Customer Reviews

A Season for the Dead

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The first novel in a series that is to feature police detective Nic Costa, "A Season for the Dead" proved to be a swiftly paced, taut, police thriller that kept me happily engrossed until I reached the last page.

While the August heat wave bakes the city of Rome (and the few locals left in the city), university professor Sara Farenese sits coolly in the Vatican Library Reading Room perusing Apicius. But unexpected violence soon rocks her remote academic world when a colleague, Stefano Rinaldi, bursts into the room with a gun and a bag. Even as Sara watches, horrorstruck, Stefano flings the contents of the bag on her desk, announces that "the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church," and is killed by the panic stricken Swiss Guards. But this is just the first in a series of increasingly horrifically violent murders. Hampered by Vatican politics (the Vatican is treated as a separate country and as such the Roman police have no jurisdiction there and are totally dependent on whatever help -- or non-help -- that the Vatican security will give) the police are hard pressed to figure what's going on and stop the mad killer. For young police detective Nic Costa and his partner, Luca Rossi, first at the scene of Rinaldi's death due to happenstance, this is the case that will change their lives and outlooks forever. Moved by Sara's beauty, remoteness and silent anguish, Nic is further drawn to Sara (much to the dismay of Rossi) when the realization dawns that she is somehow at the center of all the madness that is going on. But Sara refuses to be more forthcoming, and Nic is loathe to push her or to believe the worst. Will he have cause to regret his reluctance? What dark secret is Sara hiding, and how will it impact the investigation?

For mystery buffs who enjoy tautly paced thrillers, "A Season for the Dead" will be a real treat. David Hewson has written an intelligent and engrossing mystery novel, that is complex, suspenseful and that has some truly stunning plot twists. Hewson's ability to describe the city of Rome and the Vatican, and to portray all the various power plays that makes these two cities go 'round is brilliantly done as well. If I had any criticism is was that the main characters (save for Nic's father, Marco and the police pathologist, "crazy" Teresa) are at times very remote and that it is rather difficult to relate to them or to figure out their motivation. However, aside from this one criticism, I found "A Season for the Dead" to be an incredibly intelligent and suspenseful read, and head and shoulders above the other novels that dwell (in a rather fantastical manner sometimes) on Vatican shenanigans and history.

I very much enjoyed this book. It will appeal to and be sought out by readers of series crime novels set in vividly depicted locations. Readers of Michael Dibdin's Aurelio Zen series, which features another Rome-based cop, Donna Leon's Inspector Brunetti, and Barbara Nadel's Istanbul cop, Inspector Ikmen should enjoy this as well.

The identity of the killer is unknown to the reader for about the first half of the book. It is then revealed to the reader, so in that sense there is no last-page denoument. However, there are other mysteries around motivation that propel the mystery forward and keep the reader guessing til (almost) the end!

If you are squeamish about fairly graphic depictions of violence you may not be as drawn to this book. I compare it to some of the scenes in, for example, Carol O'Connell's 'Killing Critics', featuring New York cop Mallory.

Hewson manages to depict a sense of place very successfully, so Rome assumes an identity as a 'character' alongside the human protagonists. Anyone with an interest in the art of Caravaggio will be equally enthralled, as Nic Costa, the young main character cop, is an afficianado. There is some vivid imagery involving several of the paintings of that 17th century Roman 'badboy'.

A SEASON FOR THE DEAD is the first in a series of Italian crime thrillers set in Rome featuring Nic Costa as the protagonist. Costa, 27, is an atypical detective in the Rome Questura. He's a straight-laced, health conscious vegetarian and son of an infamous Communist party political organizer, who is dying. He has a passion for the works of Caravaggio.

Things get off to a fast start with a grotesque double homicide in a Roman church with strong similarities to an historic martyr killing within the early Church. Because the victims had ties to beautiful university professor Sara Farnese, she is put under the protective police custody of young Costa. As the plot unfolds with more similar deaths, there is a frantic search for the heinous serial killer who appears to have ties to the Vatican. The Vatican connection is difficult to investigate because of the turf battles between the Questura and the Vatican authorities. The locations used within Rome are off the tourist track and give the reader a better understanding of the underbelly of this great city. The novel is fast moving and exciting with lots of violence and some sex; and there are some unexpected surprises near the end. It brought back memories of Hewson's first novel SEMANA SANTA.

Hewson has created an exceptional array of supporting characters, albeit a few too many were non-Italians. Within the Questura, there is Costa's new partner, Luca Rossi and their hard-nosed boss Leo Falcone. Falcone is disliked by everyone, but is honest and determined. Terese Lupo, the police pathologist, is one very busy lady as the death toll mounts. Within the Vatican, we meet security head Brendan Hanrahan and Cardinal Denney, who has been recently disgraced due to the failure of his corrupt Banca Lombardia. Minor characters include a lesbian parliamentarian from Bologna, an American tourist guide, an overweight TV commentator, a whore from Kosovo, and a patron of the arts with Mafia ties.

