Bitter eind

Chief Inspector Mario Silva #4

by Leighton Gage

De zoon van de Venezolaanse minister van Buitenlandse Zaken wordt dood gevonden in zijn appartement in Brasilia; hij lijkt slachtoffer te zijn geworden van een crime passionnel. Gezien de vooraanstaande status van het slachtoffer wordt hoofdinspecteur Mario Silva door zijn baas opgetrommeld om de zaak te onderzoeken.

Al snel komt Silva op het spoor van een reeks soortgelijke moorden op verschillende locaties in Brazilië, en alles wijst erop dat er een en dezelfde moordenaar aan het werk is. Ware het niet dat de slachtoffers – van verschillende etniciteit, andere woonplaatsen en sociale klasse – helemaal niets met elkaar te maken hebben. Samen met zijn partners Arnaldo en Hector tracht Silva te achterhalen welk gruwelijk motief de moorden met elkaar verbindt, voordat de wrede moordenaar nog meer slachtoffers maakt…

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Brazil, Procedural, Mystery Thriller

Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Died July 27th, 2013

Leighton Gage writes the Chief Inspector Mario Silva series, crime novels set in Brazil. He and his Brazilian-born wife divide their time between their home in Brazil and those of their children and grandchildren in Europe and the U.S.
Praise for the Chief Inspector:

Hard-hitting, atmospheric…. Despite their social conscience and ambitious reach, there's nothing stiff or programmatic about Mr. Gage's lively, action-filled chronicles. They have finely sketched characters, vivid geographical detail and their own brutal sort of humor. The vast size of Brazil, with its great economic and topographic differences, affords a diversity of locales. Each book is a bit of adventure-travel, with Silva and crew often feeling like tourists within their own country. Yet the Silva investigations have all the step-by-step excitement of a world-class procedural series…. The books' greatest appeal, though, is Silva. Even after five books and many glimpses into his past and present, he remains an enigma. The reader never knows what the detective might or might not do in order to balance the scales of justice. The Wall Street Journal
South America’s Kurt Wallander - Booklist
Top notch...controversial and entirely absorbing...irresistible -
The New York Times
Masterful - The Toronto Globe and Mail
Compelling - The Boston Globe
Fascinating, complex and riveting - Florida Sun Sentinel
Intelligent and subtle…suspenseful and sophisticated - Publisher’s Weekly
Highly recommended - Library Journal
Colorful characters and crackling banter - Kirkus Reviews

Reviews

[Wonderkell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read! I'm really enjoying this series of books. The characters are well drawn & likeable. You want to know more about them. And the stories are always well thought out & full of suspense. The crimes themselves are always different & unique. And the setting is great. Another fantastic Mario Silva book that I've stayed up way too late to finish!!

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

“To the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.” Proverbs 27:7

Jonas Palhares is sure that he is living in the safest place he could possibly find. After trying some other areas of Rio, Jonas settled on an apartment near the beaches, the beaches to which tourists flocked. Increased police presence and a building with a doorman who would never let anyone in without the permission of a resident, makes Jonas feel very safe. It also makes him careless. When his doorbell rings, Jonas believes it is his girlfriend. It isn’t and Jonas dies.

When Juan Rivas, the son of the foreign minister of Venezuela, is killed, the problem created by the killing becomes a problem for Mario Silva and his team. The problem in the Rivas killing is the sexual orientation of the victim. It is a problem for Silva because, although the method of killing Rivas is the same as that used in the Palhares murder, Palhares wasn’t gay. Jorge Rivas wants the killer of his son found now, and when a detective, not one of Silva’s, abruptly announces that he has solved the case in minutes, Silva realizes that the detective is an idiot. The suspect is an older man who lives one floor below Juan. This suspect also has an on going relationship with Jorge Rivas; neither father nor son were aware of the other’s sexual proclivities. The Clown, the term Silva uses to identify the leader of Venezuela, is homophobic and Rivas Senior would find himself in a very bad place if The Clown is made aware of the private lives of the Rivas men. Both Jorge and Juan maintain relationships with Tomas Garcia. Jorge even owns both apartments. His first priority is to ensure that The Clown doesn’t learn of his sexual orientation. A gay man murdered by his lover would be an easy solution but Mario knows that an easy solution is rarely a correct solution. Mario is a man willing to turn over every rock to see what scuttles into the light of day. Tomas Garcia isn’t under any rock connected to the Rivas family.

What Mario needs is more likely to be found in the files of the police of Brazil than in anyone’s garden. In little time, Silva discovers that there have been three other murders, all similar in execution. Paulo Cruz is the highly successful author of books on sexuality. Victor Neves is an exporter of leather goods. Joao Girotti has spent much of his life as a guest of the state. He is a thug with convictions for armed robbery, burglary, and auto theft. The five men were first shot in the abdomen and then beaten to death with something like a club. What was the connection? The motive wasn’t sexual jealousy between gays because only Rivas fit that category. Four of the men were successful, leading respectable lives. The fifth victim was unlike the others in every possible way. Silva and his team have to start from the beginning and look at the murders from a different perspective.

Information that Joao Girotti had been drinking with a woman who had not been seen in the bar before suggests that he was not a random victim. The two left together minutes before Girotti was found dead in an alley behind the bar. Then, when the police search Neves apartment, they find a book next to his bed. The bookmark is a boarding pass and the details of the flight match exactly the details of the flight Juan Rives had been on shortly before he died.

It is when the police get a copy of the passenger list in business class on Neves flight that the case opens up. Four of the five men were in that section of the plane. One of the other seven could be the killer. Six of the seven could be the next victims. With the passenger list as a guide, the detectives contact the passengers and crew, ferreting out details that could lead to a motive for the killings.

As more people on the list are killed, the author asks us to look at the things we fear the most. We fear the sudden inexplicable death of a loved one. We fear being caught in circumstances over which we have no control. We fear the randomness of societal mores, that moment when we are confronted by a person whose moral code is defined situation by situation, rather than by the laws of conduct that define a civilized society.

Perhaps the bitter thing becomes sweet when we have someone or something to blame for bringing pain and loss into our lives. Does the soul hunger for justice or for retribution? Does either bring peace? The author presents his characters, especially Mario, as people of their time and place. There is corruption in the Brazilian justice and legal systems. Mario is not immune to the possibilities inherent in doing things his way rather than the right or legal way.

Situation ethics was a hotly debated philosophy in the 60′s and 70′s. Joseph Fletcher built his philosophy on the belief that love is the ultimate law. The love Fletcher espouses is that based on St.Paul’s teachings about “agape”, unconditional and unchanging love for all people. According to Fletcher, there are no absolute laws. The laws that govern society evolved in order to achieve the greatest amount of agape. Laws can be broken if to do so increases the amount of pure love in the world. Summed up, situational ethics breaks down to the simple and popular notion that the end justifies the means.

Joseph Fletcher would have loved EVERY BITTER THING. The reader applauds the resolution, comfortable that all good things come to those who wait for the right moment to act in the spirit of agape.

To say that Leighton Gage gets better with each book suggests that the previous books are less than EVERY BITTER THING. They aren’t. Gage has the ability to use the same central characters in the same setting and write different stories as if everything and everyone is new. There is no danger that this series will become stale.

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written, compelling, fast-paced, sometimes explicit criminal mystery, the fourth in this series. The plot revolves around the violent death of the son the Foreign Minister of Venezuela, whose battered body is discovered in his apartment in Brasilia, Brazil. Due to the apparent political nature of the crime, Chief Inspector Mario Silva of Brazil's Federal Police is called in to investigate. More seemingly related deaths follow, in various Brazilian locales, complicating Silva’s investigation. Very enjoyable criminal mystery! 3-plus stars!

[Peter Allum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unimpressive Brazilian police procedural.

This falls short of the best crime fiction on so many fronts:

- large shallowly-drawn cast of police investigators and medical examiners. Difficult to track who is who.

- dialogue-driven storyline heavy on sarcastic put-downs between rivalrous police. And Gage is no Chandler; the one-liners are limp at best.

- what should be a puzzling crime is quite quickly resolved by the reader. Gage thinks he has us fooled until late in the novel, but the motive for the serial killings is quite obvious midway through. After that point, the reader finishes the novel more from a sense of obligation than suspense.

- Lack of insights into life in Brazil. OK, we get to know a bit about the high rate of crime but beyond that we learn little about what it is to be Brazilian.

This is not awful enough to rate a two-star rating, but deserves no better than a three. Its best feature is that it can be read in just a few hours. Not recommended unless you are a foreign crime fiction junkie.

