The Dogs of Rome

Commissario Alec Blume #1

by Conor Fitzgerald

An engrossing novel of murder, organized crime, and politics in contemporary Italy—the first in a series of Italian crime novels by a promising new writer.

On a hot summer morning, Arturo Clemente is sloppily murdered in his Roman apartment by a mysterious slasher. Though the murder appears amateurish, even random, Clemente is no ordinary victim. An animal rights activist campaigning against dogfighting, he is married to a prominent politician and sleeping with Manuela Fusco, the daughter of a dangerous crime boss.

Police inspector Alec Blume has a favorite suspect, but the investigation is already being manipulated by both the Senate and the Fusco crime ring. As the details of the case continue to trickle out, Blume soon realizes he is being watched from on high—and that solving this crime may be the least of his worries. Angry, sleep-deprived, and unsure who to trust, Blume is losing control of his investigation. As the mob tightens its grip on the city, and with the killer still at large, Blume’s struggle for justice may cost more innocent lives.

In this riveting debut novel, we are introduced to Blume, an American expatriate and seasoned police veteran. Intelligent yet sometimes petulant, instinctive yet flawed, Blume is a likable and trustworthy protagonist for this first installment of a gritty and promising series.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Italy, Crime, Mystery Thriller, Detective, Thriller

400 pages, Hardcover

First published March 2, 2010

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this. I liked the Italian atmosphere and the mystery which wasn't a whodunnit but rather a howtocatchwhodunnit.

Roman Commissioner Blume is an American. He's lived in Italy since he was a teenager and stayed after his parents were killed during a bank robbery. The policemen were kind to him and perhaps that's why he went into the profession.

When a murdered man turns out to be an animal rights activist and the husband of a prominent Italian politician, the higher-ups want the case closed as quickly as possible. They make Blume go after a man who puts on dog fights, but Blume is convinced he didn't do it. And later, when he finds the man he believes is guilty, the higher-ups yank him off the case.

Poor Blume goes through a lot. He has to deal with a friend and colleague who works with informannts, getting mired deeper into the crime world. He has to deal with higher-ups determined to nail the wrong man. He has to deal with his first date in two years. And as another policeman is killed, Blume gets his arm broken, a concussion, and other injuries that put him out of action. He signs himself out of the hospital and attends the funeral, weaving in and out of consciousness.

(Got to admire these book detectives. They put up with a lot to get their man. Even if there's no particular reason for it.)

Anyway, this held my attention to the end. When I was away from it, I wanted to go back and read more.

Excellent read if you like a lower-paced suspense rather than the hard-driving thrillers.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK, I think this lies somewhere between Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. (The style, the language make me think of Sam Spade or Phillip Marlowe as modern day cops in Rome.)

I can't say I really hated the book nor can I say I really liked it. But ... but ... 'it just ain't my style'. To say the least.

I am bored to death with the endless grind of police procedurals that work at a snail's pace.

Fitzgerald is deceptively good ... and bad. The first chapter was on fire. All the elements of a good mystery were presented in a fireworks' explosion: disgruntled mistress gets kicked out unceremoniously after a brief liaison; un-attentive lover seems more interested in his groceries than his mistress; and a murderer who seems to have a penchant for Nutella and Peanut Butter -- all within the first dozen pages and it is so well written that you are pulled in inexorably.

And then for 400 more pages (or something like it, who's counting??? it could have been 1000 for all I know or care) you are subjected to slow torture by a pathetically inept cop who is equally un-appealing as a human being. I don't like Alec Blume. In fact, I don't like anybody in this mystery. Ok, so I guess that settles it. Giving it two stars is a gift!

I skimmed, and skipped, and skimmed some more. Just couldn't hack Blume. I kept reading, I think, just to catch glimpses of Rome again.

[Tricia22oneill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting premise, absolutely dull delivery. It is rare to read a detective novel in which the detective is such a complete bore. Yawn. So, there is this American expatriate, originally from Seattle, whose art historian parents passed away when he was a teen and left him to grow up and spend the rest of his life in Rome. He becomes a police detective. My gripe with this author is that he did not create anything distinctive about this protagonist. Yes, he likes peanut butter and yes, he shows up to an initial police investigation in running shorts, but other than that nothing really stands out about his behavior. Sure these small indicators of "American-ness" are highlighted but, as the kids say, whatever. As to the police procedural part of this novel, it is rather boring. The investigation is drawn out, and the few interesting secondary characters never get any depth. It is all too prolonged. Hopefully, if this series continues, the author will spice it up a bit. If you like novels set in Italy featuring sloppy police work, albeit fascinating characters, try Andrea Camilleri or Donna Leon.

