5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A timely mystery that captures the essence of Cleveland., April 13, 1999
Les Roberts books about the adventures of PI Milan Jocovich are like a window to an old familiar place for me. I was raised in Shaker Heights, part Milan's city (Cleveland). I haven't been back in twenty years and I am pleased to still be able to reconize almost all his localities. I especially enjoyed the chase scene that took him around Cain Park to Taylor Rd., where I used to sled ride. His trips to restaurants on Kelly Hill, Little Italy, were so familiar. I wonder if a beer joint named "The Library", is still there?
The Mystery of who killed the Serbian immigrant is all too timely. Age old hatreds don't die, even in a free country.
I really enjoyed this book as well as all of Mr. Robert's Milan Mysteries.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Should have had a real Slovenian proof read his book, September 29, 2010
As a Slovenian immigrant to Cleveland and a mystery novel fan, I have mostly enjoyed Les Roberts' series set in Cleveland. However, in this book particularly, I have been annoyed by the errors in the depiction of a Slovenian character and of the background of the Yugoslav immigrants.
For starters, Milan's insistence that his name is not pronounced Meelan. That is exactly how it is pronounced in Slovenian. The author claims that Serbs and Slovenes share a language though they use a different alphabet. It is true about the alphabet, but not true about the languages. Slovene is a language distinct from Serbian. He says that Serbia, Slovenia and Croatia were all separate countries not too long ago. Not true. Slovenes and Croatians were part of Austria Hungary until the end of WWI, after which they were combined into the kingdom of Yugoslavia.
There are other inconsistencies.The old Serb who is killed in this novel is said to have been born in Zagreb, which is the capital of Croatia, not Serbia. No explanation is given for this circumstance, even though a big point is made about the bad relations between Serbs and Croatians. At some point in the novel it is stated that Serbs were fighting Armenians over Kosovo, when there has been plenty of reporting about the conflicts between Serbs and Albanians over this issue. It is also stated that Chetniks were fighting the Germans with Tito's partisans. On the contrary, they began as royalist fighters defending Serbia but ended up joining the Germans in the fight against the partisans.
I appreciate that the book is a work of fiction, but I feel that the factual background should be authentic. The history of that part of the world and maybe of most of Europe is surely enough of a mystery for Americans; a book like this should clarify rather than confuse them further.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Connection times two or three, July 19, 2003
I really enjoyed the Cleveland Connection. Roberts knows the city, the area, and the people well. Born and raised in NE Ohio, I really appreciated his descriptions and how true to life the characters are. My heritage is close to that of Milan and I understood the thinking of those from the old country and how they adapted to their new home. As another reviewer stated - old hates and secrets take a long time to heal - often generations.
The book is fast paced and the mystery carefully plotted. I think most mystery fans would enjoy this one - from NE Ohio or not.
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