Customer Reviews

Quietly in Their Sleep

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I read the British edition of this book which appeared in 1997 as "The Death of Faith". As always the main characters (the city included) are well drawn; half the fun comes from the native view of a tourist city. The main characters are are humanely and, with the exception of the omniscient Signorina Elettra, believably drawn; I was glad to regain their acquaintance and felt this book adds some useful depth of character. The villains are nicely bad, though I felt that the introduction of 'Opus Dei as Bogeyman' was a trifle formulaic: since everyone already hates and noone really knows anything about Opus Dei, any attack assumes some of the charachter of a 'cheap shot': who's going to argue?. My personal feeling is that 'giving the devil a human face' would have enhanced rather than diminished appreciation of the basic evil of the crime, as well as fitting more comfortably in a series where even the loathsome Patta is portrayed with a degree of sympathy. This said, the plot is fairly ingenious, tightly drawn and kept me guessing. At its conclusion matters are only partially resolved but this is a feature of all Donna Leon's books that I personally like very much: none of the main characters, Italian to the core, really expect anything basic to change; Brunetti's search for justice, as always, takes place against the unspoken question "Why bother?". Again, as always, the answer, if any, seems to lie in the 'little' human victories of Suorimmaculata's survival and the banishment of a slimy local priest, both of which are achieved by unofficial means in the face of official impotence and in some way these balance the 'big' defeat of Opus Dei's official invulnerability: they've won, but not entirely. To sum-up: not quite Donna Leon's best work to date, but certainly good and a worthy contribution to the Brunetti canon.