Most Helpful Customer Reviews
27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great thriller. Great setting. Great characters., April 3, 2003
This review is from: The Blind Man of Seville (Hardcover)
This, the new novel by the award-winning author of A Small Death in Lisbon, appears to have much going for it. The first draw is its rather curious title, the second is its exotic setting, Seville, Spain. Plus, the plot itself sounds rather fascinating... Thursday 12th of April, and a leading restaurateur is found slain in his home. Tied to a chair in front his TV, he has been forced to view horrifically unendurable images. The horrors of these scenes is evidenced by the self-inflicted wounds caused by Raul Jimenez's desperate struggle not to watch them. On top of that, his eyelids have been removed. The normally dispassionate detective Javier Falcon is shocked deeply, and becomes inexplicably frightened by this killer who seems to have know, intimately, every single detail of his victim's life. Never in his career has he confronted a scene so barbaric. But, for Javier Falcon, the worst is yet to come. Because, in investigating the victim's complex past, he discovers that it is inextricably connected with that of his own father, world-famous artist Francisco Falcon. The case eventually becomes not just a hunt for a killer clearly prepared to strike again, but a voyage of discovery for Falcon as he, through Francisco's journals, learns much about his father's past and the dark secrets it hides... This story, told through the dual narratives of fascinating diary extracts and standard third-person narration, is told expertly. Even though the first hundred pages or so grow slightly dull at times, and it takes a while to settle all the numerous characters in your mind, the pace soon picks up as we learn that the case has as much to do with the past as it does the present. The setting is described wonderfully, and the city of Seville is really brought to life, shimmering with vitality. I might even recommend this book for the setting alone. The lead character, Javier Falcon, is unendingly fascinating and gloriously chilly. The reader cannot help but care and get a little worried as his mental health gently seems to decline as he desperately tries to hold everything together in the face of affecting revelations concerning his present and past. When those revelations finally fully come to light near the finish, it is with a great sense of shock on the reader's part. Indeed, the final hundred pages are absolutely wonderful, when everything falls into place and the reader realises the scale of what is being revealed. This book is a great thriller for the most part, and I'd recommend it quite highly. The writing quality is very good, but the prose itself doesn't exactly sing. Instead, it has a rather detached coolness that fits surprisingly well. Part tense thriller, part examination of the effects of the past on the present, and part novel of ideas and of the natural of true art, I'd give this one a big thumbs up on almost all fronts!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
(4.5) The nature of pure evil, January 5, 2005
It is Semana Santa in Seville and everything is in a state of excitement, anticipating a full week of Easter processions, crowds of celebrants lining the streets in preparation. In the middle of the cheerful chaos, Inspector Jefe Falcon is chosen to investigate a gruesome murder case with implications of dark secrets and a long-buried history of brutality.
Raul Jimenez surrounded himself with celebrity and the attendant bourgeoisie who made his life run smoothly. With a penchant for depravity, there was a discrepancy between his public and private lives, leading to speculation about the grotesque manner of the killing. As the case unfolds, something equally dark surfaces in Falcon's subconscious, a reawakening of memories tied to his own father, a famous artist of brutal intensity, Francisco Falcon. Living alone in his father's huge mansion, memory lurks in every corner; separated from his wife, Falcon is left confused and vulnerable.
The Inspector seizes upon the idea that the murder is rooted somewhere in Jimenez' past in Tangier in the 1930's and '40's. Falcon, as is his way, leaves no detail to chance, not Raul's younger wife, his son from a prior marriage, nor previous nefarious business associates. Clearly a man of uninhibited tastes, Jimenez had an equally murky history in Tangier, long before attaining the social status of Seville, his peasant beginnings obscured by the sophistication of wealth and power.
Falcon falls deeper into the mystery of his father's past, one that runs concurrent with that of Jimenez, confusing the Inspector's ability to separate truth from fiction. The artist's diaries rival Falcon's attention to his work on the case, as the Inspector becomes preoccupied with the history of the man who looms large in death as well as life. Beset with nightmares and unfathomable fears, Falcon encounters emotions he is ill prepared to comprehend.
More than a clever storyline, the author reaches behind the complex emotions of shocking criminal acts, with complementary plot lines that propel The Blind Man of Seville, gradually revealing the identity of the man who carefully executes the torture of his victims and Inspector Javier Falcon's internal struggle with his personal life, exacerbated by reading his famous father's journal entries. Ultimately, the true nature of the artist is revealed, exposed by his own words, turning Falcon's interpretation of reality upside-down and intimating the killer's identity.
Wilson's style of writing tunnels into the imagination, planting images, possibilities, and perverse thoughts that lodge in the mind. All in due time. The reader is complicit in the plot, a voyeur perched on Falcon's shoulder, privy to his musings and sharing his fears. This author has drawn me deeply into the subconscious texture of the plot, a willing victim. I read this novel compulsively, found it impossible to resist. Luan Gaines/ 2005.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
NONE SO BLIND..., April 16, 2003
This review is from: The Blind Man of Seville (Hardcover)
THE BLIND MAN OF SEVILLE is a tour de force. Robert Wilson melds police procedural with psychological thriller as he leads the reader through the social, geographic, and historic topography of Seville and Tangier. Along the way Wilson offers insights into the vagaries of memory, the discomforts of truth, and the origins of loneliness. Seville's chief homicide detective Javier Falcon, son of a famous painter, struggles to identify a killer who mutilates his victims while showing them unendurable images from their past. At the same time Falcon is wrestling with ghosts of his own past: his divorce and the contents of his dead father's studio which he's kept locked away for nearly two years. What he learns in these simultaneous investigations brings Falcon to verge of collapse. This may not be a book for readers who want their mysteries to be simple mind candy. It is dark, violent, and frightening. However, if you admire the dark stories of Ruth Rendel and Nicolas Freeling, you should read THE BLIND MAN OF SEVILLE.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192250339_.gif){kind=small}
