by Michael Dibdin
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by Michael Dibdin
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by Michael Dibdin
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by Michael Dibdin
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by Michael Dibdin
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Amazon.co.uk Review
And Then You Die marks the resurrection of the difficult-to-kill Aurelio Zen. Of course, we all knew he wasn't dead. The shining light of Rome's Criminalpol, Zen, appeared to die in a bomb attack on his car, but Michael Dibdin fans were quietly confident that we hadn't seen the last of one of the most distinctive sleuths in the genre.
After months in a hospital recovering from the injuries sustained in the Mafia attack, Zen is incommunicado at a beach resort on the Tuscan coast, psyching himself up to testify in a forthcoming anti-Mafia trial. His orders are straightforward: lie back and relax in a classic Italian beach holiday. He is happy to do this, and even flirts with the seductive woman under the next beach umbrella. It goes without saying that his idyll is short-lived, and as a remarkable number of people begin to die around him, it becomes apparent that the Cosa Nostra is intent on finishing the murder attempt that went wrong months ago on a Sicilian road.
This is Dibdin stripped to the bone: a pared-down, fast-moving narrative that demands to be read at one or two sittings. The uncharitable might say that Dibdin has dashed it off rather quickly, but such is his skill that few will complain when the rewards offered here are so plentiful. Welcome back, Aurelio. --Barry Forshaw
Review
'One of the most accomplished writers of his generation.' The Times 'Dibdin has brought a particular narrative brilliance and fastidious intelligence to the detective story.' Sunday Express
After months of hospital treatment following a bomb attack, presumed to be by the Mafia, Venetian-born Aurelio Zen, of Italy's Interior Ministry, is recuperating under a false name in a quietly fashionable beach resort on the Tuscan coast. By day flirting casually with Gemma, a new acquaintance on a neighbouring sunbed, he is still psychologically disturbed, haunted by strange 'meaningful' dreams. As the story opens he's feeling somewhat aggrieved by the usurpation of his own assigned umbrella and lounger by a man who's - apparently - soundly and peacefully asleep. But he's dead... in the place where Zen should have been; which suggests that Zen was the intended victim, that his cover's been blown, and that it's time to move on - or back. Before he can make a decision he's hastily reclaimed by the Ministry 'for his own safety' and summarily despatched to America where he is in any case due to testify at the trial of a number of notorious mafiosi. He never reaches America. After the death of a man who took Zen's seat on the transatlantic flight, and a diversion to Iceland, where he's attacked in the street by a knife-bearing stranger, he is back in Italy, reunited with Gemma, whom he encounters in unusual circumstances which leave them with a dead body on their hands which must be instantly disposed of - through a hair-raising series of experiences which at times descend into low comedy. Although he's a British writer living in America, Dibdin obviously has a firm grasp of his Italian background. His writing is spare, his style urbane - often satirical. His plots are ingenious, complex and packed with action. He looks on the rapidly changing world with wry amusement and some cynicism. Established aficionados of his novels will instantly pick up on the on-going story; newcomers will have fun spotting the clues, which are liberally, if subtly, provided. (Kirkus UK)
After months of hospital treatment following a bomb attack, presumed to be by the Mafia, Venetian-born Aurelio Zen, of Italy's Interior Ministry, is recuperating under a false name in a quietly fashionable beach resort on the Tuscan coast. By day flirting casually with Gemma, a new acquaintance on a neighbouring sunbed, he is still psychologically disturbed, haunted by strange 'meaningful' dreams. As the story opens he's feeling somewhat aggrieved by the usurpation of his own assigned umbrella and lounger by a man who's - apparently - soundly and peacefully asleep. But he's dead... in the place where Zen should have been; which suggests that Zen was the intended victim, that his cover's been blown, and that it's time to move on - or back. Before he can make a decision he's hastily reclaimed by the Ministry 'for his own safety' and summarily despatched to America where he is in any case due to testify at the trial of a number of notorious mafiosi. He never reaches America. After the death of a man who took Zen's seat on the transatlantic flight, and a diversion to Iceland, where he's attacked in the street by a knife-bearing stranger, he is back in Italy, reunited with Gemma, whom he encounters in unusual circumstances which leave them with a dead body on their hands which must be instantly disposed of - through a hair-raising series of experiences which at times descend into low comedy. Although he's a British writer living in America, Dibdin obviously has a firm grasp of his Italian background. His writing is spare, his style urbane - often satirical. His plots are ingenious, complex and packed with action. He looks on the rapidly changing world with wry amusement and some cynicism. Established aficionados of his novels will instantly pick up on the on-going story; newcomers will have fun spotting the clues, which are liberally, if subtly, provided. (Kirkus UK)
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