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Dark Specter
In this majestically unnerving novel, Michael Dibdin, the creator of the acclaimed Aurelio Zen mysteries, explores themes that might have been ripped out of today's headlines, as he charts America's dual epidemic of religious cultism and random violence.The murders take place in distant cities and with no apparent motive. All that connects them is their cold-blooded efficiency. But a dogged Seattle detective and a horribly bereaved survivor are about to come face-to-face with their perpetrator—a man named Los, a self-styled prophet who has the power to make his followers travel thousands of miles to kill for him. Out of mayhem and revelation, the minutiae of police work and the explosive contents of a psychotic mind, Michael Dibdin orchestrates a tour de force of dread. This should be read with the lights on and the doors firmly bolted.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
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165 people want to read
About the author
Michael Dibdin
128 books177 followersMichael Dibdin was born in 1947. He went to school in Northern Ireland, and later to Sussex University and the University of Alberta in Canada. He lived in Seattle. After completing his first novel, The Last Sherlock Holmes Story, in 1978, he spent four years in Italy teaching English at the University of Perugia. His second novel, A Rich Full Death, was published in 1986. It was followed by Ratking in 1988, which won the Gold Dagger Award for the Best Crime Novel of the year and introduced us to his Italian detective - Inspector Aurelio Zen.
Dibdin was married three times, most recently to the novelist K. K. Beck. His death in 2007 followed a short illness.
Series:
* Aurelio Zen
Dibdin was married three times, most recently to the novelist K. K. Beck. His death in 2007 followed a short illness.
Series:
* Aurelio Zen
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
September 8, 2009
Dibdin is one of the more literate mysery writers; you know, the ones that don’t describe characters by the brand name clothes they wear. His serial protagonist is Aurelio Zen, an Italian policeman, and many of those novels have been set in Italy. This one has no police main character as such and switches the perspectives between Phil, the father of a young boy who has been abducted, Kristine,a police detective in Seattle who notices some bizarre similarities in seemingly random homicides throughout the United States, and the members of a strange religious cult run by Sam, an old college pal of Phil’s.
It turns out that Sam has convinced his followers (and himself), that he is Los, the character in William Blake, and that he has the proven way to salvation, but the initiates have to prove themselves by killing “specters.” His rationale is that since God is love and is all-powerful, it is oxymoronic that he would permit his children to suffer. Therefore, the pain and suffering that do happen are being inflicted not on real people, real humans, but specters. “You can beat people, shoot them, burn them, torture them, anything at all! Because God allows you to do it, the victim was never really there in the first place. An emanation, a mere shadow. ‘Why wilt thou give to her a body whose life is but a shade?,’ Jerusalem, chapter twelve, verse one.”
So his followers prove themselves by killing the occupants of houses that are chosen using a bizarre system of random number generators. Of course, this makes connecting the victims to one another an impossible task for the police. Phil is lured to Sam’s island near Seattle, ostensibly as one of the chosen few, since Phil had been something of a Blake afficionado -- if that’s possible. He becomes the catalyst that begins the unraveling of Sam’s psychotic plans.
It turns out that Sam has convinced his followers (and himself), that he is Los, the character in William Blake, and that he has the proven way to salvation, but the initiates have to prove themselves by killing “specters.” His rationale is that since God is love and is all-powerful, it is oxymoronic that he would permit his children to suffer. Therefore, the pain and suffering that do happen are being inflicted not on real people, real humans, but specters. “You can beat people, shoot them, burn them, torture them, anything at all! Because God allows you to do it, the victim was never really there in the first place. An emanation, a mere shadow. ‘Why wilt thou give to her a body whose life is but a shade?,’ Jerusalem, chapter twelve, verse one.”
So his followers prove themselves by killing the occupants of houses that are chosen using a bizarre system of random number generators. Of course, this makes connecting the victims to one another an impossible task for the police. Phil is lured to Sam’s island near Seattle, ostensibly as one of the chosen few, since Phil had been something of a Blake afficionado -- if that’s possible. He becomes the catalyst that begins the unraveling of Sam’s psychotic plans.