[Christy Stewart · Rating 2 out of 5]

I needed a 'wrap it up' sign.

[Janine M · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an orphaned American expatriate living in Rome, Commissario Alec Blume has no illusions that justice brings closure. After all, his own parents were murdered in a botched bank robbery when he was just seventeen. Years later, as he stared at the gravestone of the man he believed shot them, he felt no sense of justice. So when Blume is called to investigate the brutal, messy murder of animal rights activist Arturo Clemente, he does not pursue his prime suspect to punish him or to bring closure to Clemente’s family or devoted mistress; rather, with dogged determination, he tracts the killer because he knows his job—his real job—is to prevent more victims. This is why he became a policeman, not to punish the guilty but to save the innocent.

But Rome has a complex civic culture where politicians, law enforcement, and established criminal organizations have certain understood agreements where a certain amount of give and take is expected from all sides. It’s just how things are. Up to now, Blume has managed to remain largely ignorant of the unspoken deals made in the interests of keeping order in the streets. But Clemente’s murder exposes the underbelly of all these intertwined forces that run Rome: Clemente’s wife is a politician who wants to minimize the damage to herself and her son; Clemente’s mistress, the daughter of a feared crime boss, wants and eye for an eye; and Clemente’s superiors want the case closed quickly without repercussions. So, when a small-time dog-fighting operator named Alleva looks good for the crime, Blume is pressured to arrest him and tie up the loose ends. But Blume’s instincts tell him Alleva is all wrong for this crime. It’s too messy. It’s too unprofessional. It’s too NOT Alleva. So Blume pushes back against the powers that be to pursue his own leads and, in the process, learns a lot about his past, his present, and where he wants to go from here, an orphaned American expatriate now pushing forty.

A unique police procedural, Conor Fitzgerald’s The Dogs of Rome introduces a fresh, somewhat hybrid detective. While Alec Blume’s American roots have grown shallow, he doesn’t always feel as embedded in his adopted city as its natives. He’d rather not know what bargains were made to keep the 17-year-old orphan safe until he grew up to become a police detective. Although flawed, Blume is essentially a good man doing an impossible job in an impossible city. Through him, we see Rome as a city of people just trying to make it all work and keep the dogs from running wild in the streets.

[K.B. Hallman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was torn between 3 and 4 stars for this one. In most places, the book is compelling and the violence is visceral. But there were a few places that just drag; so points off for that.

I had a tough time keeping up with the different types of police and the heirarchy within the departments, but this probably wouldn't be an issue for someone familiar with Italy. Alec Blume is an interesting character. He's both vulnerable and strong. He's a foreigner in what he considers his home country. He's a clean cop, but he's willing to bend some of the rules. He's a man with identity issues. Basically, he's an average person doing his best in a world that he doesn't completely understand.

Our bad guy is amazing. He's an amateur who in a very short time racks up quite the body count. He gets exactly what he deserves by the end.

[Jan C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent but a little off-beat. Alec Blume is an American on an Italian police force in Rome. Brought to Rome when uoung by his parents who were promptly killed in a bank robbery. Wrong place, wrong time.

Much like Donna Leon's Brunetti, Blume is trying to stay straight amongst a throng of corruption.

Here, a politician's husband, who has been involved in trying to stop dogfighting, is slain in his home while receiving a grocery delivery.

Interestingly we change viewpoints in this book. The author wants us to know about the killer. So this becomes somewhat more suspenseful as he continues killing and determines to set his sights on Alec. For me, this picked up the pace of the story.

First part is straight police procedural with a suspenseful middle section.

[Jasmine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm giving this book 4 stars for everything that happens after the murderer is revealed. I was totally going to stop reading this book for the first 200 pages but I really didn't want to be a quitter and I really wanted the book to be good. well if wishes were horses beggars would ride, and in this book beggars do ride.

the book is really boring for like 200 hundred pages, but then something happens the formatting changes and the new formatting is ideal, like extremely ideal, like it died on the cross and was resurrected for the sins of the first half ideal. there is some great perspective shifting and layering and character exploration. I just I love the end of this book.

