River of Shadows

Commissario Soneri #4

by Valerio Varesi, Joseph Farrell (Translator)

In a bleak valley in Northern Italy, the River Po is swollen to its limits. The thick fog that usually clings to the town, blurring its surroundings and plunging its inhabitants into near-blindness, has been driven out by the raging storm. So when an empty barge drifts downriver, the fact the owner is missing does not go unnoticed. That same night Commissario Soneri is called in to investigate the murder of the boatman's brother. The brothers served together in the fascist militia fifty years earlier - could this be a revenge killing after so long? Soneri's investigation meets with a wall of silence from those who make their living along the banks of river. As the fog descends and the valley is hidden once more, Soneri must navigate fifty-year-old loyalties and deep-rooted rivalries before he can find out the truth.

Genres: Crime, Italy, Mystery, Italian Literature, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Audiobook

259 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Valerio Varesi, nato a Torino nel 1959, vive a Parma e lavora nella redazione de La Repubblica di Bologna. Romanziere eclettico, è il creatore del commissario Soneri, protagonista dei polizieschi che hanno ispirato le serie televisive "Nebbie e delitti" con Luca Barbareschi (distribuite anche negli Stati Uniti). I romanzi con protagonista Soneri sono tradotti in tutto il mondo, e nel 2011 Valerio Varesi è stato finalista al CWA International Dagger, il premio internazionale per la narrativa gialla. Parallelamente Varesi ha iniziato la propria personale ricognizione della recente Storia italiana con tre romanzi generosi e appassionanti: La sentenza, Il rivoluzionario e Lo stato di ebbrezza

Reviews

[TBV (on hiatus) · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Two brothers involved in separate cases a few kilometres apart. One who had somehow gone through a window, the other who had disappeared while his barge was navigating the river in spate." Decimo Tonna goes flying from a window, and hours later brother Anteo Tonna disappears whilst his barge runs adrift in the swelling Po River. For Commissario Soneri this is too much of a coincidence, and he simply cannot accept his superior's verdict of the case. "He lifted the receiver impatiently and heard the voice of the questore. The attention lavished on him by the television crews had obviously acted on him like amphetamines. His ego had swelled, as was clear from the waves of rounded rhetorical frills, each as neatly finished as an embroidered quilt."

This is a very atmospheric novel. As experienced bargeman Anteo apparently drifts off in the swelling currents of the Po the weather gets worse and worse, more rain, more flooding, lots of mist, and for Soneri all the facts of this case seem to disappear into the mist of the Fascist past. There is much to obscure his vision, including the fact that Anteo was seemingly involved in the trafficking of human beings, but Soneri can't help but feel that there is a connection to the Tonna brothers' Fascist past. Some of the local Partisans have long memories. "Soneri peered into the mist which made it impossible for him to put on any speed. He was afraid he had completely lost his way, not only on the road but in the investigation he was leading."

Soneri conducts much of his investigation in the boating club (no, nothing fancy; just a few locals spinning yarns over a pint or two) or the local pub managed by a deaf barman. That in itself is quite funny, because the theme of the pub is opera - in particular operas by Verdi. At various points strains from Otello/Falstaff/Rigoletto/I Lombardi alla prima Crociata, etc. compete with the din of the bar and the whole cacophony is augmented by the sound of Soneri's phone belting out the triumphal march from Aida. In fact the crimes bear the hallmarks of grand opera. "“I’m eating in a place where they love opera,” Soneri said irritably, wondering whether Juvara could tell an operatic aria from a Gregorian chant."

Scrumptious local dishes are served, and Soneri soon learns how to convey to the deaf proprietor what he wishes to eat and drink. These are some of the local dishes that he consumes during his investigation:
tortelli stuffed with herbs and ricotta
pasta con fagioli
stracotto d’asinina
spalla cotto
With Soneri's healthy appetite it doesn't take the proprietor long to accept Soneri as an honorary local and offer him the specialties reserved for special customers. "His host simply wanted to let him know that he had some vecchia al pesto, minced horsemeat flavoured with a peperone sauce. Childhood memories came flooding back, and he nodded enthusiastically. The landlord kept his best dishes for those whom he considered most likely fully to appreciate them. The commissario was now of that company."

Soneri's feisty girlfriend Angela, a defence lawyer, is Angela by name but not by nature; she has a penchant for sex at crime scenes and preferably with a high risk of discovery. She is a welcome distraction from a difficult case.

