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Title: Medusa : An Aurelio Zen Mystery by Michael Dibdin ISBN: 0-375-42269-2 Publisher: Pantheon Books Pub. Date: 17 February, 2004 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (1 review)
Rating: 4
Summary: Molto Bene!
Comment: If the action in "And then You Die" could be deemed Zen's recuperation period after the devastating events of Sicily, "Medusa" demonstrates a Zen well again, and indeed up to his old unscrupulous tricks, but still feeling the pressures of his ordeal.
Dibdin concentrates more on his secondary cast in this police procedural involving the discovery by a group of Austrian spelunkers of the body of a soldier thought to have been killed 30 years earlier in a freak airplane accident. Dibdin excels in depicting the various Italian agencies scrambling to cover-up an affair they don't quite understand, but fully recognize as having the potential to disclose a little too much of their own corruptness. In addition Dibdin's psychological portrayals of the individual members of Medusa, the elite military force to which the dead man once belonged, smack with realism; I especially enjoyed lonely Gabriele who wants nothing more than to live in the world of his antiquarian bookstore---he reminded me of the "rat man" in "A Long Finish". In addition, Naldino, the socialistic restaurant owner gives new meaning to the term "confused anger" and Claudia is just as snakey as an aging femme fatale as the Gorgon of the title.
Intermingled within these portraits of the past, Medusa gives us glimpses of Zen harriedly and conscientiously boarding trains all over the north of Italy from Florence to Campione d'Italie near Switzerland. Obviously, he has not lost his doggedness or his world-weariness---he works through the quagmire of politicism as only an Italian can---he solves the case employing the most unorthodox methods while pursuing leads, chain-smoking and drinking enough coffee and grappa to fuel an entire Starbucks and receiving an unexpected "atta-boy" from his superior in the end. Something tells me that in a future installment, Gemma, the new lady in Zen's life, just may iron out some of his cynicism and infuse him with some enthusiasm that could, while letting his guard down, get him into some hilarious form of trouble. A pity she only has a cameo role in this one.
Nevertheless, it is so good to see Zen on the prowl again in a new well-paced story set against the backdrop of exquisite Italian scenery still somehow not tainted by the knowledge of what goes on behind the Italian government machine. I would love to see Zen on the silver screen--I'd even raise a glass of grappa to that!
Recommended to all Zen lovers. As with the other books in this series, this book is better read in the order in which it was written to get the most out of the on-going story line and characterizations of Zen and his friends.
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Title: The Voice of the Violin: An Inspector Montalbano Mystery by Andrea Camilleri, Stephen Sartarelli ISBN: 0670031437 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: 06 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title: The Snack Thief by Andrea Camilleri, Stephen Sartarelli ISBN: 0142003492 Publisher: Penguin USA (Mm) Pub. Date: 28 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Uniform Justice: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery by Donna Leon ISBN: 0871139030 Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press Pub. Date: September, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: A Noble Radiance by Donna Leon ISBN: 0142003190 Publisher: Penguin USA (Mm) Pub. Date: 26 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: A Question of Blood: An Inspector Rebus Novel by Ian Rankin ISBN: 0316095648 Publisher: Little Brown & Company Pub. Date: February, 2004 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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