[Harper Daisy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two stars feels really not fair for how good this was, however I do want to be accurate to my personal ability to appreciate it. It was very fun to read about current day rome as a modern city.

I enjoyed the characters perfectly fine, at the end of the day this book is about a middle aged american white guy and i liked him enough but didn’t find him particularly compelling. I really did not appreciate the way the book felt disrespectful towards the Roman and Italian characters. You’re writing a book about this city you clearly love but cant miss an opportunity to call Romans dirty, rude, even criminal. That was something that really turned me off of this book. For a book based outside of America, it just read so incredibly american and American focused.

I believe Fitzgerald is a very strong writer, casting a really interesting setting in each place Blume visits along the course of the case. If I were an avid reader of mystery thrillers I might say I would be looking out for his next book.

[Marta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have seldom read novels from non-Italians who could portray Italy's essence in another language; Fitzgerald does it wonderfully with this crime story on Italian organised crime, corruption and Roman typical attitudes, without falling into any stereotypes. The protagonist is very well-characterised and the killer is by no means your average antagonist. Am already in the lookout for the second novel in the series.

[Donald Schopflocher · Rating 3 out of 5]

A contemporary police procedural; set in Rome (but with limited description of the settings); slow pace; third person narration with both investigator and perpetrator point of view; limited revelation of investigator thoughts (eg compared to novels by Dibdin or Vichi). Focus here is on the web of relationships among government, police, and criminal communities. Blume, the investigator, is an outsider by virtue of being American (and living the American 'detective code' a la Philip Marlowe) and the perpetrator is an outsider by virtue of being a computer obsessed millenial. Change is not a winner here.

[Shirley Schwartz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love reading detective books from different parts of the world. Currently I'm reading series in Edinburgh (Rebus); Galway, Ireland (Jack Taylor), Quebec (Gamache), Southern France (Bruno Chief of Police) and Yorkshire (Vera Stanhope), so it was fun to find this series set in present day Rome. Commissioner Alec Blume is an American, but he has lived most of his life in Italy. He lost his parents when he was young boy and grew up in the foster system in Rome. He went to college and then joined the Italian police where he is now in charge of the murder squad. Alec is an unlikely hero as he's very human and very aware of his own faults and shortcomings. He also has a very strong sense of justice (which reminded me of John Rebus and Jack Taylor). His vulnerability and his natural instincts make Alec Blume a very likable protagonist. This book is not really a whodunit, as the perpetrator is known almost from the start, but it is certainly a lesson in Italian policing and politics as Alec and his team set out to try to catch a psychotic killer. Frienships and loyalties are tested, new ties are made thus assuring us that this series will be around for awhile. The book is graphic in spots and I found that a bit uncomfortable at times, but it's definitely a promising series for me.

[Tristan Fielding · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the best most intelligent and exciting crime thrillers I have ever read. I understand it is a first novel and as such quite an achievement. The cop, Commissario Alec Blume does lack definition to some extent, it seems that somehow he has no face, he doesn't know what women want and has little success with them. The writer does give him a sort of ironic humour which lights up many scenes.
The author is clearly a highly intelligent writer; it's all the more puzzling therefore why the homophobic comments of the cops and baddies are allowed to go unchecked. Is it part of the characterization, that Blume is in such a muddle with himself that his sexuality is really part of his muddle? Or does it go deeper, is it the author's own problem? Maybe it's part of the essentially American ethos of this book that the writer believes he can publish such opinions in a civilised modern society. After all, my impression is that a large chunk of America sees nothing wrong with persecuting gay people. But, like the American idioms in the text of this book, it sits badly with this UK reader.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Commissioner Alec Blume, in my opinion, is an unusual character for a policeman. He lacks enthusiasm, he is careless and he doesn't communicate well. Through unusual circumstances, having spent his first 17 years as an American, he is abandoned in Rome and eventually becomes a policeman and rises through the ranks to Commissioner. The story deals with the heavyweights of the force, the investigating magistrates, the politicians and the criminals. The smartest and most cunning of all the characters, not surprisingly in this story, is the head of a crime family. The politicians, the magistrates and all the police are on the take in one way or another and subtle corruption permeates all aspects of society.
The first half of the book, involving an investigation into the murder of the husband of a politician, seemed to get nowhere and I really wondered if I was going to bother finishing it. However the second half of the book evolved into a tense and exciting finale.
Three stars might be a bit generous.

