Dead Lagoon

Aurelio Zen #4

by Michael Dibdin

Among the emerging generation of crime writers, none is as stylish and intelligent as Michael Dibdin, who, in Dead Lagoon, gives us a deliciously creepy new novel featuring the urbane and skeptical Aurelio Zen, a detective whose unenviable task it is to combat crime in a country where today's superiors may be tomorrow's defendants.

Zen returns to his native Venice. He is searching for the ghostly tormentors of a half-demented contessa and a vanished American millionaire whose family is paying Zen under the table to determine his whereabouts--dead or alive. But he keeps stumbling over corpses that are distressingly concrete: from the crooked cop found drowned in one of the city's noisome "black wells" to a brand-new skeleton that surfaces on the Isle of the Dead.

The result is a mystery rich in character and deduction, and intensely informed about the history, politics, and manners of its Venetian setting.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Italy, Detective, Zen, Italian Literature

297 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Michael 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

Reviews

[fleurette · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really hoped I would enjoy this book much more than I did. Unfortunately, there are quite a few things that just didn’t work for me.

Let’s start with the positives. The story is set in Venice - a wonderful choice of location for a crime novel. The city truly comes alive in the book; its geography, history, and atmosphere are deeply woven into the plot. I really appreciated that. I’ve read a few of Donna Leon’s novels set in Venice, but I think here the city plays an even bigger role in the story.

I also generally enjoyed the different criminal cases that Aurelio Zen, the protagonist, has to solve. They’re varied and engaging. So far, so good. But here comes my first (admittedly minor) complaint: some of the answers to key questions are painfully obvious to the reader, while Aurelio, an experienced policeman, seems completely clueless. It’s frustrating.

Another issue, also tied to the suspense element, is that the final resolutions of these cases often feel over the top. Take the whole Durridge storyline, it’s just exaggerated. That plotline is supposed to be central, but it’s not developed enough to justify such a far-fetched conclusion. It’s too grand for a subplot that doesn’t get that much focus.

That’s actually how a lot of the book feels. The narrative moves along slowly and rather plainly, and then suddenly something completely overblown happens. For example, people die as a result of Aurelio’s actions - two, in fact, including one suicide. The consequences feel too extreme, the reactions too intense for the otherwise subdued tone of the story.

And speaking of tone, the atmosphere is suffocating and bleak. I don’t mind stories about corruption or violence, but the way all of Aurelio’s cases end really puts me off. Not a single one ends on a positive note; the guilty walk away unpunished. It’s just depressing.

And of course, I can’t skip Aurelio’s absurd love life. I honestly think those plotlines are only there to add unnecessary drama. Take Cristiana - how could anyone believe she genuinely cared about Aurelio? It’s obvious from the start that she didn’t. And Aurelio thinking he’s in love after just three or four meetings? That’s painfully shallow, like something out of a cheap romance. Then there’s Tania, whose whole storyline feels fake and unconvincing. It’s hard to care about her or her situation at all. With both Cristiana and Tania, plus all the crime plots, it’s simply too much going on at once.

As for Aurelio himself, I can’t say I like him. He’s an interesting and complex character, but his unfaithfulness and his temperament make him hard to root for. He’s often angry, distant, and I never felt I had any real insight into his thoughts or emotions, at least not the ones that matter.

And then there’s the ending. To me, the book just doesn’t wrap up properly. It feels incomplete, and I found that really disappointing.

In the end, I’d give this book 2.5 stars. That might seem low for a book I partly enjoyed, but the lack of closure and the overall depressing tone really dragged it down. I don’t think I’ll be picking up another Aurelio Zen novel anytime soon.

[Antigone · Rating 3 out of 5]

When he awoke again the room was filled with an astringent brilliance which made him blink, an abrasive slapping of wavelets and the edgy scent which had surprised him the moment he stepped out of the train. He had forgotten even the most obvious things about the place, like the pervasive risky odour of the sea.

