Customer Reviews

Cabal

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Cabal" was the last of the Aurelio Zen mysteries that I had not read. Now that I have, I can state the body of work taken as a whole is great. As in any group of books some are stronger than others, but none will disappoint. About the only complaint I have is that some of the individual works could have been of greater length. Some were perfectly finished in their relatively brief form, but some like "Cabal", could have benefited from having more time to tell their story.

Mr. Dibdin is a great writer, and I have read all but one of his non "Aurelio" books, and they too are worthwhile. I have reviewed them all, so I will minimize general comments here. I read the books out of sequence, and while there were some references to previous books, there was nothing so fundamental that it detracted from whatever book I was reading. I actually started with "Blood Rain" which is the newest of Mr. Dibdin's works.

The series takes place all over Italy, and "Cabal" takes place primarily in Rome with the central event, taking place at The Vatican. In addition to the intrigue that often surrounds stories of this small Country, Mr. Dibdin adds the Knights Of Malta, The Cabal, and centuries old Families of Italy to this mystery. The contemporary world of Italian Fashion, Aurelio girlfriend's moonlighting, and Aurelio's temptations to a darker side when he feels he is loosing his girl, all make for fun reading, although I believe with more time the book could have developed more completely. There was a great deal happening in this book, and it feels as though it was compressed into its final size.

Mr. Dibdin is a great writer, and this series is without qualification reading time well spent. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.

I've read a few of Dibdin's Aurelio Zen works and liked this one the least -- I won't give the plot away, but it begins one with one very vivid and interesting setting and then, well, wanders aimlessly until it ends quite a way from where it started, and I do not mean in a quirky, surprising way but in an annoying, ill-crafted way. One character also stands out like a peacock on a telephone line, and throughout the book you try to ignore him (he's that flashy/boring) and then at the end--poof, he's important! If you like to read about Rome, though, you've got some decent descriptions and a garlic-scented atmosphere for sure.

As poor 50-something Aurelio juggles keeping his life with his new girlfriend, Tania, a secret from his now distressingly mobile mother with the backbiting intrigues that occur on a daily basis at the Criminalpol, he is summoned to the Vatican to assist with the investigation of the murder of a Prince Ludovico Ruspanti, a Knight of Malta, who quite literally tumbled to his death from the basilica's dome. With the tenacity of a pit bull, Zen slowly but surely cuts though the red tape dealings between the separate bureaucracies of the Vatican and Italy, and dodges encounters with the carbaniari, as he lies his way through the riot of events that follow his compliance with the Vatican to allow the Prince's death to be recorded as a suicide. When he unearths the existence of the "Cabal", a secret organization within the Knights of Malta, the snowball of information Zen has gathered begins an enjoyably fast and by no means boring descent into the world of computer hackers, would-be informants encountered during a high-speed train ride and a strange brother and sister duo ensconced in an old and decaying family house in fashionable Milan.

As in the first two Zen novels, Aurelio's gritty acceptance of his world's self-absorbed machinations entitles him to use some less than admirable avenues of manipulation to get to the truth and at the same time make life more comfortable for Zen. The most delightful portions of this installment explores the undercurrent of vulnerabity Zen experiences when he uncovers secret organizations within his own existence--- his mother's world no longer revolves around him, and Tania, busily promoting a mail-order gourmet food business, may be two-timing him. I look forward to Zen's further 'adventures' with his women and compliated life in the Eternal City.

Third in the Aurelio Zen series.

The first three books in Michael Dibdin's Aurelio Zen series read very much like a trilogy. The cast of regular characters develope throughout, and previous cases are referred to in subsequent books.

I therefore recommend that you read the series in order.

This book is as well-crafted a mystery as its predecessors. This time Zen is working in the neighbourhood of his long term residence (Rome), but there is much to explore in that city, along with Zen. I was particularly engaged by the 'chase' (on foot) sequence through the Forum.

Dibdin's Italy is brilliantly realized -- not just the usual glamor-and-girls depiction of Italy from a million movies and schlock thrillers, but the realities of quotidien middle-class life, especially in the bloated public sector. Ministries operate with half their staff absent and the other half running import-export businesses from their desks on the side. Bribery, apathy, incompetence and venality are rife. Through it all trudges Aurelio Zen, trying to stitch together the pieces of a mystery that begins with a man falling to oblivion onto the centre of Catholicism's universe, and ends with another man doing the same onto Rome's material and commercial center.

Perhaps these, and other, pieces of symbolism are a little heavy; perhaps not. Some of the characters, for sure, seem larger-than-life to the point of cliché: Zen's Rich Friend Who Can Do Anything, for example; the narcissistic "Falco" and the obligatory teenage hacker who exists as a grotesque parody of the archetype. But along the way there's a compelling, fascinating mystery plot that entertains as long as it exists, and, when all the interlinked, implausible conspiracies reach their almost banal, yet entirely satisfying, climax.