[Renee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found The Dogs Of Rome to be a well-written mystery/cop story, but it is a bit gritty for my taste. Commissario Alec Blume, an American who was raised in Rome, is a flawed, complex character who is not always likeable, yet still possesses a code of honor that a reader can respect. For me, at least, he comes close to anti-hero territory, not a path I knowingly choose when picking out a book. I also had hoped that Rome would be a character in this novel, like Paris is in Cara Black's Aimee Leduc series, but that didn't quite happen for me.

Because he likes "gritty" a lot better to me, I think I am going to recommend this book to my husband. I think he will appreciate the story and the grittiness.

[Theodora · Rating 1 out of 5]

0.5
This book was so awful, it came full circle to be inadvertently entertaining. I wrote like this when I was twelve; drawn-out step by step action, highly specific extraneous descriptions, absurd dialogue. At first, I found myself constantly eye-rolling but this quickly evolved to giggles at how badly this mediocre story was written.

Within the first twenty pages we are treated to gems such as "His bathrobe had opened but closing it seemed womanly" and "We have female officers and psychologists for that sort of thing". No doubt this book was written by a man, about men, for men- men with very low standards when it comes to literature.

I can't speak to the strength of the plot because the god-awful writing quickly grew boring and that was the only thing motivating me to keep reading.

[Shelbi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did NOT like this book. I honestly just want to burn this book and never look back. It was so slow and hard to get into, and I couldn't keep any of the characters straight. On the surface, The Dogs of Rome looked like something I would love. Part mystery, part crime, part corruption, and - hellooo - Rome. American ex-pat turned Roman cop is trying to solve a straight-forward murder. What I really didn't like was that he just KNEW who it was and is trying to find the evidence and pieces he needs to convict the killer. The ending was super anti-climactic and it took me far too long to get through this one because I had no motivation or hook to keep me reading.

[Carey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this a lot more than I thought - no wholly black and white characters, no heros falling into bed with the first beautiful woman who comes along, great Italian setting and a decent plot. Will read the next...

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

American grew up in rome, speaks italian, becomes a police officer. An animal rights activist is murdered, Blume is on the case. Lots of corrition ..warring families, political pressure, not knowing who he can trusy. Writing is good, fast pac
ed, a page turner.

[Kam · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are very few movies that I enjoy more than The Godfather. I know this utterance is so commonplace as to be practically a cliche, but I really, truly do enjoy the film - the first one: my feelings for the second are entirely too personal to be looked at from an objective perspective, and I really didn't enjoy the third. I know that Puzo wrote the novel, but I am more at home with Coppola's storytelling than with Puzo's. There is something about it that is foreign enough to be fascinating, and yet comfortable enough to be eerily familiar, that despite it's length and pace it is capable of sucking me right in without any complaint on my part.

Due to the high regard I have for the film, there are very few things that I compare to it in a favorable manner. More often than not, any comparisons I draw tend to be rather negative, with the copycat unable to live up to The Godfather. So it was a rather pleasant surprise to find Conor Fitzgerald's The Dogs of Rome, and to get a feeling, based on the back blurb and a quick skim of the first chapter, that it would be rather like The Godfather. And it was - just not totally.

As anyone who follows my reviews knows by now, I love a good mystery, and rarely ever turn down the chance to read one. From Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys I graduated to Sherlock Holmes via The Hound of the Baskervilles at twelve, and have never looked back since. I have worked my way through as many of the classics as is humanly possible, and I am always more than happy to devour any mystery that is put my way by recommendation or happenstance.

It was through happenstance that I discovered The Dogs of Rome. I found the cover and title quite intriguing, and when I read the blurb on the back I was hooked. Over the Christmas break I chose to make my way through it, in between social obligations and eating my way through the mountain of (admittedly delicious) leftovers and presents of cake and cookies that inevitably builds up as a result of the holidays.