Detective Aurelio Zen, possessed of pockets too empty to afford his expensive new mistress, has picked up a little sidework requiring a return to his native Venice. The family of a missing American millionaire is desperate for news and, though the case has been dropped by the local constabulary, Zen is content to make a show. A certain amount of finesse will be necessary, of course. He can't have doors closing against him, or authoritative feathers ruffled, and so he will pretend to be assisting an old family acquaintance; a dotty Venetian dowager convinced she's being tormented by skeletal apparitions.

Dibdin's bewitchment with locale holds fast through the change of scene. Venice is the star of the show; her canals and water taxis, palazzos and cafes, her shuffling old men and hard-charging young politicos - the undercurrent of graft and corruption is as omnipresent as the cobblestone. Aurelio's memories trip him up almost as often as the sewer lines he's continually stumbling across. Old friends make their appearances; history haunts his cold and empty family home. Cynical, idealistic, chilled by fear, hot with passion, doomed yet still the darling of a wickedly capricious Fate - Zen remains a mercurial presence on the page and continues, as a character, to deepen.

While I prefer him in Rome, the crimes were navigated well. And the human travail? Even better.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this again recently, while mourning Dibden's untimely death. It really is one of his best; the story is complex, sometimes stultifying, full of corruption, age and complexity and yet, under it all, a human being with human frailties trying to run away from his problems - something most people can relate to.

Venice comes off badly - her politicians are venal, her police incompetent, her streets filty, and yet anybody who reads this book will want to visit!

Aurelio Zen doesn't do well either - egotistical, womanising, corrupt (and yet in his own way, honourable), fearful, weak and vain, and yet we fall for his complicated excuses just like his friends and family, we forgive his failings and empathise with his desires.

Dibden was a master of a certain weary, european style of police procedural - his work is smooth and yet layered, haunting and sometimes utterly brilliant. There will never be a better exponent of the cynical criminality of the modern world than Dibden, speaking through Zen.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the setting of Venice with the buildings, fog and atmosphere of corruption at every turn. Aurellio Zen is an interesting character. The love story makes no sense with Christiana the wife of the corrupt politician.

Venice is dying. A senile Contessa is apparently being stalked by phantoms and Zen uses her to investigate a missing American. It is refreshing to read a story where the bad guys escape justice and the corrupt are rewarded. Very much true to life.

An independent Venice, a jingoistic political leader with naïve followers. A smelly murder and a suicide all a result of Zen who also finds out his missing father may still be alive.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first I was entranced! An intriguing mystery, some excellent figurative language, and even an unusual setting: Venice, Italy. Then, despite the fact that I'd already gotten pulled into this world, I felt myself starting to say "Enough already with the description of the unique aspects of the city" It seemed Dibdin got himself so snared up in that that he forgot to develop his plot! One section where the hero was chasing his old friend through Venice seemed completely gratuitous, as did much of the interaction between way too many characters. In the end I was disappointed, but still have to give the author high marks for his figurative language & astute observations about a changing society.. throughout the book.

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can’t go home again.

Aurelio Zen tries. He returns to Venice, his birthplace, from his home in Rome to investigate a crime, purportedly a home invasion committed against an elderly friend of the family. In fact, he is there to reopen a stymied investigation into a missing wealthy expat who has made a home in Venice.

Read the book for its descriptions of Venice, especially the myriad ways in which Zen navigates the streets and waterways of the city, by foot and watercraft of varying type. I enjoyed very much the descriptions of the city and the buildings and the cafes and characters he interacts with. The book has two drawn maps of Venice which are helpful in understanding exactly where he is.

If you read a mystery for the denouement, this might leave you at a loss. The investigations are resolved but not in the way you imagine.

I may go back and read the first Aurelio Zen book. This one did not depend on having read that, but he is interesting enough to make me want to spend a little more time in Italy.

