Customer Reviews

A Florentine Death (Michele Ferrara)

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

 

 

I picked up this book after reading his second in the series, Death in Tuscany.
It is obvious that M. Ferrara learned a lot between writing the first and second book. A Florentine Death is a bit weak on plot and character development, but it is very accurate as to siting and letting the reader in on the Italian mentality of how things work. This definitely is not on the same level as Donna Leone, but still enjoyable as light reading.
I have ordered his third book from Amazon UK (as they don't seem to carry it in the US) and his 4th is scheduled to come out soon. I think this is an enjoyable series to read especially if you cannot afford the price of an airline ticket to go back to Italy any time soon.

I only picked this one up because The Times of London is quoted on the front cover as calling this author "THE LEADING ITALIAN CRIME WRITER" -- And I assumed I would be treated to something along the lines of Andrea Camilleri, Donna Leon, Ian Pears, Dibdin, Nabb. This was such a disappointment. Weak plotting, weak characterization, weak atmosphere. The author should be able to put together a believable procedural inasmuch as he was/is a senior officer in the Italian police force, but the things that the police do in this story just don't ring true. I'm also a little skeptical about the translation; unless there are twenty species of wolves in Italy someone made a mistake. & speaking of wolves: they generally don't attack people that are firing guns at them...

I don't want to spoil the plot for anyone so I'll vaguely say that political incorrectness is rampant here, coincidences / deus ex machina occur, and there's not even good food or nice scenery.

I've read three of Guittari's books, and as in the others, he has a twist in the book that you won't see coming (at least I didn't!). "The Death of a Mafia Don" was a little better than this one, but I definitely give him points for having a great imagination. This one also features a lot of police procedure, but wasn't as bogged down by it as some of his other books.

I picked up the book during my vacation and I ended up reading it through the night. The plot is complex, but easy to follow. Some of the steamy narrative might upset some, but if you like Ken Follett this is in comparison quite mild. For those fascinated by a resent trial in Perugia involving an American woman, the book gives excellent insights into the inner workings Italian justice system. For the price (soft cover) is definitely worth the money.

Michele Guittara has done it again. Another super read, with many surprises and twists. Highly recommend this to all lovers of mystery books

The attempt to make a Dan Brown novel succeed with second rate concept and writing style is to make a commonly second rate novel become worse. That is the problem here.

Full of chase scenes, chapters sending with requests to read more, concepts of bad things happening in the Vatican, religious sects within the archdiocese which are uncommonly unchristian, all amid the backdrop of Tuscany (as opposed to Brown`s Rome), we discover that we should not judge this book by its cover - especially the part where it states the author is the greatest Italian mystery writer,

In fact, in the end we learn the author is a former cop who has delivered some of his morning coffee war stories with colleagues and blended them into this work of fiction obviously inspired by The Da Vinci Code.

It is a fun read, but not good literature. It is something to pass time by, but not to engage in conversation about. It is a novel of shallow characters with complicated backdrops - each of which is incomplete to the other.

If you need to spend time on the beach, or vacation without getting too deeply into a novel, this is what could meet that need. Otherwise, avoid it.