February 11, 2020
It bounced around a lot, which was a bit distracting. Why and how they picked the victim's wasnt really explained. The ending was disappointing!
December 13, 2018
What can this author not do? Rich characters, even the most minor of them sketched vibrantly, plotting that leaves me guessing until the last page, beautiful prose, well-researched scenes (He's been there! You can tell.) and then a thought or two. This particular novel's topic - theological, along the lines of "How can God, assuming God exists, allow this to happen?" is not so engaging. The cult distortions are predictable. Nonetheless, it provides a floor for this horrific (and a shade too violent for my taste) plot and I am thinking about how distortions of belief (any kind of belief) change behavior. There is also the line, on page 63:"I made a vow never to let chance interfere in my arrangements again." The theme of this entire mystery might well be that sentence and what we know will happen. And finally, Mr. Dibdin sketches the tawdriness of our culture now but out of this mess, arise heros. Holy heroes. Not superheros, but real ones. Even if they are women.
notes for further discussion: p.232 - how his faith is based on his own experience
p.251: predates the DaVinci code - by 7 years!
p.267: noteworthy
notes for further discussion: p.232 - how his faith is based on his own experience
p.251: predates the DaVinci code - by 7 years!
p.267: noteworthy
August 27, 2024
3.5/5 stars
A very solid thriller, with some particularly ruthless scenes. The ending does not hold up though, mostly because it's a little too convenient and ends way too abruptly. Still a worthwhile read!
A very solid thriller, with some particularly ruthless scenes. The ending does not hold up though, mostly because it's a little too convenient and ends way too abruptly. Still a worthwhile read!
October 14, 2012
It gets two stars because Dibdin was much, much better than this. "Dead Lagoon" is one of my all-time favorite mysteries. And this? It's okay, I guess. It starts well, but then descends into a thriller cliches. Plus the central murders simply aren't believable.
Okay major spoiler here: If you have to blow up everything at the end, you're either Stephen King, tired at the end of the book and eager to just get it over with, or both. And Dibdin blows everything up at the end.
Okay major spoiler here: If you have to blow up everything at the end, you're either Stephen King, tired at the end of the book and eager to just get it over with, or both. And Dibdin blows everything up at the end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 25, 2017
This non-Aurelio Zen novel by Dibdin is compelling more for the procedural work of the disparate police officers than for the 1st person narrative of alternating chapters. He's a well-read writer who knows how to turn a phrase AND construct a narrative.
September 15, 2023
I've pondered this a while since reading. Dibdin can write, and well, so why did I dislike it so much?
Some of it is to do with its construction. The book has three plotlines - let's call them Sam, Phil and Kristine, after their central figures - but none feels fully sketched out. Dibdin brings them together with a rush that looks like he has run out of steam rather than wrapped up his ideas. (Their combination also relies on some leaden coincidence that Dibdin's attempted sleight of hand cannot successfully disguise). His hasty wind-up suggests a rather different ambition (some pointed social satire or comment) that has not really been given its head through the rest of the book, leaving only a grubby and cynical aftertaste.
This is frustrating, because there's something nice in the idea of a series of cult murders so randomised and across such a wide area that they might not even appear connected. But Dibdin can't follow through. Kristine's storyline is essentially a police procedural, but without a successful mechanism for bringing it to resolution, even when Dibdin has clunkily linked it at last to Phil's search for his missing son.
But the problem, the gulf at the heart of the book, is in Sam's cult storyline. (Which, as a Blake fan, was what brought me here). Dibdin clearly dislikes Blake and has no interest in the internal madnesses of the cult, and his casual use of it as a Macguffin strips it of any compelling character. Sam is entirely cynical about it all (apart from when he's not, apparently), and his followers are just psychotic loons (or recovering from their abuse). The cult and its belief system has no real inner life, which means it fails entirely for the purposes Dibdin's trying to use it for. It all felt cynical, and not in the way Dibdin seems to have been intending.
Some of it is to do with its construction. The book has three plotlines - let's call them Sam, Phil and Kristine, after their central figures - but none feels fully sketched out. Dibdin brings them together with a rush that looks like he has run out of steam rather than wrapped up his ideas. (Their combination also relies on some leaden coincidence that Dibdin's attempted sleight of hand cannot successfully disguise). His hasty wind-up suggests a rather different ambition (some pointed social satire or comment) that has not really been given its head through the rest of the book, leaving only a grubby and cynical aftertaste.