[Brynna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting and frustrating. The story is a little loose, a little unstructured for my taste. The crazy lady is the best character.
I really despised Aurelio Zen by the end of this book, but fortunately I got the feeling that he despised himself at the end of this book. This is the only one I've read and it is unusual because it's set in Venice (Zen's hometown). There's a lot of the 'prophet without honor in his hometown' feel to this one, but I can't help feeling that Aurelio's asking, begging for it.

Maybe he's less of a jerk in Rome. I'll probably read another to find out.

[Darren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Competently written police-procedural, with multiple mysteries to be solved, enhanced by detailed/atmospheric Venetian locale. however, I was less than impressed by none of the bad guys getting brought to book, most of the details of the cases being told to Zen rather than him finding them out for himself, and the ending that might as well have read "Forget it, Jake - it's Chinatown."

[Pınar Bacı · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ve bir serinin sonu. Komiser Zen sistemi erdemlerinden soyunarak kendi lehine kullanabileceğini sanırken,sistemin kendisinden her zaman bir adım önde olduğu gerçeğiyle muazzam bir yenilgiye uğruyor.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fourth book in the Aurelio Zen series started off slower than the previous books in the series for me. However, by the end I was glued to the page. Zen's manuevers between doing honest police work and surviving the official bureaucratic politics were up to his usual standards but there is a bit more about his personal life & past which surface both in Zen's reminiscences & in revelations from people who knew him & his family when they lived in Venice. Zen also exhibits some distressing behaviour in his personal & professional life (some but not all of it unintentional) so I am curious to see how he will be in the next book.

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dead Lagoon by Michael Dibdin – author of Vendetta, my note on this is at https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... along with hundreds of other reviews

8 out of 10


Michael Dibdin has five books on the list of 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read and his hero, Italian detective Aurelio Zen is one we can identify with, and he fits the profile suggested in To the Hermitage https://realini.blogspot.com/2022/09/... by Malcolm Bradbury

Novels have characters that are ‘fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound’ – at least the glorious ones, and we could not compare Zen with Lucky Jim, in my view, but he makes for one damn good protagonist, entangled in some complex crimes stories
This time, he travels to Venice, to investigate the disappearance of an American citizen, born in the former Yugoslavia, allegedly a war criminal – a spoiler alert might be needed here and now, since I am not sure what I will reveal, and more importantly, with modesty I must admit that these lines are not nec plus ultra

Ivan Durridge aka Duric is wanted by…Croatia, a new born state when the action takes place – the book was published in 1994 – and the way this is presented at one time is ‘just like the Israelis have looked for the Nazi war criminals, so the Croatians are trying to get theirs’, only this is coming from the camp of the villains
For yes, war and any other criminals should be prosecuted – especially Putin, though he will never be in jail – only in this situation, we have not just vigilantes, but extremists joining hands, Venice has Nuova Repubblica Veneta, an extremist outfit, precursor of the likes of AFD, and not fond of the Northern League

Dal Maschio is the loathsome leader, a sort of Salvini Avant la lettre, much more villainous, he is favorite to win the elections and become the mayor of one of the great European towns, and he preaches that they should separate, no longer ‘take orders from Rome,’ he also opposes allying with Milan, he wants all the power for himself
This version of Orange Jesus is involved with the fundamentalist Croatians – some group from there, surely, no nation is altogether violent – and so the disappearance of the missing American will prove to be connected with him – remember, there is a spoiler alert in place – and Aurelio Zen is detached to Venice to investigate

He pretends to look into another affair, and he uncovers foul play, while he is attracted to the wife of the nationalist, Cristiana Morosini, he even thinks he falls in love with her, which is causing tension and worse with the over he left back in Rome, the plans had her move with Aurelio and his mother, if they could afford it
The detective is rather harsh with the partner from Rome, albeit the latter is somewhat, or very imposing, the fact is that at one moment, Aurelio Zen says ‘this is my home’, when he is asked about returning home, which was meant to be in Rome – the truth is, Zen was born in Venice, his father was known there very well