[Larry · Rating 5 out of 5]

EVERY BITTER THING by Leighton Gage
A Chief Inspector Mario Silva Investigation

Soho Press, Inc.
December, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-56947-845-5
Cloth, 5" x 7.5", 388 pages
$25.00 (U.S.), $28.95 (CAN)

Reviewed by Larry W. Chavis

The fourth novel in Leighton Gage's Mario Silva series finds the Brazilian chief inspector and his Federal Police team sent to the scene of a particularly brutal and politically sensitive murder: Juan Rivas, the son of the Venezuelan foreign minister, has been shot once in the abdomen and then beaten to death, leaving his body barely recognizable. The pressure from above for a quick solution will be heavy, and in fact, the delegado of the civil police is sure that he has solved the case already, when he discovers Rivas’s gay lover living in the apartment one floor down. Open and shut.

But, then, it isn’t. Other murders are discovered, their victims scattered in other cities and having no apparent relationship to Rivas or his love life. When ballistics tests show one gun involved in the shootings, then Silva and his crack team must go to work and discover the connection. The investigation leads them into some of Brazil’s largest cities and into the countryside, and even requires the assistance of a Miami detective friend of Silva's. The conclusion is not what one expects.

This excellent series continues to showcase Gage's ability to convey the genuineness of his Brazilian setting, and the interplay of the various governmental agencies, particularly the police force rivalries. The book has the feel of authenticity that comes from an author's intimate knowledge of his setting. Who but a local would know that the bombastic ruler of neighboring Venezuela is known as The Clown in the streets of Sao Paulo? Mr. Gage's wife is Brazilian, and they spend a part of every year in that country. His familiarity with the nuances of Brazil's day-to-day customs is reflected in his work.

EVERY BITTER THING is a welcome addition to the annals of Chief Inspector Mario Silva. Now, when is the next one due?

Copyright ©2010 Larry W. Chavis

DISCLOSURE: A review copy was provided at no charge by the author.

[Debbi Mack · Rating 5 out of 5]

This latest installment in the Chief Inspector Mario Silva Investigation Series starts off with a seemingly random collection of murders. The only obvious tie, at first, is the modus operandi -- a gunshot to the gut, followed by a deadly bludgeoning. The victims consist of a divorced petroleum engineer in Rio de Janiero, followed by an author of books on human sexuality (sort of Brazil's answer to Kinsey), then the son of a Venezuelan foreign minister. This last one sets off alarms and brings Brazil's federal police into the picture.

Enter our hero, Chief Inspector Mario Silva, a man of sardonic humor who walks the fine line between dealing with local homicide investigator Walter Pereira and appeasing his own politically-motivated boss, Nelson Sampaio, by giving him the "mushroom treatment" ("keep in the dark and feed him shit"). Silva has a dour sidekick, Amaldo Nunes, who doubles as a thorn in Pereira's side. The two men, along with a cast of other colorful characters, doggedly investigate the seemingly unrelated cases that came before in order to get to the bottom of the potentially explosive matter at hand.

Meanwhile, other murders start occurring, revealing a heretofore unseen pattern. Once the pattern is revealed, the detectives end up in a race to find the killer.

Read the entire review at http://thebookgrrl.blogspot.com/2010/...

[Marilyn Fontane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't pick up Every Bitter Thing if you plan to read a chapter or two a night for the next week. It is far too suspenseful, too exciting and too intricate to put down for something as mundane as getting some sleep before you go to work the next day. The plot is complex with new twists every time you think you're beginning to unravel it. This is a classic who-done-it. It is also violent and brutal. Leighton Gage shows a side of life some people don't want to see. But it is a honest portrait of a reality that lies far East of Eden with a population bleeding from thorn and briar gashes but alive and alert and clawing through the vines to pull themselves ahead. The ray of compassion and hope penetrating through the jungle is Mario Silva of Brazil's Federal Police, the protagonist of at least three previous Gage novels. In spite of working in an inefficient, corrupt political system that makes it easy for brutal criminals to thrive, Silva manages to achieve at least specific independent instances of poetic justice. The conclusion of this novel is brilliant and completely satisfying.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark and engrossing as always. It's really hard to name this series Mario Silva as it's his team that this book is about as well as the country of Brazil. People are being killed and the police are hardly aware of the pattern until someone important is killed. Once they discern the pattern it's a race against time to try to find the killer and other potential victims. The reason for the murders is not what we would be led to believe nor is the killer the person we would suspect. An action pace keeps the pages flying. I love Silva's steely and diplomatic resolve when dealing with his vain and incompetent bureaucratic boss. This would be a great series to make into a TV show or movie.

[Paula Ratcliffe · Rating 5 out of 5]

When a Foreign Minister’s son ends up dead it’s up to Mario Silva to get to the bottom of what happened and who’s responsible. What should be a normal murder investigation turns into to finding out who is killing all sorts of people from a plane flight. As Silva and his partner goes around interviewing the passangers they find themselves dealing with mysterious deaths that seem to only have one thing in common, a flight from Miami to Brazil. We meet all sorts of shady characters in this book, from a drug dealer to a child sent to prison to die there. I love this series which delves deep into Brazil and people there. Definitely a lover of Soho Crime Books!

[Jim Coughenour · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book I've read by Leighton Gage, featuring his Brazilian detective Mario Silva. It started off strong, although it was sometimes a touch too tongue-in-cheek.

"...And that one I'm sure I'd remember. He had a brown mark right here."
She touched her cheek.
"Brown mark? Like a liver spot?"
"Yes, like a liver spot. The whole business is right out of a crime novel. What did you say your name was?"

But Gage keeps the wit reigned in, and delivers the goods. Every Bitter Thing is the perfect tonic for the holidays.

[David C Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok. Someone is killing people who were on a flight from Miami to Brazil. The Brazilian setting is interesting although the formula for cop novels is always the same: banter, corruption, bad coffee, incompetent bosses etc etc. Despite the billing that these are “Mario Silva” books they actually are ensemble novels. The misdirection from the actual murderer is pretty obvious especially if you remember the first rule that it’s never the obvious suspect.

[Molly Weston · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Chief Inspector Mario Silva is called in to investigate the strange murder of the son of Venezuela's Foreign Minister, he has no idea that this will be the first of many nearly identical crimes across Brazil. The thread that ties all the crimes together is both baffling to the police and horrifying to the reader. Enjoy the ride!

[Rachel G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the next book in Gage's Brazil mystery series, though I was disappointed with the ending. I really liked the themes of justice and impunity, and the international intrigue. I'm beginning to wonder, though, why there are so few female protagonists in his books, and why so many of the women characters are so awful. It was a fun read, all in all, but not my favorite.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was excellent, just like the rest in the series. It was very hard to put down. It's just four stars for me instead of five because I was again depressed by the fate of some of the characters.

[Harvee Lau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emjoyed this very interesting and fast paced police procedural set in Brazil. My full review

[Modisettwilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brazilian detective strikes again. Good read with a nice twist.

[Molly Schultz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chief Inspector Silva and his cohorts at work again, in a surprisingly complex story line. Another very satisfying book by this author - justice is served in the end.

[Mira Kolar-Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic read.

[Melinda Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite entertaining!

[James Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

See my review at
http://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/revie...

[Viva · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is probably the best of the Mario Silva books I've read so far (I'm not reading them in order). This is a character driven series, the cast of characters is what makes the book, even though sometimes the telling of the background of the characters take too long, especially the bit characters. The crime part is usually so-so. The third part of what makes this series good is the setting of Brazil. I usually learn a lot about Brazil (national character, geography, politics, its people, etc.)

Spoiler/synopsis: The book starts off with a single murder of the son of a VIP so Silva (a chief inspector of federal police and the book's protagonist) is dispatched to investigate because as we all know, in Brazil, who you know or your connections is what matters. But then another murder surfaces with the same MO. And then another.

As they investigate, they find that the murders have a common thread, they have all been passengers of the same flight into Brazil a few weeks back. As the author always show the criminal's POV (or he is not good with the suspense part of writing), the readers soon figure out what the commonality is. But we follow the rest of the murders anyway. There is indeed a twist at the end, but to be honest, the suspense is spoiled and could be done better.

Overall, I like the books not because of the crime part of the book, I like the cast and the setting. I definitely recommend reading this series in order (even though I didn't like book 1 and would have stopped there). But reading the series in order introduces you to the cast in order. Anyway, I'm off to read the next in the series.

[Bree T · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every Bitter Thing is the fourth installment of Leighton Gage’s Chief Inspector Mario Silva series. Set in Brazil, I read the third novel in this series, Dying Gasp for the South American component of the 2010 Global Challenge last year. So it’s kind of fitting that I’m reading this one for the same reasons this year.

The death of the son of the Foreign Minister for Venezuela at first looks like a revenge killing. Juan Rivas, a homosexual in his thirties had just thrown over his older lover for a younger version. Given the high profile of the father of the deceased, the Chief Inspector of the Federal Police, Mario Silva and his partner, are pulled in to work on the case by their boss (who they have rather amusing derogatory opinions of) to ensure the politician father that the highest possible priority is being placed upon it. Juan Rivas was shot once in the abdomen and then bashed repeatedly with a blunt object in a vicious attack and the local civil cop likes the former lover. They’ve found a stash of letters and in chronological order, the latest ones are descending into abuse. Silva though, convinces the civil police officer to wait and let him run the particulars through the system.