But between opposing his supervisor, keeping Angela satisfied and enjoying hearty meals and Verdi opera arias, Soneri somehow manages to apply himself to the job at hand and manages to solve this tricky case.

It is a novel with an interesting historical as well as cultural background. Using a Google map, I had fun zooming along the Po River with the characters.

Extracts:
“Every year around All Souls the river swells up,” Barigazzi told him. “It too wants to remember its dead, and goes to pay them a visit in the cemeteries. It caresses the tombstones for a few days, shows the funeral chapels their reflections in the waters it has brought up from the riverbed. It stops off inside the graveyard walls, before settling back, leaving everything clean and sparkling.”

"They were both looking in the same direction, at the water caressing the riverbanks and the walls of the shack. It was disconcerting to think that concealed beneath such gentleness lay the capacity to inflict terrible destruction."

“"Even the Po devours what it has created. Everything is changing all the time. In the party, no more than twenty years ago, they taught us that history is on the march, towards a better future. Now, not only has optimism disappeared, but so has the party. Don’t ask me to say that things are getting better. Just like the Po, we’re marching towards the filth of some stinking sea,” Barigazzi said."

"The investigation was moving in time to the rhythms of the Po, of waters which rose and fell, endlessly changing the outline of the riverbank."

"The road he had chanced on in the afternoon now seemed impassable in the wall of mist that the bonnet of his car had to plough into. After a while he found himself suspended over the countryside, and for a moment had the impression that he was motoring among the clouds. He crawled along in second gear, his fog lights incapable of picking out the verges, and every curve brought the fear that he was about to plunge down the slope."

[Sian Wadey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had great problems connecting with this book. It took me forever to read and normally I whip through murder mysteries with no problem but it wasn't the case for this one.
The pace was ridiculously slow, maybe it's the relaxed Italian culture, but it dragged along. The book couldn't hold my attention either, I would find my mind drifting off and thinking about other things only to find I hadn't taken in any of the story.
The main character, I think his name was Soneri, was generally likeable. He seemed like a nice man, although his relationship with his girlfriend got on my nerves. They seemed to spend most of their time together trying to find risqué places to sleep together, including someone's flat and the barge belonging to the missing Tonna. I know it's not real but it comes across as really unprofessional and I like my policemen to do things properly.
One thing that also got on my wick (sorry for ranting, I'm in one of those moods!) was how much they went on and on about food. I know Italians are passionate about what they eat but every time someone sat down at a dinner table I would get a detailed recipe.
Overall, this was a bit of a disappointment. At the end it was just a relief to finish and I'm not sure I completely understood who was the murderer or why. I think I'll stick to my Scandinavian reads. I always seem to enjoy them more.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

My pencilled list of things to expect from Italian Crime Fiction isn't particularly long or even all that surprising. A certain, shall we say obsession, with food; an eccentric, slightly grumpy, protagonist who spends a lot of time in his own head and seems to be quite happy there; and the occasional unexpected interpersonal relationship. That's a tick in boxes for RIVER OF SHADOWS then. Set on the banks of the River Po in Parma during a long cold, wet winter where the best everyone can hope for is that the river freezes to limit the reaches of the flooding, a barge captain goes missing on a night when everyone is distracted by the rising water levels.

That night the bargeman's brother falls from a window in a local hospital, a death that looks like suicide, but is quickly shown to be murder. Set in the current day, the roots of the fate of both brothers weaves its way into the society of boatmen and river dwellers and back to their time as fascist militia members in WWII.
Whilst there's a slightly subdued feeling to the story telling in this book, there's something beautifully atmospheric, introspective, and complex building. Commissario Soneri contributes a lot to all of those aspects, a wonderfully individualistic character with a particular personal style, he's a thinker and an observer, rather than an action man. Unless you're talking about his rather unusual relationship with a girlfriend who is commitment phobic and fond of eclectic sexual encounters. A girlfriend who could be some men's idea of the perfect woman - all sex and no complications - it's Soneri that seems to long for more. I really liked this Commissario, and not just because he's my favourite sort of detective - a bit grumpy, a bit eccentric, a loner by circumstance rather than preference. I liked that he questioned everything and everybody, including himself. I liked his cynicism, his sense of irony.

There was something very believable about the way that the past directly impacted on everyone. There's something very evocative about the way that the communist / fascist differences in particular continued to affect present day lives and perceptions. That idea of the past and the future winding in and out is repeated in the way that the life of the people ebbed and flowed along with the river that dominated how and where they lived.

