Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Three Ways to Find a Great New Writer, 13 Feb 2003
Recently I have found a series of new writers that were unknown to me. I understand the number of books offered on a given day is enormous, but those worth the time it takes to read them are comparatively few.
Some book jackets compare one author to another, as was the case here. I had never heard of Mr. Dibdin or this series of Aurelio Zen mysteries, and if you haven't either, something special by a gifted author awaits your attention.
If you enjoyed the late Mario Puzzo's Sicily, this particular installment, "Blood Rain", is for you. Very little is as it appears the first, second, or third time you read it during this story. Mr. Dibdin has the ability to sustain the uncertainty of the tale's direction and outcome until you literally are at the final page. What you feel you have learned even at that point is still open to question. None of this is done so as to be cliché; no surprise lurks around a corner. One of the skills Mr. Dibdin is so good at is knocking you off your chair when there is absolutely no reason to expect it. The brilliant part is, even though he surprises you, he has laid the basis for his moment, and still you really are stunned. I know it sounds trite, but you will not see the event coming. You may find yourself flipping back a few pages thinking you missed a clue, but don't bother looking; you missed nothing, no pages stuck together. The Author manipulates his readers with subtlety and perhaps a bit of guile.
One other element I enjoyed was the length. The book can be comfortably read in a sitting for it is only as long as it needs to be. Mr. Dibdin does not feel the need to produce 600 pages when 272 will do. He needed 272, no more or less, and you are rewarded for it.
The other 2 ways to find these new writers, you can follow the links of what others have bought on Amazon; you will turn up new authors faster than you may think. The other alternative is to get down on the floor of a bookstore, your face nearly on the carpet. There, if you are lucky you will find these wonderful books. In more ways than one they are holding up many "marquee authors" that are on the top shelves, as foundations are the strength of any sound structure. On the top shelf does not mean top shelf quality. I don't mean to be pretentious; it is just that I am tired of plowing through, clicking through, around and around the latest book with an initial run of millions of copies, to find someone or something new.
Read Mr. Dibdin you will not be disappointed.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Yet another engaging case for Aurelio Zen, 5 Jun 2000
By A Customer
As a Zen addict, I thorougly enjoyed this book. It was an easy yet stimulating read, always interesting with loads of suspense, twists and turns. As with all the books based throughout Italy, there is an engaging and deepening atmosphere as Dibdin takes us on an entirely believable trip into the murky Italian criminal world this time in Zen's dreaded posting of Sicily.The books have become slightly lighter as the tired of life Zen becomes more reflective and wistful. His world weariness, with that hint of an amused onlooker, though does not detract from the clever plot of Blood Rain. Only Zen can find himself with such such an array of challenges whether they be from his bosses, colleagues, politicians or criminals and come out almost unscathed. Surely the Mafia will not be the ones to finally end Zen's reign as one of our favourite detectives Surely Zen will be back!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This book deals with Zen at his most vunerable..., 17 Aug 2002
...It is important to realise that this is one of the most recent Dibdin books and follows on from previous excellent works where Zens' cynical, apathetic and morally unstable nature is built up. This book deals with Zen at his most vunerable (having lost his Mother) and this venerability may suggest a shallowness of character but this is purely down to the skill of the author in potraying a very `human' being rather than the stereotyped copper who you know will win in the end. Although the storyline is complex, engaging and believable this book is all about Zen, the person, and is a lesson in character creation and realism.
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