In truth, the basic plot-line of The Dogs of Rome seemed to suit the concept of a holiday read - at least in my opinion. In it, Alec Blume, an American who has lived in Italy for most of his life, is a commissario in the police force in Rome. His life as a commissario has been relatively quiet, not too difficult, really, until the body of an animal rights activist is found in his apartment by his wife, a prominent politician. While investigating the case, Blume struggles to do the right thing in solving the crime - except he runs right up against rampant political corruption and meddling by an important crime family, and what starts out as an attempt to do things the right way only leads to things going even more horribly wrong.

These attempts to do the right thing despite the fact that one cannot always do so without losing something vital about oneself is one of the first things that struck me as similar between The Dogs of Rome and The Godfather. In Coppola's film, Michael Corleone initially tries to disassociate himself from the family business, knowing that it's not quite in line with his own morals. But he gets sucked into it nevertheless, and his involvement transforms him. By the time the viewer gets to the end of the film, it is clear that Michael has sacrificed his high, noble ideals in order to take his father's place.

The same might be said of Alec Blume. Though he is aware of the corruption so prevalent in the police force and in the politics surrounding it, and is even willing to take advantage of it, he still does his best to do "the right thing" when it comes to solving crimes. But he quickly realizes that, in the world of Roman crime, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and his "good intentions" get more people killed - people who do not deserve to die.

Another thing similar between The Godfather and The Dogs of Rome is the pace of the plot. One cannot call either of these stories fast-paced, but that is actually a good thing. The slow pace allows the reader to get to know the characters, to settle into their world without any unnecessary haste. However, unlike in The Godfather, the slow pace of The Dogs of Rome might be viewed initially as rather off-putting. This may be because I am more used to the more relentless pace of other mysteries, but the pace of the investigation in the novel struck me as a mite too lazy, even with the interference of corruption and crime lords. It does pick up somewhat in the latter one-third of the novel, but what comes before that admittedly exciting latter third might put off less patient readers.

Aside from this, I think another difficulty of this novel is that some of the characters just aren't as engaging as I think they ought to be. Blume has his colleagues, and some of them are unique characters in the sense that they stand out and are easy to remember, but none of them is really worth truly getting to know. Even Blume, despite that aspect of him being "a stranger in a strange world" simply because he is an American working in with the Italian police, just does not seem to be a character the reader can connect with easily. One reads his story with a detachment which I find rather unpleasant: one must like at least the person narrating the story, but liking Blume is not quite easy.

Finally, there is the utterly foreign police system used in the novel. Superficially it might resemble more familiar police systems around the world, but when one gets into the nitty-gritty of it, it really does not. And doesn't help that Blume's explanations as to how the system works (sans corruption, or even with it) are either too brief or not given at all. There is not much explanation as to how crime-solving works in this novel, and I think more information would have been helpful.

Overall, The Dogs of Rome is the sort of book that requires patience: patience with the slogging pace of the first two-thirds of the story; patience with the characters; and patience with the unfamiliar police system of Rome and the dearth of information regarding how it functions. This patience is rewarded by a latter one-third that's quite fascinating, and enlightening in its own way, but I am not sure how many readers would even get to that point if they have already given up before this part.

[Denise Mullins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really 4.5. When Clemente, a renowned animal activist is murdered, Detective Alec Blume is assigned to investigate, yet the signals he receives from superiors suggest that he is to do anything but solve the case. Mired in political machinations, with corrupt colleagues and mob interference, this Italian crime procedural is deftly woven to keep reader interest sustained. Although some may not appreciate the deliberate slower pacing, this adds to the realism of honest police sleuthing-especially when so many elements are trying to thwart the investigation.
Blume's background story is also skillfully worked into the plot allowing him to emerge as a complex honest cop who still harbors flaws and makes serious mistakes. Supporting characters are fleshed out adequately and the antagonist turns out to be one of the vilest, inhumane serial killers in modern fiction.Thoroughly satisfying through the final sentence, this first in a series is one that definitely warrants following.

[Cameron McLachlan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished The dogs of Rome by Conor Fitzgerald. My opinion is that I wanted to like this book more than I did and I feel a bit conflicted. This mysteries is set in 2000s Rome and features Alec Blume, an expatriate Italian-American from Seattle (rolls eyes) who has a problem with authority figures, dead parents and a partner who is providing intel to local mafiosi (proceeds to roll eyes even harder). Blume is tasked with solving the murder of a local animal rights activist that soon moves beyond animal rights to include the Roman underworld and federal politics. As you can tell from my summary, it delves a bit too much into detective cliches for my liking. This is too bad because Rome is my favourite city that I've visited and I'd love an atmospheric mystery set there. However, I doubt I'll continue with the series as I have a bunch of Dennis Lehane, Nesbo and other authors on my plate. I give this 7 out of 10.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rome - a city where rules are compromised and compromise rules.....

