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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A melding of classic and contemporary styles, August 13, 2004
It was but a few short months ago that David Hewson was reintroduced to American readers with A SEASON FOR THE DEAD, the first of a projected series of novels featuring Italian State Police detective Nic Costa. The second novel in the series, THE VILLA OF MYSTERIES, has already seen European publication and is scheduled for American release next year. Hewson has a bit of a backlist that has not seen publication here. The issuance of LUCIFER'S SHADOW only a few months after A SEASON FOR THE DEAD is a welcome and important step toward remedying that literary shortfall, while constituting a blessing for readers who, with one novel, had become enthralled with Hewson's intricate plotting, and intelligent and literary narration.
LUCIFER'S SHADOW consists of two stories, both of which are set in Venice but separated in time by almost three centuries. The events of the past dovetail into those of the present, with parallels that surprise, astound, shock and delight. A printer's apprentice in 18th-century Venice is drawn into a web of duplicity, jealousy and murder that centers on a brilliant orchestral work created by an anonymous composer, who is in fact a Jewess. Her nationality and gender compel her to keep her background and identity a secret, but also leave her vulnerable to blackmail.
In present-day Venice, meanwhile, an English student named Daniel Forster has accepted a summer job that ostensibly involves cataloguing a private collector's library. Forster soon discovers, however, that his job and his employer are not what they initially seemed to be. Forster is in fact to be the go-between for his employer with a petty thief who has acquired an antique violin, a prize that is also sought by the shadowy Hugo Massiter, a wealthy and ruthless figure whose life is shrouded in fear and rumor. Forster's retrieval of the violin serves as the catalyst for a star-crossed romance with Laura, the household's servant, whose haunting beauty slowly and inexorably brings Forster under her hesitant sway. The acquisition of the violin, and the discovery of an abandoned musical manuscript, also provides the catalyst for a succession of violent acts that lead all concerned toward certain destruction.
The two tales alternate chapters, for the most part, with Hewson keeping things moving at a deceptively sedate pace. He is no particular hurry to reach either denouement, yet everything is set forth with purpose. Hewson's research for this book is magnificent, as it was for A SEASON FOR THE DEAD. The reader is transported across space and time in this work, which demonstrates that the elements, good and bad, that make up the human condition remain constant, even with the tolling of the centuries. The parallels between both of the stories in LUCIFER'S SHADOW is presented subtlely, and when they converge for a brief moment, it is all the more startling for the presentation.
Delacorte Press has somewhat defied conventional wisdom by publishing two works by a new (to these shores) author within a few months of each other. This was no doubt done with the knowledge that anyone who had read A SEASON FOR THE DEAD would welcome more Hewson, and welcome it immediately. For myself, it would be fine if every month brought the arrival of a new Hewson novel. There is no one who is doing this type of work --- work that by turns has echoes of Christie, Dickens, O. Henry and even Poe on each page, and yet is unshakably contemporary and unmistakably Hewson. LUCIFER'S SHADOW, set in different time periods, is itself a timeless work, a classic. Highest possible recommendation.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Donna Leon, meet Daphne Du Maurier, September 4, 2004
Lucifer's Shadow is a very well-written thriller. Hewson evokes Venice masterfully, and shows great skill in interweaving his parallel plots and parallel characters.
I have a couple of reservations about the book, which is why I'm giving it four stars instead of five. The explanation of what was behind everything that happened in the present-day story was a bit implausible: the more I think about it, the less it seems to hang together. Also, some of the violent acts that take place in the book are described in too much gruesome detail. A good writer (and Hewson is one) should have been able to establish that his villain is a despicable sadist without having to resort to such lurid descriptions of his sadistic acts.
However, those reservations marred my enjoyment of the book only slightly. If you're looking for a cross between Donna Leon's Inspector Brunetti mysteries and Daphne Du Maurier's Don't Look Now (there's a nice, fleeting reference to the movie version of Don't Look Now, as if Hewson were tipping his hat to a source of inspiration), then Lucifer's Shadow is the book for you.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
tamtalising, mesmerising, and completely absorbing, August 11, 2004
Moving swiftly between tow subplots that are set three centuries apart (one subplot is set in 1700s Venice, while the other is in modern day Venice), and both focusing on the music world of both eras, David Hewson weaves another brilliantly gripping and mesmerizing tale of intrigue, deception and murder.
A young Oxford academic, Daniel Foster is thrilled to be in Venice, esp since he's being paid a small stipend by Signor Scacchi to catalogue his library. Scacchi desperately hopes that Daniel will find some lost treasure that will replenish the ailing old man's much depleted coffers. What Daniel finds is a lost masterpiece for violin and orchestra. Excited, Scacchi comes up with a plan to fully exploit this find, a plan that will put Daniel firmly in the center of a maelstrom of deception, intrigue and murder, and that will bring him to the notice of the sinister and powerful antiques dealer, Hugh Massiter...
Cut to 1733, where another young man, Lorenzo Scacchi, has come to Venice (upon the death of his parents) in order to work for his uncle, a well respected printer. It is the era of Canaletto and Vivaldi, and through his uncle, young Lorenzo finds himself rubbing elbows with the artists, the eccentric rich, and the beautiful and talented Rebecca. A musical prodigy, Rebecca (who is a Jew) is willing to break Venetian law that forbids her to play with Vivaldi (in a church) and after curfew, and the wholly smitten Lorenzo finds himself completely willing to help her escape all the social constraints placed on her in spite of the cost to the both of them (and their families) if they are found out! As both subplots of "Lucifer's Shadow" progress, it soon becomes evident both Daniel and Lorenzo are navigating the same path between treachery and honour; and as the intrigue and deception deepens ,it also becomes readily evident that the stakes are not so much survival as the price of one's soul...
"Lucifer's Shadow" made for a truly absorbing read. The mysteries are many (from an old murder case of a young violinist, to the Scacchis and their connection to the violin piece that Daniel finds, to the sinister Hugh Massiter and his connection with everything), so that any lover of mystery and intrigue novels will be happily absorbed throughout. The pacing was swift and the descriptions of Venice (both in the 1700s & modern day) were lyrical and vivid. As for the manner in which the authour brought both subplots together, that was brilliantly done and rather clever. All in all, "Lucifer's Shadow" was a haunting and mesmerising novel, suspenseful and completely compelling.
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