In a strange twist, the hero finds that his father, who had been missing in World War II and presumed dead, has deserted, he was sheltered by a woman at a farm, where he helped work the land and all, males had been scarce or absent altogether with that massive carnage, and eventually, she becomes pregnant
The parent discovers he is in Poland, which had fallen on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain, like the rest of the block, it had introduced measures to stop people from exiting the country and thus Zen senior is trapped…his son says ‘why not present his papers to show he is a foreigner and ergo he should be allowed to leave’

Only he had burned his documents when he deserted, and furthermore, when this old friend who had met him by accident, decades after the war ended asked about Zen senior going back to his family, he says it is too late now, they thought him dead…this is the theme, something similar actually, in a film with Marcelo Mastroianni
Maybe it was Black Eyes something like Ochi Ciornai, with Russia prominent in the narrative, Aurelio Zen is very attached to the wife of his foe, but he discovers some unpleasant facts, when they establish a meeting, she is acting strange on the phone, and then instead of her showing, we have her husband opening with her key

He tells Zen that he controls his wife – she will admit to trying to pay him back, he had cheated on her, and so she thought why not do the same, and have some fun, but they were not going for something serious, she says to Aurelio, and think if you were in my place, and I would try to cling on, what would you think about it?’
As opposed to the average detective work, the hero in Dead Lagoon – and Ratking, my note on it is at https://realini.blogspot.com/2020/07/... - is not infallible, he is human, has flaws, finds the truth about the crazy aristocrat and her apparitions, but to no effect, and while he solved the mystery of the disappearance of Ivan Duric, he was taken on orders from Dal Maschio, knowing he would be cruelly tortured, the American jumped to his death from a helicopter, to be discovered as a skeleton in the Dead Lagoon, but this will not be a crime the authorities will bring to courts…

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”

[Eric_W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michael Dibdin’s Dead Lagoon is novel. For one thing, it takes place in Venice and immerses the reader in a culture very different from our own. Secondly, its hero, Aurelio Zen, is not your ordinary cop. He’s a member of the Criminalpol, Italy’s elite investigative unit. The country is a quagmire of corruption and political intrigue. Zen, normally based in Rome, finds an excuse to look into the case of an old family friend who claims to having been attacked by mysterious apparitions. His real reason for being in Venice is to investigate the kidnapping of a rich American. He wants to claim enough of the reward to buy a bigger apartment in Rome to billet his fiancé and mother. But it gets complicated. He solves the ghostly spinster problem but falls in love with the wife of a radical political candidate. Dibdin writes beautifully: “That infant eroticism, biddable and easily satisfied, had grown up into a moody, fractious adolescent, making demands, issuing statements, taking positions, unsure of its own identity, and contemptuous of other people’s. Whatever happened between him and Christina that afternoon, it would never have the serendipitous quality of that first encounter. From now on, whatever happened would be meant, something to be weighed and measured and taken responsibility for. He heaved a long sigh. The medical authorities were quite right: there was no such thing as safe sex."

[Elisha Condie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is not the same Zen I saw on PBS played by the weirdly handsome Rufus Sewell. That Zen had morals, and style, and substance. The Aurelio Zen in this book is a total jerkface.

Zen goes to Venice to solve the crime of what happened to a rich American who disappeared there. And to check up on the crazy old lady former neighbor who is having supernatural visits.

And it really stinks. Zen is mean to Tania (nice girlfriend back home), he solves some mysteries but NO ONE cares, no bad guys get their comeuppance, and some nice guys get kicked in the teeth.

The ONLY thing it had going for it was it really set the scene, and gave me a good feeling of what Venice is really like to live in and get around in, which is something I'd never ever appreciated.

But seriously, only PBS Zen for me from now on.

[Eleanor Beaty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Dibdin gives a very good inside view of what life in Venice is like and he does a great job with the Italian way of being. Humorous and full of mystery. The ending is a bit of a let down but it's realistic.

[Wonderkell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though I enjoyed reading a book set in Venice, especially after recently visiting there, I was disappointed in the end when I found that the book just seemed to drag forever. It’s a pity. Michael Dibdin wrote very evocatively at times. If only it was combined with a slightly faster pace.

[Simone Lamont · Rating 2 out of 5]

The local Venetian setting was a fantastic foreground for a mystery, but unfortunately I found the actual investigation itself to be tedious and anticlimactic. Could’ve done more with the vibes, especially because of what it’s titled.

[Judy Abbott · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sevmedim bu sefer

[Ken Ryu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zen is in Venice secretly investigating the disappearance of a wealthy American. Venice is his hometown and he connects with some old friends. He also begins a romance with the wife of a separatist political candidate. The investigation is challenging. There are forces within the Venice political and police system that find his inquiries unwelcome. The missing man in question hasn't been seen in months and that is how the Venetians would like to leave the matter. There is also a report of a ghost haunting a wealthy Venetian land owner that Zen gets involved in. The politics, the missing American and the haunting intermingle as suspects and witnesses begin to overlap in these matters.

The story is complex to the point of confusion. Dibdin enjoys interjecting obscure word of the day vocabulary throughout. These bingo words may be in dialog, in newsprint or in the narration. Most of these complex words are unnecessary and clumsy. They also bring attention to another flaw. The characters speak with the same language, phrasing and sophistication. It doesn't matter if Dibdin is talking with a woman, an old man, a fisherman or a politician. The characters all share the same linguistic cadence and complexity.

Zen is no saint. He is not above lying and manipulating in order to get his job done. This tactic leads to an unfortunate incident with one of his boyhood friends. His fling with Christina, the politician's wife, is unconvincing. He claims to have real emotions for this woman. She clearly views his attention as a welcome amusement and distraction, but without any true conviction. That fact that the skeptical and experienced Zen would not recognize this does not ring true.

This is a decent book, but I found the mystery convoluted and overly complex.

[James Winter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't had a chance to review Dibdin's other Zen novels, although I have read the first three before reading this one. Zen, of course, along with the intricate Italian world Dibdin has created, is the reason to read the series. I find him to be one of the most complex and entertaining crime fiction detectives. Unlike, say, Philip Marlowe, whose cynicism underlies a sense of moral righteousness when on a case, Zen resigns himself to being a screw-up in a screwed-up system. Yet, at some point in each of the books, he turns a corner, disgusted by his own selfishness and then shouldering the moral responsibility of the case(s). These types of turns drive the narrative, although they don't necessarily provide any sort of the outcome the reader desires. Such is the case with "Dead Lagoon": what an ending, both outwardly tedious and inwardly compelling, a reflection of the politics of the crimes at hand and a deeper incision that exposes Zen further to all he can't know.

My problem with the Zen series is that sometimes the novels are too intricate or opaque on a first-read. But that's what second reads are for, right? Also, in this book, Dibdin's prose isn't as tight as in some of his other works. Too often he resorts to literally stating that the weather or an inanimate object is a metaphor for Zen's feelings. I think just describing it would be better since he allows us to do much of the novel's heavy-lifting anyway.

Still, another Zen mystery well worth the time.

[Madeline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aurelio Zen, the Italian detective, is back in his native Venice austensibly investigating the harassment of an old lady, the contessa, by ghosts who she declares are real. However, he is also working behind the scenes for an American family to find a missing millionaire. Zen finds corpses along the way from a colleague left to drown in the underground sewer to a skeleton on the Isle of the Dead. He is opposed by the charismatic leader of an up-and-coming fringe party that is seeking to make Venice - and eventually all the Dalmation coast - a separate republic. Zen does win the battle with regard to the contessa's ghosts and he finds the missing millionaire, but the political war for Venice is not over.
Dibdin is a compelling writer and he captures the atmosphere of Venice - not the touristy city but the gritty back canals and the old denizens who still live in the decaying buildings. Even with the maps in the front of the book, it was difficult to follow Zen around the city. He also referred to words in Italian and local ideas/places/people without explaining what they were so I felt I missed some of the issues in the story. Maybe it would have been more understandable if I had read the 3 previous Aurelio Zen books.

[Meg Morden · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really is an argument for the stance that you can never go home again! Aurelio is back in his home town of Venice on his own reconnaissance to earn extra cash to support his girl-friend Tania who has just been evicted. He has been hired by an American family to find out what happened to their relative who disappeared three months before from an ‘octogona” a fortified island in the dead Lagoon. He decides to use a case iinvolving an old friend of his mother as a screen for his return and to get help from the local Questura. He reconnects with old friends and starts a fling with an old acquaintance which gets serious for him. At every turn he is met with suspicion and surprise that he is a cop, he has been gone so long that the only recollection people have of him is his misspent youth. The plots interweave and nothing gets resolved satisfactorily. He loses his temper several times and is at times not very admirable. The picture of Venice is unremittingly gloomy, filthy, disintegrating, corrupt and morally bankrupt. A far cry from Donna Leon’s Venice which although corrupt is beautiful.

[Paulette · Rating 5 out of 5]

DEAD LAGOON is the fourth in 12 Aurelio Zen novels written by the late Michael Dibdin. This is my first venture into his series since I just happened to have this book procured from a bargain book sale. FANTASTIC!!! How did I not discover this series sooner, especially since it takes place in Italy, one of my favorite places--and cuisine! Dibdin is an excellent writer in drawing out the characters and the action. In this book, his hero Zen returns to his native Venice to investigate the disappearance of a missing American but this turns out to be more complicated than he bargained. He also did not bargain for encountering a woman who may or may not be what she seems. (Dibdin is brilliant with tension in bringing Zen and this woman together--their dinner scene made me drool and not just for the pasta dish this lady was making! :) ) I highly recommend this book. I want to read the first three books now and then invest in the one series that was made from them which stars the very handsome and talented British actor Rufus Sewall. If you love well-written detective stories where character development matters, this one is for you.

[Stven · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found a lot to like in this book, a story of a police detective returning to his home town of Venice with a particular investigation in mind, but with another investigation serving as his cover story. So there were complexities in the plot, and that helped make it interesting.

Because I'm a longtime fan of Donna Leon's stories of her police commissioner in Venice, comparisons constantly came to mind. Dibdin's Venice is grimier and seamier. Political and police corruption figure in both authors' work, but Leon's Guido Brunetti generally has a handle on functioning within the system, while Dibdin's Aurelio Zen seems to be a perennial schlemiel, thinking sometimes that he's going to beat the system but destined for heartbreaking failure again and again.

Only, for the reader, it's not quite heartbreaking, because it's a little too well telegraphed that the destination for this investigation, and for Aurelio's personal struggles, is something other than a happy ending. I liked the prose and I enjoyed reading the story, but its premier fault was predictability -- not of the details but of how the details were going to play.

[Sally Edsall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Misty, mysterious Venice is always a favourite "character", whether it be in fiction or biography. Venice does not give up its secrets easily, and Dibdin is a master at ensuring the tension builds and the plot is assisted through location. He is equally adept at characterisation - the restless, driven Zen, who confronts several ethical dilemmas along the way, and several of the supporting "cast" , all of whom come to life and populate the setting magnificently.

The story itself is intriguing, with enough revelations along the way. There is no great finale denouement, more a piecing together of the jigsaw, and one great personal revelation about Zen's family background.

I thought Dibdin was at his very best when the action moves to the Questura (police headquarters). I half expected Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti to come strollign along the corridor!
The "chase" sequence - on foot and boat through wintry night time Venice was also excellent.

Thoroughly recommended for anyone who enjoys top quality crime fiction. No formulaic writing here!

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is quite a complex book, and really conveys the total corruption of government and services of the police of Venice at this time. Zen, trying to make money from a family wanting to know how their relative disappeared, assumed dead, had died, returns from Rome, to his old house in Venice to investigate. To cover this, he finds that an old friend of his mother had told the police that people were breaking into her home scaring and threatening her. Zen tells that, that is the reason for his investigation. The woman, formerly being a patient of a mental institution, has more or less been ignored by the local police. Some of Zen's childhood friends welcome his return, while there are others who resent him. This book encompasses the drug running, the political state of affairs, murder and revelations of Zen's own family.
I found there was quite a lot of padding in the book, various trips around Venice to locate people. It was as if the author was trying to decide where he was going next with the plots. I have come to the opinion that I really don't like Zen as a person.

[Maddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

PROTAGONIST: Aurelio Zen
SETTING: Venice
SERIES: #4 of 11
RATING: 3.25
WHY: Aurelio Zen, a detective in Rome, has manufactured a reason to travel to Venice, the home of his birth. He is viewed with suspicion by his peers there, as the case he chooses to investigate is dubious at best involving an old, possibly insane, woman seeing ghosts. In reality he is trying to find out what happened to an American who disappeared, a private job for which he is being paid well. Dibdin draws a detailed (for me, too detailed) picture of the decaying city. He puts on enough walking miles to earn free mileage. Of course, he manages to solve both cases, all the while facing the reality of Italian politics which doesn't always savor the truth. He also falls in love and considers relocating to Venice permanently. He seems a bit of a cold fish. There were long diatribes on the local politics which slowed things down. The plot itself was convoluted at times. I expected better.

[Benjamin Fasching-Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zen fulfills the all cops are bastards axiom and 'solves' three bizarre mysteries that border on gothic horror. The ending was not a twist which in this genre and the way this story builds was a surprise that questions: what is justice? Dibdin is also saying something about politics, about centripetal forces within the European Union, but he says it in a very personal (Is anyone ever really 'home'?) and moving way. Published while the war in Bosnia was still going, Dibdin is able to make comparisons between the current crop of nationalist criminals and the more notorious ones from Europe's darkest century in a way that is tender and sympathetic to the 'little' people who fall for all that garbage. Plus: a Venice that is by turns like a romantic painting, a tourist hell-hole, and an actual place where people actually live.

[Sue Law · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow paced, engrossing, but ultimately unsatisfying entry in the Zen series. The principal character in this novel is Venice as she embraces a returning Aurelio Zen who is trying his hand at a bit of illegal moonlighting, looking into a dead case in Venice.
Several years before an American resident of Venice had vanished and the investigation had stalled. The lack of conclusion is causing probate problems in the US and the family want some answers, any answers. But there are indications that the lack of results is due to political pressure, so Zen must find another case as a cover and picks on the haunting of an old Contessa who had employed his mother when Zen was young.
Oh, and Zen's love life is as much a mess as ever?

[Bruce Retallack · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of my favourite Aurelio Zen books, not least because it takes place in that moodiest and unlikeliest of cities - Venice. Didbin does not quite match Donna Leon's evocative descriptions of the city, but he comes close. In fact, having Aurelio Zen take up residence in the quaestura (police headquarters) where Leon's Guido Brunetti is headquartered is almost surreal. In any case, the setting is well rendered and very much a central character in its own right.
The plot - or plots, really - is typically complex and opaque right to the end, with lots of twists and surprises, and a full roster of compelling if often unlikable characters.
All in all a good read, although I'm still less than enamored of Zen himself.

[Kariss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the time I "see the movie" after I read the book-the usual results - I need not say-the book was better.
This time meandering through the Video area of the Library starting at the end of the isle - Zen - popped out.
Pulled it from the shelf, hmmm BBC, Rufus Sewell, the full Series - a possible great week end of lets get away from a long week.
What a wonderful surprise. This week end I started the batch of Dibdin's Aurelio Zen books.
The sad part it is the full Series both of the books and the BBC Mini Series.