RIVER OF SHADOWS really is exactly my sort of book - characters, a society and a landscape each with their own positive and negative aspects. Considered, introspective and thoughtful analysis of all of those elements, and a direct line between the past and the present.

Now if you're sitting comfortably, a bit of housekeeping. RIVER OF SHADOWS is the fourth book in the overall Soneri series, and the first one available in translation. A second has been translated - THE DARK VALLEY - which I understand is the 6th book in the series. As teeth grindingly annoying as that is, if you love slower, atmospheric translated crime fiction, then this is seriously good option.

http://www.austcrimefiction.org/revie...

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This first novel featuring Commissario Soneri & his colleagues & nymphomaniac lover,Angela is quite exceptional in such a crowded field as Italian detective fiction. The quality of the plotting & the style of Varesi's writing is only matched, in my opinion, by Michael Dibdin in his Aurelio Zen novels (alas, no more to come!). Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti,alas - bland, sexless paterfamilias - pales in comparison.
Varesi sets his characters firmly, if foggily, in the central Italian back-water that is the Po flood-plain; not in a tourist-trap like Tuscany, or a jewel in Italy's crown like Venice, but in a real place with real people! There is barely a sympathetic character to sugar the plot's bitter pill!
The novel reeks with the damp & watery mists of Italy's longest river, along whose banks & tributaries vivid incidents have taken place for centuries.Italy is a very old country behind its designer shades, fur-coats & leather boots,& Soneri's investigation of growing complexity mirrors the almost intangible pull of past events on present actions. This region of Italy isn't as much by-passed by visitors as completely ignored! I was reminded,in parts,of Bertolucci's '1900' with its vivid dramatisation of war-time Emilia-Romagna, & Italy's painful post-war legacy of violence & betrayal amongst neighbours. The recent past is never faraway in Italy...even after the economic miracle of the 1950s * 60s, which pulled the Italian peasant class kicking & screaming in their new-found prosperity into the modern world. Fiat 500s for all!
In this engrossing & ultimately moving investigation, Soneri reveals himself to the reader as he reveals the truth of the baffling circumstances of a double-murder with its blood-ties to some horrific incidents in the internecine struggles of violently-opposed factions during Italy's own 'Year Zero'.
This is fine writing, never formulaic, never trite or reaching for comic caricature; Varesi has created a 'hero' who is less than heroic but more than a cipher. Soneri has a melancholic side, nostalgic & sensitive to the eddies & currents of the great river which flows through the novel like a malevolent pike, its teeth sharp, its appetite keen.The Po has never been such a devilish force as in 'River of Shadows'.
I will read the next episodes of Commissario Soneri with relish; full of flavour but nourishing too. Buon appetito a te!

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's winter on the banks of the Po and the river is flooding. Two elderly brothers, the Tonnas, are murdered in quick succession by a massive blow to the head; the body of one of them, a bargee, is moored to the riverbed near a monument to the partisans who were slaughtered there by the fascists during the war, and so isn't found until the flood waters have largely retreated. Then thick mists descend, further impeding the investigation of Commissario Soneri. But, more even than by the mists, he's hampered by the reluctance of a riverside community of old men, bitterly divided by a lifetime of conflicting ideologies and distrustful of outsiders, to reveal the truth about what they know.

For some reason I made pretty heavy weather of this book. The writing is filled with beautiful imagery, and that kept me going, but at the same time the text had an overall stodginess that meant I couldn't sustain interest for long periods. There isn't much of a mystery here, and Soneri's method of detection seems to be less a matter of ratiocination than of having pointless conversations here and there with the various relevant characters, conversations that he tends to break off in the middle, just when you're beginning to think they might be getting somewhere. I did feel something of the power of the flooded river, and the way that the Po governs the lives of those in its vicinity -- cliched though the remark may seem, the river's perhaps the book's most interesting character -- but, other than that, this was a tale that, I think, could have been very satisfactorily wrapped up in a short story.

[Desiree · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Italian detective novel is set in the Po valley. The protagonist is a bit of a loner (commissario Soneri) who is a lot on location and doesn't care much about keeping in contact with his station.
As in most detectives that are set in Italy there is quite a bit of rivalry between the police and carabinieri.

The story is set against the backdrop of the ever rising Po which gives the story an extra exciting dimension.

One of the recurring themes in the book are the meals the commissario is eating, which make your mouth water and make you want to hop on the first plane to Italy.

I especially liked the descriptions of the characters and the 50 years of simmering resentment between fascists and partisans gave an iinteresting dimension to the book.

[Mikee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful, powerful book about life and death along the Po, and memories that never fade. I await more books from this author.

[Lau Lo Darbas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Autant le dire tout de suite, ce roman rejoint mon top 10 des romans « coup de cœur » de cette année 2017.

Je vais commencer par l’histoire. Tout commence par cette crue. Elle est angoissante, l’ambiance est sombre, froide, pesante. L’auteur nous happe instantanément dans les remous de ce fleuve puissant. On assiste au « voyage » de cette péniche jusqu’à ce qu’elle échoue et qu’on découvre que son « capitaine » a disparu.

Quand Soneri entre en scène, le ton change et s’adoucit. Soneri nous parait un homme posé, doux et tout en retenue. C’est un peu l’effet que l’auteur m’a fait d’ailleurs, quand je l’ai rencontré il y a quelques mois au Festival de Toulouse Polars du Sud. Soneri est pourtant un personnage fort, plein d’intuitions, déterminé mais qui reste toujours dans la bienséance, même lorsqu’il interroge ces riverains par toujours causants.

Le scenario de ce roman est très prenant et nous parle aussi d’un passé peu glorieux de l’Italie et de ses chemises noires. L’Italie qui s’est tournée vers le fascisme et dans laquelle les communistes ont été traqués. Valerio Varesi nous explique ainsi que le passé perdure et que le temps n’érode pas toujours les sentiments ou la souffrance.

L’action se déroule sur le même rythme que la crue et la décrue du fleuve. Energique au départ, puis le calme revient, pimenté parfois par l’intervention de la compagne de Soneri, Angela. Enfin vient la décrue qui révèlera les secrets de ces habitants du bord du Pô, dissipant la brume qui dissimule les faits et méfaits qui ont jalonné leur histoire sur plusieurs générations.

« Il faut distinguer l’expérience de la mémoire. On a l’illusion que l’on se souvient parce qu’il semble que tout est toujours identique, comme le fleuve qui n’a de cesse de couler entre une crue et une période d’étiage. Mais en fait on recommence chaque fois de zéro. Les souvenirs valent pour deux ou trois générations, puis ils disparaissent et d’autres les remplacent. Après cinquante ans, on revient à la case départ. »

« Aujourd’hui on ne manque de rien et les gens ont oublié les temps durs. En période d’abondance, tout le monde se déteste parce que prévaut l’égoïsme, seul fondement de notre monde à présent. Quand la misère reviendra, nous serons à nouveau unis. »

Ce sont un auteur et un roman qu’il faut absolument découvrir. Alors ? vous embarquez pour une croisière sur le Pô ?

[Kathleen Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel is set on the foggy plain of the Po, and the river is rising after intense rain - the wide, placid summer river becoming a winter monster of churning currents and relentless spread. In the darkness, a barge casts off from its mooring mysteriously on the flood tide and no one knows if the owner, Tonna, is on board. At the same time there's an apparent suicide leap from the window of a local hospital.

Commissario Soneri is called in to investigate. He finds himself unraveling a nightmare that involves conflicts between Communist and Fascist that date back to the atrocities of World War 2, but which still divide parts of Italy today. How can the Commissario know who is telling the truth, while avoiding the distractions of local food and wine and his barrister girlfriend, Angela, who likes high-risk sexual encounters in public places? There is a slightly comic undertow to the darkness of the main plot.

The book is beautifully written, the characters and the location vivid and real, and the dialogue pitch-perfect. I'm not sure that I completely understand the fine details of the plot yet, but the complex political nature of Italian daily life is one hundred per cent true to what I see around me.

Top quality crime fiction.

[Gică Andreica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Așa cum spunea și Napoleon, „istoria este scrisă de învingători”, însă asta nu înseamnă că cei învinși vor rămâne muți pentru eternitate. Uneori istoria ne prinde din urmă și ne arată că fiecare victorie are consecințele ei, iar fantomele trecutului pot oricând să ne bântuie prezentul. „Fluviul de ceață” ne vorbește despre o astfel de istorie, în care înfruntările politice nu sunt o chestiune de trecut, ele având repercusiuni chiar și în ultimele clipe ale vieții.

Recenzia:
https://palatulcupovesti.blogspot.com...

[stellryna]

I had to stop. Had to abandon it. It was serving me no pleasure AT ALL. I doubt I'll ever give it another chance. Or maybe I would—just when I'm gray and old and wasting time away. And even then I would still hesitate.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Je dois bien l'avouer, je suis passée totalement à côté de cette intrigue italienne qui avait de quoi me plaire... Mais l'essai ne fut pas transformé. On s'embourbe un peu trop dans l'Histoire récente et la politique (que je connais peu).

[Marianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bien aimé les 2/3 du début, ensuite j’ai trouvé qu’il y avait beaucoup de longueurs

[Roger Brunyate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strong on Atmosphere and History

I was attracted to this by its title, "I was attracted to this by its Italian title, Il fiume delle nebbie or "River of Fogs." Four years ago, I read another Italian book set on the River Po, Gianni Celati's Narratori delle pianure (translated as Voices From The Plains ), and found it immensely evocative of the flat mist-shrouded lands in Northeast Italy. I started to read this one in Italian also, but the vocabulary and dialect of the river boatmen was heavy going in a busy time. So I switched to this translation by Joseph Farrell and found it excellent. Here is a paragraph from the middle of the book, which should show both the quality of Farrell's work and the magnificent sense of atmosphere that, for me, will be the major take-away with this author, in either language:

He was in his car in front of the Italia, whose shutters had been lowered, and the piercing hoot of an owl reached him from down by the river. Owls called to the dead, he remembered being told. As he drove up the embankment, the bird appeared from among the poplar trees and its call seemed to be aimed at the lamp over the boat club, a faint light shimmering in the mists and looking like an illumination at a vigil or at the recitation of the rosary. He thought, giving his imagination rein, that the owl was chanting for all the lives sacrificed on the river, perhaps even for Tonna, who might be somewhere underwater, or on the sandbanks or in the muddy depths of some inlet.

Don't let the phrase "boat club" suggest anything at all classy. It is little more than a shack with tables, a radio, and a bar, a retreat for working rivermen. The opening chapter is marvelous, showing three old men huddled around their drinks while outside in the night the floodwaters are inexorably rising. Then an old barge, belonging to an elderly misanthrope named Anselmo Tonna, slips its moorings in the pelting rain and disappears into the night. When it runs aground the next day, it is completely empty; the police suspect fraud, or perhaps even murder.

Meanwhile, on the very same day, another elderly man meets his end, falling from a third-floor window of a hospital. Again, murder is suspected, and when the victim turns out to be Decimo Tonna, brother of the missing barge captain, Commissario Soneri treats the two cases as connected. Soneri is one of those policemen in the mould of Inspector Maigret (interesting, because I was reminded strongly of Simenon in the atmospheric opening), who prefers to sit to eat and drink local specialities (such as half-fermented wine and donkey stew), while asking apparently random questions, rather than pursuing a scientific investigation from his office. Soneri is most unlike Maigret, however, in having a fiery girlfriend, a public defender with a kink for having sex in crime scenes and other situations that carry the thrilling risk of discovery.

This case, however, has more to do with the dead and almost-dead than with the lusty and living. The secrets date back to the period in the 1940s when Communist partisans were fighting against the Fascists, with atrocities being committed on both sides. Even today, Italy carries political factionalism to extremes, and the isolated inhabitants of the misty plains of the River Po have long memories....

[Federico · Rating 2 out of 5]

Purtroppo non mi sono appassionato né ai personaggi, né al mistero che viene presentato in questo libro. La quarta di copertina contiene già le informazioni che il Commissario Soneri riuscirà ad ottenere in più di 70 pagine. Alcuni punti di svolta dell'intreccio mi sono parsi un po' forzati, mentre i temi su cui si fonda la trama risultano, a mio parere, ormai abusati e stantii, anche se l'Autore stesso utilizza il 'servire il piatto freddo' come perno del racconto. Sicuramente il punto forte sono le descrizioni dell'ambiente fluviale, ma l'eccessivo indugiare in termini nautici - alla maggior parte dei lettori, credo, sconosciuti - rende anche i passi descrittivi poco coinvolgenti.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is set in the plains of the River Po in the area of Parma during a bitter (or a normal?) winter and it is the first investigation of Commissario Soneri. The two Tonna brothers disappear in close succession: one actually goes missing, the other falls out of a window.

In a land where the wounds of the second world war are still fresh for many and the fights between fascists and partisans seem to have transcended the generations involved, it is reasonable to suppose that these grudges are open.

Commissario Soneri is not local but comes from not very far away, and he can grasp the subtle political nuances soon. I found his girlfriend’s character a bit two-dimensional as well as irritating: she seemed to just complain about his lack of attention but she is the one who doesn’t want commitment, and I found her closer to the representation of a certain male fantasy than a real woman. She doesn’t however have a great role in the book, which is incredibly atmospheric – possibly because I was reading about fog while the weather wasn’t so good here, but I really felt taken into those places.

The novel is set in modern times but the associations with the 1940s are frequent and strong. The book is as much about the modern investigation as it is about the different lives of these people in a disrupted context as was a war and its aftermath.

Like many Italian novels, this is not an all-action type of book: there is a lot said about people and history rather than gunfights (well, there are no gunfights at all actually). I read this book in English, and the technical navigational terms have hindered my reading a bit, being a non-native speaker, but my impression is that this aspect wouldn’t have been different had I read the Italian version.

I did like the book, but perhaps something atypical or unexpected, either in the plot or in the characters, would have really enriched my reading. I do, however, very much like the setting, both geographical and historical: I liked the links with historical events of that particular time, and I think Varesi’s characterisation of the two factions (fascists and communists/partisans) was spot on and extremely interesting. This is to me a fascinating time of Italian history and a brilliant time to explore in a crime novel.

[Mark Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointing. It has some of the standard elements of crime fiction; the loner detective, events from the past, tight knit community. The location is really interesting. But there are a number of problems with this. The characters, even Soneri, are too thinly drawn and don't come to life. His method of investigation seems remarkably casual. The references back to the superiors who constantly wanted to know what Soneri was up to, and were expecting him to be visible and back at his desk - we're just too thinly drawn as well as ridiculous - he is conducting a murder investigation. It is a short novel, but better writers make better use of that limited space. Given the range of things Varesi was trying to do he could have made it a longer book to properly flesh out the characters - but that would not have suited me because I don't think he is a good enough writer for me to have stuck with over a longer book.

[Igor Clark · Rating 1 out of 5]

Like Fred Vargas's Adamsberg, but about half as good. No, wait - 20% as good. Repetitive language & motifs, presumably (on a charitable interpretation) supposed to be evocative of the river and its ebbs and flows, are insufficiently fluid and just don't work. Characters are wooden and painfully obviously serve single purposes. Milestones in the story are revealed again as though tide marks in the retreating flood, which could be an OK, if simplistic, device - but it's executed so ham-fistedly that you're left wondering if he just drew a stake with plot-line notches on it and filled in the rest around it by throwing watercolours. Summary: don't bother.

[Gillian Wheeldon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perhaps it would be ok if raced through at one
sitting but a little bit every night and the odd tube journey seemed to take weeks and still only 50% through so I am abandoning it here.

[Sheila Howes · Rating 1 out of 5]

I struggled through this book. It was longer then it needed to be, and the characters weren't particularly interesting.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book. Not because it's in any way 'detective-clever', with a wholly unbelievable surprise ending, a twist in the last three pages, or a cross-dressing dwarf disguised as a vicar driving the plot. It's great because it's atmospheric, slow-paced, nuanced and well-observed....compelling and credible. This is one of those books where the journey is just as much fun as the destination.

Commisario Sonari is on a case in the fog-bound Po Valley in winter. From the opening paragraph the rain comes down and the mist rolls in, and we are in for 259 pages of pathetic fallacy, weather, weather, weather. When Sonari isn't freezing cold, he is somewhat damp or at the very least up to his ankles in hoar frost. The fog is a metaphor for the central mystery he has to solve; but of course it's also real, as anyone who has visited Italy in winter will know. Many northern Europeans imagine Italy to be a land of perpetual sunshine - the Po valley in winter is bleak.

`This is my first Commissario Sonari novel. Unlike many fictional detectives, the man I meet is not gross, alcoholic, obsessed, inadequate, or tortured by guilt; he's just a man doing his job. He's quite interesting to rub along with, all the same. Quite a few of the obligatory character quirks are instead invested in his thrill-seeking girlfriend Angela, who loves risky sex in public places; happily, this contributes to a few plot points. But believe me, it's wet.

River culture, sense of place, Italy's Fascist past and its fragile present come satisfyingly together in the story of a double murder, politics, partisans and revenge. The book is twenty years old now and is beginning to show its age with a few well-worn tropes of its era - our detective hero hates the new-fangled Internet, which threatens to do him out of a job, and the mobile phone, which threatens to disturb his lunch. And there is more than a touch of Salvo Montalbano - but what Italian detective isn't touched by him? I liked him. I'll read more.

[Socrate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Din cer cădea uşor o ploaie măruntă. Stâlpul de iluminat de lângă clădirea clubului barcagiilor abia dacă se zărea printre picăturile care loveau pământul şi dansau pe digul râului, ca un mic far pentru şlepurile sablatorilor care navigau pe întuneric orientându-se după amintiri.
— Urâtă treabă, zise Vernizzi.
— O s-o ţină aşa mult şi bine, replică Torelli fără să-l privească.
Se înfruntau de o oră într-o partidă de briscolă al cărei rezultat nu era deloc limpede.
— Cât a crescut? întrebă Vernizzi.
— Douăj’ de centimetri în trei ore, răspunse celălalt fixând cu privirea punctul de pe masă unde se aşezau cărţile jucate.
— Până poimâine apa o să acopere bancul de nisip.
— Şi torentul o să ajungă până la debarcader.
La cele patru mese din încăpere, jocului i se acorda mai puţină atenţie decât de obicei. Cu toţii erau îngrijoraţi din pricina ploii şi a apei care creştea văzând cu ochii. Din când în când se auzea geamătul unui scripete folosit de cineva care ieşise în ploaia necruţătoare să tragă bărcile pe uscat. Fundalul sonor era asigurat de clipocitul liniştit al apei care lovea malul, acelaşi zgomot pe care-l produce cineva care urinează pe un perete. Ploua de patru zile. Mai întâi năvalnic, ca în timpul unei furtuni de vară, apoi cu forţă redusă, dar continuase într-un ritm constant. Acum, din cer se scurgea un soi de ceaţă care mângâia băltoacele care se formaseră. În uşa clădirii apăru bătrânul Barigazzi, cu impermeabilul şi pălăria leoarcă. Un curent rece străbătu încăperea şi Gianna, care stătea la bar, se înfioră.

[Isabelle Zazaboum · Rating 2 out of 5]

Livre audio – Lu par Hadrien Rouchard : 6h42

J’écoute rarement autre chose que des romans imaginaires mais parfois je fais une incursion dans les polars mais celui-ci est typiquement un roman policier à lire car il est d’une lenteur qui fut parfois désespérante !

L’intrigue se déroule au bord du Pô en cru et va chercher très loin dans les jours sombres de l’histoire italienne. Le personnage principal est difficile à cerner, si ce n’est qu’il n’en fait qu’à sa tête sans que ça semble réellement lui causer des problèmes avec sa hiérarchie !

Tellement n’importe quoi que sa petite-amie, que j’ai trouvé absolument imbuvable et inutile, le rejoint dans une péniche pour coucher avec lui ! C’est le premier volume mais tout se déroule comme s’il était un énième d’une saga sans fin !

J’ai beaucoup plus apprécié les hommes du pays, beaucoup plus réalistes avec leur passé, leurs convictions, leurs haines et leur histoire !

Je n’ai pas particulièrement aimé la narration qui a eu tendance à m’endormir et sans aller aussi loin à me faire perdre le fil de l’histoire. La voix d’Hadrien Rouchard est agréable mais je ne suis pas certaine que ce genre de littérature la mette vraiment valeur !

#LeFleuvedesbrumes #NetGalleyFrance

[Allyson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first of the Commissario Soneri novels translated into English, this Noir crime is steeped in the atmospherics of place and of the past. Varesi's plot develops as slowly and swirlingly as the river Po, which is central to the plot. If anything, Varesi's central character is the river and the Po valley which is evoked in Gothic images of mist, rain, grey moodiness and darker deeds. The return of the past haunts the novel and the murders that occur and the reader is soon aware that landscape, history, memory, language, culture and food are interwoven.

For readers who prefer American Noir or American murder mysteries this book will not be pleasing. Those who prefer a more European style murder, then this novel will be enjoyed. There are infelicities in translation, but no translation is ever like the original. However, the atmosphere of the novel is more than adequately brought to the fore, as is the strange and uncertain character of Soneri.

Varesi's books were made into a television series Nebbie e Delitti starring Luca Barbareschi which caught the atmosphere of the books and the stately resolution of the crimes with great skill.

