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40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
not the most exciting of installments, unfortunately, April 10, 2006
Donna Leon's latest Commissario Brunetti mystery novel may not be the most exciting installment she's ever penned, but it still made for rather interesting reading as Brunetti/Leon delves into the world of the Murano glass factory workers (their lives and their concerns) and finds himself investigating charges of toxic industrial dumping. The last thing Brunetti expected when he agreed to help a friend of Inspector Vianello's (Marco Robetti) get out of a jam, was that he would next be investigating Ribetti's father-in-law, the choleric glass factory owner Giovanni Del Cal, for Del Cal's violent threats against Ribetti. Ribetti is an engineer and an environmentalist and also much younger than his wife -- three things that Del Cal seems to really hate Ribetti for. And while Del Cal has been issuing these threats for some time now, his daughter is beginning to worry and wonder as to whether or not the she and her husband should take these threats seriously. While investigating Del Cal, however, Brunetti hears some rather startling allegations from Del Cal's zealous night watchman about the dangerous levels of toxic dumping that's going on at Del Cal's factory. And when that nightwatchman ends up dead, Brunetti decides to go out on a limb in order to discover what's going on at the glass factories on Murano... As with all of Donna Leon's Brunetti mystery books, "Through A Glass Darkly" was a very vivid, atmospheric and finely nuanced novel. So, if you're loking for a good, well written book to read you won't go very wrong in picking up this book. However, this is not, unfortunately, one of Leon's more stellar efforts either. The haunting, engaging and softly edgy installments that one had come to expect ("Death at La Fenice," "Death in a Strange Country," "The Death of Faith," etc) is absent here. The pacing is more sedate as Brunetti finds himself interviewing characters about Del Cal and the probable toxic dumping. And while Brunetti's sympathies are very obviously aroused by the unfortunate night watchman, there is also a slight sense of ambivalence and noninvolvement from Brunetti that I have never sensed before in previous installments. However, in spite of these small disappointments, I will own that I finished the book in one sitting and that I did enjoy it nevertheless. (One of the best bits in the novel is when Chiara, Brunetti's daughter, helps him make sense of the night watchman's notes.) All in all, not a bad read, esp if you're a fan of the series. If this is your first foray into the series, however, I'd suggest picking up earlier mysteries (all available in paperback), before picking up this particular installment.
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Always charming but not the best Brunetti, May 6, 2006
Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti is one of the most charming detectives currently available. This series rests on the canals of Venice, the character of Venetians and the sympathetic,intelligent Commissario who continues to try to find the murderer in the labyrinth of politics, tax avoidence and personal relationships that mark, but manage not to spoil, his beloved Venice. Each of Donna Leon's series installments increasingly uses the crime to discuss and explore a larger social issue: drugs, immigration, homosexuality, etc. In Through A Glass, Darkly the issue is pollution and for the first time, it disappoints. For the first time, the crime and its implications take a back seat to the exposition about pollution, and even that is done with less than her normally more subtle skill. Some lesser characters have either disappeared or hit a wall. What happened to comical Alvise and his very funny inability to take a message? Signorina Ellectra, the beautiful secretary whose serene devious skills so awe Brunetti seems to have been developed as far as she can go, and is a shadow of her usual clever self. Leon is required to spend a fair amount of time explaining the mechanics involved in the commission of a crime which leaks the tension out of the murder at hand. Most surprisingly, Leon fails to develop her murderer's character as one who is capable of the crime, which is a 180 degree turn in her usual wonderful grip of the psychology of often 'accidental' murderers. I am one of the legions of Donna Leon's fans. Her history as an English professor (which is Brunetti's wife's position as well) has always informed the series, with references to Jane Austen and Henry James, ancient history and, this time, Dante. She writes easily, sometimes wonderfully evoking the paradoxes of modern Venice (but not this time). Brunetti is the man you want to share a caffe and perhaps some pasta with. But as anxious as I am for the next book, I hope Leon can take a break to regather her formidable strengths and feel less obliged to bring out just another book. With a little rest, and a glass of prosecco, and a few more days to let her mind wander, I am sure she will return to form. I'll go visit with Magdalen Nabb's Marshall Guarnacci in Florence while Ms. Leon is resting.
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20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Leon's vision is unclouded!, April 21, 2006
Sometimes, it's best not to work "by the books." Thus, with spring fever permeating the Pearl of the Adriatic, Commissario Guido Brunetti and team begin an investigative adventure on their own, or at least one not officially sanctioned. In Donna Leon's latest Brunetti novel ("Through a Glass Darkly"), we find the Commissario once again keeping his eyes peeled for Venetian crimes, especially of corruption, social injustice, and, of course, murder. His assistant Vianello introduces Brunetti to a friend who's just been arrested for protesting on the island of Murano against environmental pollution. It's a simple matter and the friend Marco is soon released; however, this sets the whole story in motion: a story of corruption and, yes, murder. It's not until the murder, of course, that the police become officially involved. Marco's father-in-law, who clearly hates Marco, is an owner of one of Murano's famous glass factories. The enmity lies, perhaps, in the fact that Marco is an environmental engineer and is clearly against unlawful pollution of the laguna. The rabid, aging father-in-law is a bully who's clearly out of control, or as Vianello observes he "a choleric man." Complications arise and Leon is up to her usual level of brilliance in handling first rate police procedurals. An employee of the glass factory is found dead and, as Brunetti suspects, it's a suspicious death. The employee has been most vocal about the hazards of the factory, environmentally, and blames his daughter's tragic illness on the pollution. Painstakingly, even cleverly, Brunetti and his team at the Questura bring the case to a close and once again Leon's literary magic prevails. Aside from her general plot outlines, Leon's greatest strength seems to lie in her ability to provide great depth to her characters, especially Brunetti, a police officer at once intrepid and all the time human, a man in a profession where integrity is not always a given. Each of the Leon episodes in this series provides additional depth to him and his family. And Leon`s pointed observations of the city and how it's run ("The matter lapsed, merging into the stream of gossip that flowed through Venice, much of it no cleaner than the water that flowed in the canals.") makes one wonder if the Italians actually read her books. Still, it's clear that she loves her overseas home (who wouldn't?) but, a bit like Cassandra outside the gates of Troy, her cries of corruption and incompetence seem largely to go unheeded! In this 15th episode, we find that the author keeps the series open, and we can only hope she'll pick up the pace. Will it really be another year before her next Brunetti novel? (Billyjhobbs@tyler.net)
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