This is frustrating, because there's something nice in the idea of a series of cult murders so randomised and across such a wide area that they might not even appear connected. But Dibdin can't follow through. Kristine's storyline is essentially a police procedural, but without a successful mechanism for bringing it to resolution, even when Dibdin has clunkily linked it at last to Phil's search for his missing son.
But the problem, the gulf at the heart of the book, is in Sam's cult storyline. (Which, as a Blake fan, was what brought me here). Dibdin clearly dislikes Blake and has no interest in the internal madnesses of the cult, and his casual use of it as a Macguffin strips it of any compelling character. Sam is entirely cynical about it all (apart from when he's not, apparently), and his followers are just psychotic loons (or recovering from their abuse). The cult and its belief system has no real inner life, which means it fails entirely for the purposes Dibdin's trying to use it for. It all felt cynical, and not in the way Dibdin seems to have been intending.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 19, 2021
Read this while I was inpatient at a psych ward so I didn’t have many options, I was surprised they even allowed a murder mystery. Anyway this book is pretty basic. You can see just about every twist from a mile away. There also seems to be an underlying animosity to PC culture that I can only assume is the authors opinion because it didn’t really tie into the story whatsoever. Pretty lackluster and not as riveting as one would wish, however I usually give 3 stars to books I didn’t particularly LOVE but I’m glad I didn’t skip over. I’m glad I had this book because the hospital would’ve been even worse if I hadn’t had books to read so it’ll get three stars for that merit. Also the end felt extremely forced and fast.
May 18, 2017
Holy Hootis! Shades of Scientology gone baaaaaad. An acid trip leads to an epiphany that William Blake's work is the Third Testament, and oh, what an interpretation! Cult. Religion. Second coming. The Specters. Oh I'm not putting up a spoiler.
This is a great example of Dibdin's "other" writing. His Aurelio Zen mysteries are iconic, and very Italian. Dark Specter is set in the USofA.
Sensitive folks might want to leave this one alone.
This is a great example of Dibdin's "other" writing. His Aurelio Zen mysteries are iconic, and very Italian. Dark Specter is set in the USofA.
Sensitive folks might want to leave this one alone.
February 18, 2020
Vivid explanations and descriptions of what the main characters are thinking. I liked that. The author had good writing when he wrote about that. Talk of religion is strong with this, and some of it was boring and confusing, kind of gobbledy-gook to me. And the ending scene/wrap-up was great except that was all, it just ended on the last page. No afterthoughts were told!
June 19, 2018
Not one of his best.
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December 11, 2020Don't remember how I felt about this book.
November 28, 2021
It was a fun enough read. I enjoyed the story but the end was a bit disappointing.
December 21, 2021
This author is British but this really good mystery/thriller is strictly American.
November 29, 2014
This is a real page-turner, and I wish I could have given it 2.5 stars. If you decide to read it, do not read the back cover! It gives away far too much of the story, and it puts it in the wrong context. I only had two real problems with the book. One, it occasionally has very odd philosophizing (contrasting European immigrants with "rootless" Native Americans?) that took me out of the story. Two, Dibdin writes two very believable female characters, but also creates a paper cut-out whose only purpose is to be an (unnecessary) love interest. And the philosophizing gets even worse where she is concerned. Remove those two problems, and you have a solid thriller.
Update: 11/29/2014 I saw the book in my donate pile, and read the back. I couldn't remember reading it at all. I started paging through, and the prose seemed familiar. I just couldn't remember the plot or characters. This is less than six months later. Not a good sign. Let's stick with two stars.
Update: 11/29/2014 I saw the book in my donate pile, and read the back. I couldn't remember reading it at all. I started paging through, and the prose seemed familiar. I just couldn't remember the plot or characters. This is less than six months later. Not a good sign. Let's stick with two stars.