[Alex-Mot-à-Mots · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comme à mon habitude, je lis à rebours cette série des enquête de Soneri.

Cette première enquête nous emmène sur le rives du Pô en pleine crue : un batelier est porté disparu, sa péniche s’est échouée loin de son point de départ. Encore plus étrange, son frère est décédé au matin, jeté d’une fenêtre d’un hôpital.

Le commissaire Soneri se rend donc sur les berges du Pô et tente de faire parler les marins taiseux.

Pas facile, dans ces conditions, de découvrir qui a tué le marin, et pourquoi.

Encore une fois, j’ai aimé suivre Soneri loin du bruit et de la fureur et découvrir un monde particulier : celui des bateliers.

L’enquête emmènera Soneri à se pencher sur les exactions de la Guerre commises entre partisans de la République de Salo et communistes.

Comme le fleuve, le passé ressurgit parfois où on ne l’attend pas.

L’image que je retiendrai :

Celle d’Angela voulant faire l’amour partout sauf dans le lit de Soneri entre ses deux tables de nuit hideuse et sous une image de la Sainte Vierge.

https://alexmotamots.fr/le-fleuve-des...

[Mr_Toad · Rating 2 out of 5]

I much prefer Gianrico Carofiglio's work in this genre, along with Maurizio De Giovanni, Henning Mankel, Donna Leon and so on.

To be honest, I found the writing disjointed and hard to follow. I couldn't place locations or link them together. There were two brothers who died and it seemed we were being shown how they got killed. I don't know if one was a suicide or not and I do not know if the partisans, the Fascists or the Blackshirts killed the other one.

Forgive me but I know little enough about Italian history in this regard. However nothing was explained, the author expected me to have a feel for past events which I did not have. Just a few straightforward sentences would have sufficed.

I am not as exercised about the two-dimensional girlfriend as some other commentators but then, none of the characters interested me very much. Nor was I much interested in the setting, the flooding, the fog. The Commissario kept meeting random characters in pubs and restaurants but it was never clear to me if they were suspects or sources of information.

[Giovanna Barbieri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Varesi ha creato un commissario particolare: amante del buon cibo e bevande della bassa Parma, vedovo e poco propenso a risistemarsi con Angela (un'avvocatessa), molto determinato con le sue intuizioni, poco propenso ad accettare le supposizioni del Questore e del Magistrato, che considera errate.
La vicenda si svolge nei pressi del Po, tra la nebbia e le piene di novembre, quando due fratelli anziani sono assassinati (il primo è fatto passare per suicidio e il secondo fratello sparisce nel Po in piena) dapprima si dà la colpa alla malavita albanese (uno dei due trasporta clandestini sulla sua chiatta) poi nasce l'ipotesi del commissario che i delitti siano collegati e che il movente sia un altro: la vedetta.
Un risentimento covato a lungo tra la politica della II guerra e la vendetta personale.
Ottima è la ricostruzione e descrizione dei luoghi, affogati nella nebbia e nelle piene, dove il tempo non trascorre mai.

[Ravi Singh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not one for detective fiction but I did read this as I bought it from a charity shop. Gruesome in places but a truthful storytelling experience of a detective putting pieces together and subversive characters trying to remain out of the reach of the law, plenty to justify their cold and cruel actions. The history of Italian fascism and its battles with communism after the world wars are all too true and shown there in the backdrop of a very haunting, chilling and realistic Italy. Italy is all too often romanticised for the tourist, but this dark and gritty Italy is also one to read about, especially in such macabre circumstances!

[David C Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Atmospheric Italian police story set along the Po, the river is as much of a character as the people. Two old brothers are murdered and the crime stretches back to the civil war during the War. The key is in an old deserted village that the river has flooded. One of those police novels, a bit like the Maigrets, in which intuition is as important as material clues. The demanding girlfriend of the commissario is a bit much.

[lire.des_livres · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un super polar, dans une Italie actuelle et pourtant vieille.

On rencontre le commissaire Soneri, qui mène l’enquête sur un meurtre et sur une disparition étrange dans une atmosphère brumeuse, angoissante.

Au fil des pages, le brouillard se dissipe pour laisser place au passé, à un passé noir comme le ciel d’orage, brouillé comme l’eau du Pô.

Cependant, il ne faut pas s’attendre à une enquête policière hyper addictive.