Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Flowing, enjoyable and engrossing mystery thriller, 14 Oct 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
This mystery thriller set in contemporary northern Italy is a debut novel by Tobias Jones. The story is told from the point of view of Castagnetti, who is a private investigator hired to establish the legal status of Riccardo Salati, who disappeared fourteen years ago but as no body has ever been found he is presumed missing. His wealthy widowed mother, Silvia Salati has just died and made it a condition of her will that the case into her son's disappearance be reopened to establish whether he is still alive or dead. Only once this has been determined, can the will's heirs inherit the fortune left.
The narrative flows easily and the whole story takes place over one week. Castagnetti is like a bloodhound once he has the scent and makes a thorough investigator. He interviews family members and others connected to Salati. He pursues any lead and throughout the week we share everything he learns. The story twists and turns throwing up new clues and suspects but it concludes in a very satisfactory and explanatory manner ensuring the reader understands who, what and why occurred.
The lead character of Castagnetti is a loner but very likeable and although he has a cynical streak, he is not totally downtrodden or world weary. The writing is well paced and quick to read. The whole novel reminded me of the classic American noir novels of the 1930s and 1940s and although the setting is Italy, the place has become a backdrop rather than a main character. The overall effect is a highly enjoyable and well written mystery thriller which allows the reader to fully engage with the story and reach an ending where the mystery is resolved.
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8 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Old Fashioned Crime Solving, 16 Jul 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
I read a lot of crime fiction and as a genre it can get very samey. Authors try to mix things up in lots of different ways; the most recent trend being to have lots of OTT violence. Therefore, it was nice to read `The Salati Case' and its old fashion sense of crime fiction. This is a story about one man trying to solve a straight forward case. The main character is a PI who investigates by hard work and research. For this reason we follow him from place to place as he talks to suspects and picks up clues. It is a very linear novel and this allows author Tobias Jones to keep the reader up to date with the investigation constantly. At no point was I scratching my head trying to figure out who is who - this is an impressive thing for a book that uses Italian names and shows that Jones can structure a story.
The fact that the story has a simple direction means that the reveal towards the end makes sense and Jones can produce some effective twists and turns. An area that did not work quite as well was the setting. I never felt that the Italy described in the novel was that interesting and as Jones used it as a characters within itself, I felt it was little dull. In terms of character I begrudgingly liked Casta. He is not a particularly pleasant man and he has an obsession with the truth although his actions do little but cause grief and misery. However, his dogged attitude is compelling and holds the story together well. Overall, I felt that `The Salati Case' was a refreshing return to an older style of crime fiction that is nice to visit once in a while, but perhaps will need some more excitement in later instalments if it they are to succeed.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A modern Italian gumshoe with integrity., 25 Oct 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
Castagnetti is a private investigator, or, rather as he would put it `Offro chiarimenti' he clears things up. He works alone and I'm guessing he lives in Parma, near Bologna. He knows enough people in the city to get things done, but not so many that he cannot be incognito. The novel is beautifully poised and ready to run as soon as we are introduced to him.
Casta's narrative covers a week in his life concerning the Salati case(s) with a nice, dry, dead-pan style reminiscent of Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe. But what immediately sprang into my mind was a book I'd not read in forty years; Delano Ames' The Man With Three Jaguars where a seemingly ordinary Spanish policeman Juan Llorca investigates murder amongst the rich and privileged.
Tobias Jones has an instinctive feel for the Italian background and culture, and his characters are beautifully shaded in as the book progresses. There was no chance of me falling asleep reading this one, as seems to happen all too often with other modern novels. Occasionally his English trips over itself, but that seems to add a bit more charm to the gentle style and small-town flavour. It is quite a short book, I estimate about forty-five thousand words, and so the end comes a bit too soon, leaving one wanting to hear more from our `Casta.'
It is sufficiently good that I'll refrain from any plot synopses, apart from saying it is very definitely worth a read, and, while you are unlikely to guess who-dunnit, many of the clues are there from quite early on - if only you knew what you should have been looking for.
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