September 8, 2007
DARK SPECTRE – NR
Michael Dibdin – stand alone
Random and motiveless murders are taking place all over America with victims of every age and background. From a baby to a wheelchair bound 67 year old, all have been bound, gagged and shot in the head. What has a religious sect operating from an island in the Pacific North-West and dedicated to the scriptural study of the poetry of William Blake, to do with the killings?
For a writer who is so successful, this was so bad I couldn’t get through it.
Michael Dibdin – stand alone
Random and motiveless murders are taking place all over America with victims of every age and background. From a baby to a wheelchair bound 67 year old, all have been bound, gagged and shot in the head. What has a religious sect operating from an island in the Pacific North-West and dedicated to the scriptural study of the poetry of William Blake, to do with the killings?
For a writer who is so successful, this was so bad I couldn’t get through it.
June 18, 2011
Having read the Aurelio Zen series I am catching up with Dibdin's other books. This is a dark plot and I found some of the material difficult at first but it is worth persevering with. It builds to an exciting finish,I actually rationed the last couple of chapters until I had time to concentrate on them properly and by the end I blanked out the last page unless I spotted the ending too soon! The fact that you catch the overall drift of the plot fairly early doesn't spoil the overall power of this excellently crafted thriller.
December 20, 2011
Good news, bad news. Good news - after reading the first chapter of this book, you're captured. You can't not finish it, and quickly. After my last book, I needed some "brain candy" and reached for this "mystery". While easy to read, it's not every mystery that quotes William Blake and takes up the randomness of crime.
Bad news - I now have to read everything else that Michael Dibdin has written.
Bad news - I now have to read everything else that Michael Dibdin has written.
April 6, 2016
This could've been a really good book but it felt way too rushed. It's a shame, because I think the plot is decent. It starts out very detailed and slow-paced, then as soon as we begin to see what's up, it just plows through to the end, like the author couldn't wait to go do something else. The end is horrible as well.
I got this book for free and so I guess it was worth a read, plus the first half was so promising that at least I had some moments of joyful hope.
I got this book for free and so I guess it was worth a read, plus the first half was so promising that at least I had some moments of joyful hope.
August 10, 2008
A very good read. Dark Specter is a murder mystery that probes the psyche of the disconnected in our society. The story takes place in cities across the country and involves a large cast of characters, but Dibdin's skill as a writer weaves the various stories together and leaves you with the desire to read something else he has written.
August 13, 2011
This book held my interest over a 2 day period, which is something all in itself. There were some confusing entries where I had to stop and think, 'okay, who is this guy?' All in all it was a great page turner, and the characters were unique and interesting.
The only negative comment I have is that I really didn't like the ending, not one bit.
The only negative comment I have is that I really didn't like the ending, not one bit.
March 26, 2012
I'm struggling with this book. I enjoyed those of the Zen books that I've read, but this one is set in the USA, and I'm finding the murderous cult hard to believe in. This book may migrate to my 'will never finish' shelf.
Aha! Finished!
I was feeling a bit low when I was reading it originally, but now I'm less down I've been able to get back to it, and it turned out to be quite good really.
Aha! Finished!
I was feeling a bit low when I was reading it originally, but now I'm less down I've been able to get back to it, and it turned out to be quite good really.
March 30, 2010
A man hears from an old schoolmate. They meet for a drink and
he is introduced to a changed personality. A parallel plot involving
serial murder. I almost put this one down; glad that I didn't.
he is introduced to a changed personality. A parallel plot involving
serial murder. I almost put this one down; glad that I didn't.
June 24, 2012
Not a real review - I couldn't continue reading it. Not the Dibdin I have been reading (Aurelio Zen mysteries) but a darker, more bizarre story. Couldn't get through it - gave me nightmares, and not all that well written dialogue.
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May 30, 2007I learn a iot
October 16, 2007
Tortuous
August 1, 2010
Loved this book, probably one of my all time favorite fiction novels.
October 11, 2010
Pretty good. More atmospheric than plausible.
October 10, 2011
Nice to get away from Italy and the Aurelio Zen mysteries. He captures poverty well. He captures cult think well. He captures nature well. Unfortunately, he's not around anymore.
Read
February 25, 2012Didn't finish this. Sad.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews