Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
4 of 5 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.
|
|
|
5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A very good detective story, 7 Oct 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
I enjoyed this book very much - a lot more than many other reviewers, it seems. I thought as a private detective mystery it worked very well, with a credible and comprehensible plot which was very well developed in the narrative, and believable, well-drawn characters. Jones (who lives in Parma) also creates an excellent sense of place - Northern Italy in winter - and the mores and politics of the city and of Italy itself, and I found the central character narrating the story interesting and sympathetic in a flawed, human way
Like one or two other reviewers, this book put me in mind of Raymond Chandler. No one, of course, has Chandler's uniquely brilliant style, but the first-person narration by a solitary, fundamentally moral character, the way in which he describes the gumshoe work of talking to people and his semi-co-operative and uneasy relationship with the police were all reminiscent. Even the beekeeping reminded me of Marlowe's chess problems as a way of distancing himself from the moral squalor he has to work with. All this is very much to the good, and Jones's prose has a style of its own which I liked very much: direct, unfussy, rather spare and a pleasure to read.
I found this a very thoughtful, engrossing and enjoyable book. I hope it is sufficiently successful to develop into a series. I certainly look forward to more and I can see Castagnetti becoming yet another well-loved fictional detective. Perhaps not five stars, but certainly four-plus. Highly recommended.
|
|
|
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.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
by Christobel Kent
by Andrea Camilleri
by Tobias Jones
by Stieg Larsson
by Nicola Upson
