Customer Reviews

Suffer the Little Children: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

The familiar and enjoyable elements of Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti novels--trenchant observations of the beautiful and corrupt city of Venice, and an engaging and humane hero with rich collegial and family relationships --are abundantly present in "Suffer the Little Children." Unfortunately Ms. Leon has thrown the book off balance: her understandable distress at the situation she is depicting (the sale of babies for adoption) overpowers the story. It seems more something we are being educated about, rather than something exposed naturally in the course of Brunetti's investigation. We are not allowed to develop our own sense of indignation and sadness at what people will sink to and what terrible decisions we make--Leon does it all for us.

Although "Suffer the Little Children" is better than some of her recent work, it does not achieve the high standard Ms. Leon set for us in the earlier Brunetti novels.

Attacking corruption seems to be a favorite theme of Donna Leon. And along the way, there's usually a murder or two to solve. And in the case of her latest Commassario Guido Brunetti thriller, Leon is, once again, on target.
This time the venerable Venice police officer is confronted with the issue of illegal child adoption practices and the accompanying ramifications therein. As in the previous 15 Brunetti novels, Leon looks at her home city and addresses one or more of its myriad problems, social and otherwise. Still, this series is not about Venice, which she loves, but those characters and issues that attack the sheer beauty and even moral turpitude of the Pearl of the Adriatic.
In "Suffer the Little Children," Brunetti early on is called to the hospital after learning that one of its doctors has been beaten almost to death by a police team, which had stormed the doctor's home and, aside from the beating, had taken the doctor's 18-month old son, which, as it turns out, is an adopted son. Thus the plot kicks into a higher gear. Brunetti learns, from his various sources and own initiative that adopting children is not only a lucrative business but also highly illegal in some circumstances. The ramifications of such adoptions, of course, is wide open. A second running issue in the book is the investigation of a pharmacy-doctor scam that seems to be widespread.
With Brunetti's ace team (Signorina Eletra and Sgt. Vianello, especially),
the cases eventually come to a conclusion. Of course, as is usual for a Leon book, the endings are not always satisfying to the reader who is looking for the "happily ever after" approach. Brunetti (and Leon) do not solve the corruption and other socially significant issues, as, of course, these issues continue right along, but they do work on "justice, one person at a time." The murderer usually pays for his (or her) crime. Leon, though, says she's not about to give up on Venice, but sometimes "political corruption is simply a way of life there."
Leon's Brunetti series is first rate, beginning with "Death at La Fenice."
(She's a big fan of opera.) Leon's sharp narrative skills, fast-paced plots, and incredible character development are always great reads. In "Suffer the Little Children," however, the book seems to be rushed and Leon doesn't take the time to explore further her central characters (they are all gold mines!), although she perhaps feels that the previous books have said enough. Fast-paced is one thing, but "rushed" is another and in this one, more time and deliberations should have been devoted. She says she's already finished the next Brunetti and is "thinking about" the one after that--news that will make her legions of fans happy!
[...]

I have read all of Leon's Brunetti mysteries and this was the first time I was really disappointed. The story lacks focus and feels completely frazzled. There are too many things going on that never seem to get resolved. The writing style she uses for the interrogations at the beginning and end seems silly and doesn't make sense. I never felt a shred of sympathy for any of the characters, despite the horrible things that happen to them. I sure hope that she can find her old, captivating writing style again or I will have to just go back to re-reading her earlier novels.

After years of producing top crime novels, this one is an absolute let-down for Donna Leon fans. The story about baby trafficking, which should have made a truly interesting plot, drags on forever without any real purpose and Brunetti acts without his previous spark and enthusiasm and worse, it seems without any knowledge of basic police work.
Except for a few new recipes and some interesting facts from Vencie, this thriller is written without any effort as to research and investigation of the topic.

This book had an entirely different flavor than the other Commissario Guido Brunetti mysteries, all of which I have read, some of them more than once. It was less amusing, harder and more depressing than the others and the ending was terrible. If her writing is going in this direction, I won't read any more.

Donna Leon's Inspector Brunetti takes on another of society's evils in each of her books. In Suffer the Little Children, it's illegal adoption and misuse of medical records. The title is a misnomer - in the biblical quote, "suffer" means "permit" rather than "experience pain." Nevertheless, it conveys Leon's intent, which is to look at the pros and cons of black market adoption. It's chilling to realize that babies are sometimes sold as involuntary organ donors. It's also chilling to recognize how, in many cases, victims are criminalized, while moral transgressors are covered by the law. Brunetti and Paola, Elettra and Vianello, are their reliable, trustworthy selves here, and Brunetti's work, personally painful to him, is contrasted sharply with the beauty that is Venice. Another thoughtful, well crafted mystery from one of the top writers of fiction at work today.

The great enjoyment in Donna Leon's "Suffer the Little Children," and virtually all of the other books in this series, comes from the focus on the book's varied characters and the city backdrop, Venice. The plot of this particular book, involving illegal baby adoption, but also marital betrayal and the intrusion into peoples' lives by an unprincipled moralist, is secondary and only serves as the device that allows for an examination of the professional and personal life of Guido Brunetti, Commissario of Police in Venice. By the time you finish this book (and any of its predecessors), you're ready for a visit to Venice and have a yen to drop in on Brunetti and his family (however aware you are that, sadly, they don't exist).
Other readers have been disappointed with "Suffer the Little Children" for its flaccid plot and generally slow pace. I think those are valid criticisms, but there is still plenty of pleasure catching up with the series' hero and colleagues and listening to the author's gentle rant about troubles in paradise.l

First Sentence: ...and then my daughter-in-law told me that I should come in and tell you about it.

Commissario Guido Brunetti is awakened and ask to come to the hospital. A doctor of Pedriatics has been severely beaten. Three armed men broke into the apartment of the doctor and his wife and took away their 18 month old son. It seems the men were not local police, but Carabinieri, or military police and there as part of a raid on family who had adopted children illegally. During Brunetti's team's investigation, they discover a money-making scheme between the doctors and pharmacists wherein one of the pharmacists is motivated by his perception of improving morality.

Leon is a wonderful writer. Her ability to create sense of place and society is one of the best and she balances that with a humanity and humor in her characters. Brunetti is not one of the angst-ridden protagonists, but has a wife, family and city that he adores. The story is, at times, heart wrenching but the author doesn't overplay those aspects. The ending seemed a bit abrupt and was tragic but I did figure out the villain fairly soon into the book. However, Leon is always worth reading, just for her wonderful style.

"Suffer the Little Children" is the sixteenth in the Commissario Guido Brunetti series by Donna Leon. Its setting is a seductive Venice, where there seems to be a disproportionately high crime rate if fiction is to believed. Brunetti is called into hospital where a respected pediatrician has been taken after being beaten by the Carabinieri (military and police corps). The enraged doctor's wife informs Brunetti that they were asleep when three men broke into their home, took their little boy by force, and attacked her husband. The Carabinieri leader defends their actions by stating that the doctor had illegally adopted the little boy and they were ordered to raid the house. This case is not a matter for the local police, but Brunetti is inflamed by the events and can't allow the matter to rest.

As Brunetti, with his sidekicks Vianello and Elletra, continue to investigate what's behind this ambush, they unearth evidence, not only of an illegal adoption ring, but also of a carefully coordinated swindle of the health system involving pharmacists and doctors. The tangential connection between these two plotlines is revealed late in the story and a twist in the last few pages reveals something far more sinister.

I've always enjoyed a Donna Leon book, but I've to say that this wasn't as cleverly plotted as the others. The story lags at several spots and given that the premise was not exciting to begin with, it gets even drabber as the story progresses. If read as a conventional mystery, there's no excitement or challenge of solving a bona fide puzzle, and the revelation of the villain at the end is no surprise.

However, if read as social commentary, it fares much better. Brunetti is a man of conscience and serves as the moral compass in Leon's novels. Much of the novel depicts a Brunetti who is greatly disturbed by many issues here--the fates of the children taken away from their adoptive parents due to the raids, the machinations of the wealthy and powerful, the seemingly effortless bilking of a health system that was supposed to help the population, and the antagonism toward Albanians in Italy. Leon can be polemic and when she is, she's very persuasive and thought provoking. Altogether a very interesting read if not approached as standard mystery.

This isn't a very good effort by Leon. The plot is vague and unfocused. There's not much action. There's not much Venice. There's not much suspense or excitement. Hope Leon is not getting tired.