One dark night in November, Prince Ludovico Ruspanti falls a hundred and fifty feet to his death in St Peter's basilica in Rome. But there are a number of questions to be answered: what was he doing in the Vatican? Why was he being followed? Did he fall or was he pushed? The papal authorities contact the Criminalpol and so Inspector Aurelio Zen is put on the case.

As Zen investigated deeper into the mystery of Ruspanti's death, he finds witness after witness strangely silenced by death. Zen soon discovers that he will never crack the case until he has penetrated the most secret of all secret societies - the Cabal.

The combination between an intriguing twistiness of the mystery story and sharply angled perspectives on contemporary Italy is simply superb.

Michael Tudor Barnes's performance in this audio book is quite stunning!

Dibdin's Cabal is different from and better than the recent PBS video of the novel. The TV series makes a number of changes, including making Aurelio Zen younger. The figure in the book is pretty jaded from his experiences of Italian corruption, but he pursues the truth when it is possible. In spite of his added years, he is also still sexy and sexually active. In the video, the episode begins with a man falling from a bridge (pushed or not is the question). In the book he falls from the gallery of the dome in St. Peters. I presume it was not possible to do the shoot in the Vatican! Anyway I recommend the book before the video, preferably, but it is enough different that you should read it even if you have seen the video. I have been reading through the Zen books in order, and this is the best of the first three. They do gain from reading in chronological order, but they can also stand alone. This may be the best introduction to the series, even though it's the third novel.

Michael Dibdin's book, "Cabal', is a real page turner. Terrific descriptions of the inside of St. Peter's basilica in Rome as well as many other image invoking descriptions of other locales in and around Rome. The plot has enough characters and twists and turns to make you turn back occasionally to ensure you are keeping up with things accurately. The ending will come as a surprise and not what you were expecting as the story unfolded. In sum, a truly masterful job of story telling. As usual for the series, Aurelio Zen is a bit of a screw up. All this is lost in the BBC production; if you haven't read the book it is an o.k. police investigation, nothing more and probably a whole lot less when compared to TV dramatisations of Morse and Dagleish, for example. As far as I'm concerned the BBC has lost all of it's old skill and magic in transferring good drama to the screen. They need to stop messing around with and changing well written novels and focus on condensing the authors' work so that it fits into a reasonable time slot without destroying the books' contents.

"Cabal" is a good story--mostly unbelievable, but still a good story. The book starts with Zen unluckily landing in a situation that involves intrigue and coverup at the Vatican. Almost immediately there are suggestions of a secret cabal, part of the Knights of Malta, playing a nefarious role. Once again Zen is between a rock and a hard place as he must not step on the wrong toes as he investigates a death in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Zen finds plenty of action in this book, including clandestine visits to the Vatican, breaking and entering to find clues, a wild train ride through a tunnel in the Apennines, trying to search the Ministry of the Interior restricted database, and more.

The plot involving the Vatican doesn't seem realistic to me, but when Zen travels to Milan to hand off the case to the authorities there, and discovers a new twist, the plot becomes unbelievable. But it makes for a good story. The ironic conclusion, while unbelievable, again is a good touch by Dibdin.

Zen does not acquit himself well morally in this book, and that is distressing to a reader like me who wants my protagonists to be pretty honorable. In "Cabal" Dibdin shows that Zen is no different than most of the Italians around him who want to look out for self interest over honor and duty (not sure this is a very fair characterization of Italians by Dibdin). Corruption is one thing, but early in the book when Zen needs a fall guy for a murder, he seems willing to stick it to an innocent man. This bothered me. My general dislike of corruption also makes me feel annoyed by Zen's girlfriend's side business run from the Criminalpol.

Dibdin kept me interested again with this book. He peppers it with little ironies. He builds Zen's character in new ways. He teaches the reader about the Curia and St. Peter's. His writing style is so readable. I find I can suspend my disbelief with pleasure reading his books.

In the crowded space of super sleuths solving heinous crimes, its quite a feat to build up recall and Aurelio Zen stands out tall among peers. Zen though rooted in Italy could be transplanted anywhere for the pragmatism of the character. This book is one of the later one in the series of Aurelio Zen's career.

The book itself has a great plot. The death of a prince in the Vatican, leaves the superstructure shaken up and a series of murders leaving a bloody trail of witnesses. The prince is attributed membership of the shadoy group called the Cabal which boasts of key connections and information vital to the Catholic church.Zen is the choice of the Vatican authorities more from a politically expedient perspective rather than a intrinsic belief in his capabilities. Zen largely follows procedures of detection which would be frowned on by authorities, but ends up delivering the goods. Interlaced into the complex tale of detection is Zen's own romance and the politics of the office space which could lead to the death of his reputation. The plot meanders giving ample pace for characterization and the twists come in rapid succession when you least expect them. Though dated in terms of the means used, this is by far a great series, well worth the read.