They are surprised when they turn up a couple of other cases that are unsolved, but with the same MO: shot once through the abdomen followed by a savage beating. The murders appear unrelated: a divorced oil worker, a famous psychologist who wrote sex books, a criminal just out of jail. Silva knows now that the death of Rivas is more than just an ex-lover feeling jealous and it’s when they are investigating Rivas’ new toyboy lover from Miami that they get a break in the case.

All of the victims so far were business class passengers on a particular flight departing Miami on the 22nd November and arriving in Brazil on the 23rd. Now that they have the flight list, Silva identifies that there were more passengers seated in that section of the plane – chances are, more people on that flight seated in business class are going to die. And another chance is that someone also on the plane could be the actual killer. It’s a race against time to find each of the remaining passengers, question them and determine if indeed they have motive or opportunity to be the killer and if not, warn them that they could be in danger. Several of the passengers including a priest, a man possibly travelling under a false passport and a man and his son of Dutch extraction are proving difficult to locate. Another passenger, a fifteen year old boy, was pulled out by Customs after the plane landed and arrested, dying later in police custody. The only death from that flight that is ‘different’, Silva wonders if it is indeed the catalyst for all the other deaths. Time is running out to discover the truth but luckily Silva and his team, including his nephew Hector Costa, his partner Arnaldo Nunes and Haraldo Concalves, nicknamed Babyface, are patient men.

I don’t read a lot of crime fiction really and the types I do read are pretty character driven with the crime part just sort of what happens in their lives of being cops or forensic pathologists or whatever. This novel was definitely different to that – it was very much plot driven. You don’t get scenes with Mario Silva and his wife having a chat over coffee, a cuddle on the couch or a fight between co-workers. You get plot development and lots of it.

The writing is subtle. The story unfolds itself slowly at first but it’s that intriguing slow sort of way where all the information is being put together for you, like a real investigation. The novel opens with several unconnected deaths, the only similar thing being the method of killing and then focuses on the Rivas case and the police going from there to attempt to solve it. From there Silva and Co are introduced to the storyline and Silva is quickly becoming one of my favourite literary characters to read, despite the fact that I don’t know a great deal about him. It’s the way in which he goes about his job that is fascinating to me, and his relationships with the professionals (and not so professionals) that he works with. He’s highly intelligent with some sharply honed instincts and still manages to maintain a very strong sense of ethics, humanity and compassion despite all the sees and the generally corrupt and often incompetent bureaucracy he deals with on a daily basis. He possesses a large amount of skill in dealing with that very same, in particular when it comes to his boss, a self-important man with no real policing background. I enjoy the way he and his co-workers interact, particularly the gentle ribbing of ‘Babyface’ and the rapport he has with his partner and his nephew.

The criminal element in this novel is first rate. From the start you’re sucked into the seemingly random killings, trying to find a connection yourself. At first I thought it something political, given Rivas was a homosexual and his father close to the President who has zero tolerance for such things. But when the eventual connection was revealed it’s something that is entirely different and Gage manages to create a sympathetic character where there shouldn’t be one in a way, even though the very act of killing random people is repugnant. You can understand why someone might be driven to that sort of action given the very circumstances that lead to it. An innocent boy, a situation he should never have been put in, a gruesome and traumatic end to his young life.

I was curious about the choice of title – a quick googling revealed that it is part of Proverbs 27:7. There are quite a few translations but the basic gist is “a sated man loathes honey but to the hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet”. It’s really quite perfectly describing the motivation of revenge in this novel.

Don’t choose this one if you’re the type of person who likes to read a couple of chapters here and there over a few days or a week. This is also a ‘don’t start it at 10pm at night if you have to work the next day’ sort of book. Pick a time where you have nothing to do for a couple of hours and be immersed in this world.

[K. Counihan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chief Inspector Mario Silva #4 of 7. The son of the foreign minister of Venezuela has been found dead in his apartment in Brasilia. Due to the political nature of the crime, Chief Inspector Mario Silva of Brazil’s federal police is called in to investigate. Silva discovers that this was one of several similar murders throughout Brazil. First the victim is shot in the stomach, then brutally beaten to death. Silva finds out the victims were all passengers on TAB flight 8101 from Miami to São Paulo. What does this mean? Are they all connected to some bigger plan? I really liked this book a lot.

[Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book a lot. It's a nice mystery with good twists.

One thing I enjoyed was that the chapters weren't too long. This makes it easier to read just a couple chapters (if you can lay the book down)

Overall I recommend this book and I'm looking forward to reading the other books in this series.

[Gail Moak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Standard police procedural with a bit of wry humor. I would have liked more background on Brazil..

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every Bitter Thing

A Chief Inspector Mario Silva Investigation by Leighton Gage


Mario Silva a Chief Inspector of the Brazilian Federal Police is called by his superiors to a very nice apartment in Brazilia. It was the home of the son of the Venezuelan Foreign Minister who has been found dead behind a couch viciously murdered.


While the first investigators at the scene immediately jump to the conclusion that is was a crime of passion with the murderer close at hand, Silva advises caution because he knows immediately that things are not what they seem.


Silva has access to a centralized computer system that allows him to search for similar crimes and there appear to be several killings done in different areas of the country with similar, perhaps identical MO’s. Maria and his excellent team set out to investigate all these deaths in order to see if they can be connected.



Astute detective work on the part of the Federal Police team inexorably leads to an understanding about the possible motives as well as the people involved. When it becomes clear that there is a possibility of warning future victims this action is taken. With this method Gage explores the varying human responses to a dire warning.


Long before the denouement one is completely engrossed in the story and there was a point in the story for me where I developed murderous tendencies vicariously. The revelations came smoothly and were paced beautifully. There was no rehashing of old clues or alibi's. In short this mystery was revealed as the core of a rose is revealed one layer at a time until the golden center is visible but not perhaps not exactly what was expecting.


The title of the book is taken from the bible

“To the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.” Proverbs 27:7

There is bitter and sweet through out this book, in the descriptions of Brazil, in the solving of the crime as well as in the feelings one has when the last phrase is reached.

[Judith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I registered this book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14079241

I guess this would be called a "police procedural" but it does expand beyond that. Chief Inspector Mario Silva leads the investigation into the death of a man found in his apartment in Brasilia. The man had been shot in the stomach and then beaten to death, an ugly and very painful death. At first it seemed a crime of passion committed by someone close to the victim, but then Silva discovers other crimes committed the same way in different cities. What is the thread that ties them together?

He does find the thread but that doesn't immediately point out the murderer. In investigating the case Silva and his colleagues visit other cities, other countries, and I admit that at times I did not remember who was who. Perhaps this is partly because I didn't get clear descriptions of each as they came on the scene and later.

The novel is written in a spare style with a great deal of wit. It was enjoyable and quick to read.

[Erik · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am really growing to love this series and think it ranks up there with Henning Mankell in terms of creating a believable sense of place and characters you know and want to spend more time with. Gage also seems to be hitting his stride with intricate and believable plots, though his entire subtext of Brazil as a huge, impressive, and corrupt place is also worth coming back for. I love the dark cynicism of Silva and his partners, as well as the inner tension presented between being just and corrupt. And the postscript to this book is wonderfully ambiguous. I think we all know what happens, though Gage presents the material to us as a Brazilian would come about it. The fact that our mind goes to that place means Gage is teaching us, in part, to think like a Brazilian. Wonderful stuff.

[Robert Intriago · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very enjoyable read. This one is not as dark as the first three books but is more of a police procedural. I liked the plot and Mario Silva's enlarged participation in the investigation along with the use of his entire force. This was specially true of the investigator known as "babyface". Mr. Gage uses a diversity of characters and does an excellent job creating them in a manner that evokes sympathy and/or dislike.

The book, like its predecessors, has a lot of information about Brazil's geography and customs. The author also has a satirical sense of humor when it comes to the dialogue between police officers. I have truly enjoyed the Mario Silva stories and plan to read his newest one. I hope Mr. Gage continues the series.

[Annabelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author Gage continues Chief Inspector Mario Silva’s escapades as a federal policeman in Brazil. I think he is creative in the plot lines that resonate with Brazilian culture. In this one, people who seem to not be connected are murdered in the same way, a shot in the belly and brutally beaten. But what’s the connection? Turns out it’s a flight out of Miami, all were in the same business class. There was a little less interplay between Silva’s underlings, and Marta stopped flirting with him, but there were great red herrings, ecstasy trafficking from Miami, Dutch settlers in Brazil hiding a child in a custody battle, and the trauma of losing a child. The underlying corruption and the rivalry with Venezuela are always in the back ground. A quick and enjoyable read.