewers commended themselves to me. Read more
Published on 1 July 2007 by P. HEATH
Uniform Justice, Donna Leon
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. Read more
Published on 12 Aug 2004 by RachelWalker
Story showed great promise but ending was a LET-DOWN!
Uniform Justice was my first introduction to Donna Leon and Guido Brunetti and I was sorely let down by the experience. Read more
Published on 11 Jun 2004 by Mark O'Neill
Leon once again triumphs!
Donna Leon’s twelfth Commissario Guido Brunetti novel does not begin with a bang; instead, it begins with an apparent suicide, a hanging. Read more
Published on 14 May 2003 by Billy J. Hobbs
Donna Leon's Latest is the Greatest!
I've read all of Donna Leon's Commissario Guido Brunetti's cases and, as with all the previous ones, "Uniform Justice" is almost impossible to put down until you finish it. Read more
Published on 14 May 2003 by Donald Barber
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