It's one of the hottest days of the year. Chief Inspector Blume is enjoying a rare solitary lunch in a tranquil corner of Trastevere when an unwelcome phone call intrudes with news of a brutal killing a few streets away.

Arturo Clemente is no ordinary victim. His widow is an elected member of the Senate, and Blume arrives at the scene to find enquiries well underway, the case itself apparently clear-cut, a prime suspect quickly identified. Blume must fight to regain control of the investigation, but well-acquainted withe city's underworld, he knows from bitter experience that in Rome even a murder enquiry must bow to the rules of politics.....

[Jean Walton · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I enjoyed this tale, I have to disagree with the advertising blurb for the book which says that this fills the gap left by Michael Dibdin. I had doubts before starting this book, where the main character is an American working for the Italian police. This seemed a most unlikely premis to me. However, as he'd been orphaned in Italy and more or less brought up by the police, this worked better than I thought it would. However, though I warmed to Blume eventually, I think Dibdin's Aurelio Zen was a more engaging character both in Dibdin's books and in the TV series where he is played brilliantly by Rufus Sewell.

[Katy Cameron · Rating 1 out of 5]

This felt like the audio book that was never going to end. Between the tortuously long investigation, where the police singularly failed to demonstrate any detective skills and missed glaring clues, the absolutely appalling 'romantic' sub plot (I never could work out what the FBI had to do with an Italian police investigation for the woman to even have crossed paths with him in the first place), the masses of extraneous back story, and the bizarre viewpoint switch late on in the book to include the bad guy, the whole thing was a mess.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Am American Italian inspector in Rome takes on a murder case of an animal rights activist who has been investigating a dog fighting ring. The dead mans wife is a politician and some of the higher ups want to make sure there is not too much media attention or scandal. Alec Blume is a like able detective, going rouge and continuing the investigation even when he is called off. I enjoyed this. Happy for once to have read the first in the series. And the library has the next 4!!

[Nightwitch · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was very meh, one of those crime novels starring a world-weary police detective who I think we're supposed to find much more interesting than I actually do; he's American for some bizarre reason, necessitating endless explanation about same, and in hot pursuit of a hot American lady who works for the FBI, and everyone else is corrupt and disappoints him (or gets murdered, in some cases because he's in pursuit of the hot American lady), and also he has a traumatic backstory which the hot American lady at least has the good sense to be bored by. I mean it's all very "oh so these are the ingredients of a crime novel," if you know what I mean. Towards the end - and at the very beginning - there are vast swathes of text from the perspective of The Killer, who is equally cardboard (a socially stunted computer nerd who thinks he is smarter than he is, but the computer genius part is conveyed through buzzwords about "hacking" and playing World of Warcraft which doesn't strike me as particularly plausible and lends to a generally obnoxious feel to these sections). The ending is existential, by which I mean that people die and quit and accidents happen and the hot American lady does not quite give in to our hero's charms except for the part where she sleeps with him and then yells at him in an argument that makes no sense, but you're not going to get that moment where the bad guys get arrested and everyone says "hurray." Meh. I didn't find it offensive but I'm certainly not going to be bothering with the sequels.

[Joan Ahmed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well done but not addicting

I love books set in Italy, and I love mysteties. I am a fan of David Hewitt and Donna Leon because their characters are interesting and have lovable qualities. I find Alex sort of tawdry and cold. The romance part is bleh. Maybe men relate to his style better.

[Katherine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too many characters to keep track of, an arrogant main detective that shows off all of his outdated tech (even at the time of writing in 2010) in painful detail such as meeting women in Second Life, using Compaq computers, and TomTom SatNav. Given how many dramatic things happen was surprisingly boring.

[Ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

De schrijver is geboren in Cambridge maar woont al sinds 1989 in Italië. Deze thriller gaat over maffiapraktijken en corruptie in Rome. Je moet er even inkomen, die Italiaanse namen moeten even wennen, daarna is het een mooi geschreven spannend boek.