Assuming David Hewson continues with the Nic Costa character, I welcome him to the ranks of Donna Leon, Michael Dibdin, Andrea Camilleri and others who entertain us with their series of Italian mysteries.

David Hewson's first book in what promises to be a rewarding series is literate and compelling. The only problem I had with it is the character of Sara Farnese, who, as the book unfolds, turns out to be more and more a character molded by the needs of the plot and less and less plausible as a humn being. That's a shame, but the other characters become more and more human, vivid, plausible, and impressive. I immediately began the second volume of the series, and will read any further installments as they appear.

Having recently returned from Rome, I found this book to be a fascinating and a compelling murder mystery set in the Eternal City. The heat literally and figuratively rises as young Nic Costa tracks a serial killer through the streets and churches of Rome. He weaves through the gauntlet of legal blocks from the Vatican and a complex yet attractive crucial witness.

David Hewson vividly captures the dark shadows of the dolce vita in Rome. The characters are intelligent yet tragically flawed and create terrific tension and suspense. This book is definitely not a cure for insomnia as I have spent several nights up late voraciously reading towards the end.

The story opens in a Vatican reading room where a professor brandishing both a gun and an epidermis is shot to death by the Vatican guards. Shortly thereafter, two more bodies are found killed in a most grotesque manner. Nic Costa, a young Roman detective is assigned to the case. At the forefront of the murders is university professor Sara Fornese. Sara is linked to each of the victims. The puzzle deepens as more people are murdered, each one representative of the death of a martyr of the Church. Sara is put into Nic's protective custody while trying to unravel truth from fiction.

This is one of the more unusual thrillers that I have read in a long time due to the setting and the uniqueness of the characters. The story has more than one mystery embedded within, and the beautifully maintained suspense increases until the very end. Hewson has woven an intense, complex plot that takes us on a realistic journey into the life of abuse and co-dependency. This was an intriguing debut for the protagonist of Nic Costa. The only real complaint is that the violence was very, very graphic. I would recommend this book to readers who are not squeamish

What a great read, a great adventure and a great primer for someone who wants to visit Rome, or look for Caravaggios, or think about corruption within what passes as religion or criminal justice. Hewson has hooked me, and I can't stop reading everything he writes. As a retired police inspector myself, I appreciated how Hewson inteweaves politics, (police, city hall or the church) and how he makes his investigations team efforts and team failures. Bravo, signore.

Hewson doesn't hit a home run with this novel, but he at least gets to first base. Although this book has some stilted language it was pretty interesting. I can think of at least 400-500 other books I would recommend before this one, but if you are the type of reader who has read virtually every historical type thriller out there you might want to pick this up.

I agree with the reviewer who said, "Good, but not a home run."

I had high hopes and it started off relatively well with what I thought would be characters I'd care about and interesting art & Roman detail.

It was a bit vague on the little bomb innuendo at the end. Lead characters were also vague and portrayed in shades of gray. Murder details were intense and gratuitous, I didn't feel they added anything to the story.

While this was a very good premise for a novel, in the end it was rather lackluster.

It wasn't quite what I was hoping for. For more modern Roman mysteries, I'd recommend Donna Leon. For ancient Rome, Steven Saylor. Both have better characterizations I feel. I'd read about Marco Costa before I'd pick up another book about the son Nic. He was far more interesting.

This is an enchanting and exciting mystery/thriller set in Rome. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and look forward to the coming sequel. The story is set around a series of bizarre and seemingly unlinked murders that take place throughout the city of Rome. Each murder is staged to resemble the martyrdom of one of the Catholic saints. The murders are initially investigated by detectives Costa and Rossi, from the Roman police. Gradually, it emerges that all of the victims have in common with one another some form of liaison with one of the lead characters, Professor Sara Farnese. But there is much more to come. Any more details from there on would be plot spoilers!

The story is liberally laced with evidence of corruption and cover-ups in the Catholic Church, and the Vatican. This theme is currently extensively explored the popular fiction category, however, this does not detract at all from ones enjoyment of the story. There are certain similarities to themes from Dan Brown's ANGELS AND DEMONS, however, these are two very different stories. I did feel through, that the descriptions of Rome and Roman churches were better handled by Brown. I particularly liked the theme of Caravaggio's paitings, which was woven into the storyline of A SEASON FOR THE DEAD; as well as the playful banter between the two lead detectives. My only real criticism of the story concerns the character development of Gino Fosse, one of the lead characters. We don't seem to know him at all, while we seem to know Costa, Rossi, Farnese and others very well by the end of the book. But, perhaps that was what the author intended? Three-and-a-half stars from me.