This book features Dibdin’s detective, Aurelio Zen, who hails originally from Venice though he now works from Rome. His boss asks him to look over a number of files and select one for investigation. The one he chooses turns out to be more complicated than expected. A body is discovered underground by cavers, but it proves to be the remains of an army officer who, according to the military, had died in a plane crash. Since this cannot have been true, something strange is going on. The security police then take possession of the remains and arrange rapid cremation without consulting the family. The more Zen looks into it the more suspicious it gets and he soon finds himself competing against military intelligence, who want the whole affair forgotten as quickly as possible - in part by murdering the few people who knew what had really happened. They also bug the apartment where Zen lives with his partner, which he uses to good effect by feeding them mis-information. Those involved at the time believed they were working in the interests of national security, but in fact they were settling a score for their commanding officer, who used them quite unscrupulously. The plot is ingenious and well constructed. We follow Zen as he gradually pieces things together, and there is a considerable amount of social commentary and political intrigue along the way. Dibin seems to have an excellent grasp of Italy and all things Italian.The prose style verges on the literary and, for the most part, the book is a pleasure to read. There are occasional, though very few, instances where the author clearly uses unintended repetition, which jars on the ear. For example, ‘like the polite young man he was’ occurs on consecutive pages (122 and 123, Faber paperback). His editor should have picked this up.Despite the events occurring in it, this book is a quiet read. There is nothing sensational about it and the reader looking for blood on every page will be disappointed. I found it a welcome relief.
This was a real treat and somewhat of a relief because I'd tried reading the fourth installment in the Aurelio Zen series, Dead Lagoon, and was worried that I'd already read all the good books. Not to worry: this is a great entry in the series, exactly what I want out of a Zen book.The mystery is intriguing -- a body is found in a disused military tunnel and is believed to have been there for about 30 years. Is it an accident? One may think so, but the disappearance of the body from the morgue, at the hands of government officials no less, makes Zen suspect otherwise. The involvement of a top-secret military organization also ups the stakes.Zen as a character is amusing as usual, especially when he is struggling with technology and cars (to borrow a description of George Smiley from Smiley's People, he "lives on terms of mutual hatred with the combustion engine"). Zen is asked if his love interest is "on-line". "On what line?" Zen asks, causing me to almost roar with laughter on the bus. Later on Zen attempts to drive through morning rush hour, incurring the wrath of bumper-to-bumper commuters who know exactly where they're going and have no patience with the "bumbling amateur" who does not know the system. Little details like that are what make the character for me. He's also very resourceful in solving the crime, as he has to be in this case because his enquiries are strictly off the record.I also like how Dibdin sprinkles in Italian dialogue, just enough to remind us that we're in Italy, and provides enough of an explanation to give the non-native speaker an idea of how that statement would be received. For example, at one point Zen says "I won't do anything to you," and the Italian sentence uses an emphatic personal pronoun: "*I* won't do anything to you," with the implication being, "…but someone else might." Very interesting for language buffs.Overall this book is worth a read for Zen fans.
Do You like book Medusa (2015)?
Zen is the fish supposedly out of water again, but as usual, his wits serve him well in a story far removed from Rome and his previous cases. This one is darker, more disturbing somehow. Conspiracies, a disappearing body and deadly military history make for dangerous challenges. Will our hero solve the case? C'mon, what do you think? Another meaty, enjoyable episode with our favorite unwillingly maverick detective with the impeccable sense of sprezzatura. This is one book I wish had been turned into a BBC script before The Beeb dropped the TV miniseries, more's the pity; Rufus Sewell would have really been able to dig his teeth into this one. Oh, well ...
—M.R.
Zen has extricated himself from his previous difficulties and seems to be happily settled with the lady he met during his previous case. Here he goes on the trail of a possible murder in the past, seemingly a straightforward and not particularly significant case until he finds his routine enquiries thwarted at an official level of some sort (military intelligence and the different branches of the Italian police seemingly don't necessarily cooperate with each other). There is a race against time with the apparently malevolent secret service closing in on the same quarry. This story takes him to the Alto-Adige, which is an interesting variation. Some sort of justice is done in the end, but Zen as always doesn't exactly play by the usual rules.
—Helen
Read this because I liked the PBS version so much and found myself slightly disappointed. The story was definitely compelling, and like others I appreciated Dibin's talent for making you feel like you're in Italy & facing a maze of corruption. The detractor for me was that I found the quality of the writing mediocre. It got better as he went along and if this is really the first Aurelio Zen novel, I'll grant that it may simply have taken a while for Dibdin to hit his stride. I would read another one if I ever get the time.
—Anita Edwards
