Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful, Wonderful, Wonderful, 26 Sep 2006
I have quite literally just finished "Quiet Vendetta" and as emotionally drained as I may be, I felt compelled to post my review/comments regarding this book immediately. In brief summary, a Governor's daughter goes missing following the gruesome murder of her bodyguard. An old Cuban by the name of Ernesto Perez turns up claiming responsibility and knowledge of the girl's whereabouts. Perez requests that his story be heard before relinquishing details of the whereabouts of the Governor's daughter.
And so, we fall headlong into Ellory's detailed and rich story, retracing the steps of one man's journey as a hitman for the mob stretching over four decades. Of course the "organised crime" genre has been covered by many, but not quite like this, not as superbly as this. Ellory's prose is so rich in detail, so original in composition and so creative in plotting, not to mention fantastically well researched.
I believe that Ellory has set a new standard with his writing, and it is certainly a tough act to follow for others who wish to write creatively in this genre. In Perez we have one of my favourite characters of any book, movie or play that I have encountered. This is not due to his criminal activity, and homicidal tendencies, certainly not, but due to the depth and richness Ellory has created in Perez, rarely has a character been so real to me.
I have no doubt that this book would make a great movie, and if directed and produced well, Ernesto Perez would become a character as memorable as Michael Corleone, Henry Hill and Tony Montana. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before Ellory is a household name, as he is a bona fide talent, and this is another brilliant book. I highly recommend it
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33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A TRULY EXTRAORDINARY BOOK, 18 Aug 2005
By A Customer
It is actually very difficult to express how I feel about this book. It is a remarkable achievement. It would be hard to even categorise the genre that it fits into. It is a thriller yes, but so, so much more than that. Perhaps if you took Thomas Harris, Mario Puzo and John Steinbeck and put them on a desert island together this is the sort of thing you'd end up with. I had earlier read both of Ellory's previous books - Candlemoth and Ghostheart - and was familiar with his style of prose and subject matter. This book has exceeded all of my very high expectations, and has confirmed, for me at least, that he is a truly world class author. The protagonist and central character is as disturbing and seductive as Hannibal Lecter, and yet this is about as far from a serial killer novel as you could hope to get. It is an epic in the tradition of The Godfather, but it is not a book 'about the Mafia'. It is a novel that encompasses fifty years, two countries, ten cities, murder, love, betrayal, loss, revenge, and all of it structured in a format that is eminently readable. Ellory's prose is superb, and yet at no time do you feel that his use of language and description slows or hampers the story. The plot is complex and brave, and I am exceptionally impressed with the lack of reservation the author seems to have had about laying bare the horror of a life within organized crime. Take all you've seen or heard about the Mafia, and this book encompasses all of it and then some. Beyond that there is the present day story (if you're familiar with the way Ellory writes you'll know that his books are never just one story!), and that narrative is the driving force that impels you through the plot. Well, I could say a great deal more, and I probably should, but this is one of those books that you have just GOT TO READ!! I don't know where this author is going to go next. I can't help but think that this is the beginning of a remarkable body of work. I am a huge fan of all that he has done, and I cannot help but think that if word of mouth can carry this forward (as I have seen no newspaper or poster advertisements for his books, oddly enough) then Ellory will carve a new genre, and become as big as Stephen King, John Grisham and others of that caliber, but in his own individual and very special field. Just get the book and read it and make up your own mind. This is by far and away the best book I have read in an very, very long time indeed!
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19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A noisy recommendation!, 18 Sep 2008
I have now read all five in the R J Ellory portfolio (his sixth is due next month) and not for the first time, I kissed this one as I closed the last page. This man, in my opinion, doesn't know how to write a bad or even mediocre novel. I have never given 5 stars to every book by the same author before, and that would include my personal favourites. I guess Ellory will inevitably slip up sooner or later, but until then I must say that all five of his novels published to date are absolutely top-notch pieces of writing and any one of them could be another reader's first preference. As for A QUIET VENDETTA, the third of the five published, I can only say buy it, borrow it or somehow get your hands on it because it is a captivating story that you just won't want to end.
Some feel that Ellory isn't a crime fiction writer, that his work cannot be pigeon-holed into any specific genre, and while I understand that argument, this story is probably the most criminal of them all. It takes a while before the reader can latch onto who the central character is; at first we assume it to be John Verlaine, a Homicide Detective in New Orleans - but it isn't. Then we figure it to be New York based Special Investigator Ray Hartmann - but again, it isn't. In fact it is more than one hundred pages into the story before we finally know who it's really all about: Ernesto Cabrera Perez, and the narrative switches from third-person to first person as the elderly Perez tells Hartmann his life story. And what a life it was.
Perez is a quite extraordinary man, a man of unquestioning loyalty and devotion to his family. But apart from his own family, at least the one he creates as opposed to his forebears, he is very deeply entrenched in a family of a very different kind. Despite his Cuban blood, Perez is a life-long 'troubleshooter' for the Italian Mafia in various cities across America. When there's trouble, he shoots - and he never misses. Yes, he is the absolutely reliable hit-man in a world of organised crime spanning five decades or more, and for once Ellory not only uses politically significant events in 20th-century American history as a time stamp, as a backdrop to the story; this time his key character is directly involved in it. Perez is responsible for one of the most notorious 'hits' in the chronicles of organised crime. Seeing as this particular murder was never solved in reality, there is an acceptable degree of credibility to this supposedly fictitious thread of the overall story. Despite this, it is actually only of minor relevance in itself, because the backbone of the tale is the kidnapping of the daughter of Louisiana Governor Charles Ducane, and Perez promises Hartmann to divulge her whereabouts once he has fully told his life story. Whether she is alive or dead, he cannot say. So begins a massive FBI-administered hunt for the abducted young girl, but she will not be found until Perez tells them where to look.
It would be easy to pick holes in the novel, and I have to confess that it was quite a while before I realised how special it is, so it does require a little patience to get fully into it. Once there, however, once I was really inside the mind and soul of Ernesto Perez, I never wanted it to end. True, it's the kind of story I favour best in being built around the world of the Mafia in their halcyon years, so I have to admit to being easily persuaded but then again it needs to have been written well and that it most certainly has been. But it is special, even among other Ellory novels, and without doubt it is one of the most engrossing books I have read in recent years. I am sorry to have finished it - you can't beat the first time, can you? - but it's one of the very few books in my personal library that I know I will read again. It isn't about the destination, fascinating though that would prove to be, no - it is about the journey, the ruthlessly riveting world that was the life of Ernesto Perez.
Unconditionally recommended.
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