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A Tomb on the Periphery

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A self-contained sequel to Domini's virtuoso EARTHQUAKE I.D.(which focused on an American family encountering Naples as part of a NATO relief effort), this new novel focuses on the redemption of a young Neopolitan jeweler, Fabbrizio, who is involved with underground figures who steal relics from archeological digs and sell them to museums; and/or who sell counterfeit relics (which he crafts) to museums. The villains of the story are two local hoods, quick with knives. The intrigue and romance begins as Fabbrizio goes freelance, working with an American woman, who needs his help in robbing a tomb of a necklace worn by the skeleton of a Greek princess, and who claims to have a buyer in New York.

Fabbrizio earnestly seeks success in a dangerous and corrupt world. If the hoods discover him dealing contraband on his own, they will kill him. Of course, in the tomb "on the periphery" of Naples, a family of Somali refugees witnesses Fabbrizo and the American making off with the necklace; and the family is arrested when the theft is discovered, then later released. They hope to find Frabbrizo, recover the necklace and win permanent citizenship by returning it to the police.

Fabbrizio has his own family ties: his father, Babo, had been a jewelry maker, whose business failed. Fabrizzo's older brother, Rico, is a computer nerd, lost in a dream of passing exams, but thanks to their mother, Babo accepts a dull office job. Fabrizzo himself keeps up the passion for making jewelry, albeit as a forger, wondering how his father could "have cut out his heart and tossed it in a desk drawer." His mother objects to illegal activity and wants him to Fabrizzo to advance himself through a "regular" life. But after his father dies, his mother has a heart attack and they need money to care for her. "No more black work," she pleads, but Fabrizzo sees a last contract with the hoods as a way to save the family.

The American, Shanti, is a femme fatale to Fabrizzio, "spilling the damp green complications of humanity across the airbrushed flatness of his mental centerfold," and the repartee between them is consistently lively. Of course she turns out to be Italian herself. She only needs pictures of the stolen necklace to perpetrate an internet scam, and then willingly gives it to Fabrizzio. The local hoods don't know he has it. The Somali father has found him, but in the meantime the hoods have kidnapped the Somali mother and daughter. Farbrizzo, with the necklace, rushes to their rescue, and manages to triumph: "While his soul may have gone astray, his moral compass had remained true."

Domini manages suspense as well as Alfred Hitchcock. The story is mostly told over Fabrizzo's shoulder, as his rumination, and in narrative prose that is rich in metaphor, wit, and sensory description. For instance, in his encounter with the Somali father: "the flecks of gold in the man's eyes remained hard to assess, like sparks thrown off by an interior blacksmithing too whanging and brutal for a light-fingered artigiano." The jeweler's art and magic is an apt corollary for Domini's writing.

John Domini's third novel is not my favorite ["Talking Heads:77" is]. But all his stories, including certainly this one, are interesting.

He has the sensibility of a poet, and reading him is not always easy; it's more akin to an appreciation of VanGogh, or Seurat, or even Matisse, than, say, Jan van Eyck, or John Constable. Compared to the impressionists, however, Domini's literary colors have a more precise edge to them, and his stories are worth the extra effort.

John Domini's "A Tomb on the Periphery" is a fast-paced and finely-wrought novel that draws heavily on the author's obvious erudition and his extensive knowlege of Neapolitan culture and society. The geographic and archeological details are rich and intensely realized, while the dialogue, and especially the humor, is resoundingly pitch-perfect. Fabbrizio, the novel's hard-boiled protagonist, displays an extraordinary psychological complexity and proves himself a compelling guide whose distinctive voice never wavers. Domini does here for Southern Italy what Peter Taylor once did for Memphis and William Kennedy did for Albany--and he does it just as well, with an original and vibrant flair. Readers who invest a few moments to peruse page one of "The Tomb on the Periphery" will soon find themselves engrossed, as I did, and their interest will be very well rewarded.

With John Domini's engaging new suspense novel, we zigzag with Fabrizio through Naple's cluttered streets and zoom along its potholed highways with a sexy American tourist on the back of his motorino. Fabrizo, archaeology studies drop out and forger of antiquities, has been talked into violating a newly excavated tomb and stealing a necklace from a young girl's skeleton. His act of theft has been observed by someone who has his own reasons for running from the cops: an African immigrant just arrived after a harrowing sea journey in which his daughter drowned. Within the tensions drawn by this quartet of characters Domini scatters his mosaic of multicultural Naples viewed across time: its antique heritage, its modern day criminals, students, tourists, bureaucrats, and immigrants all trying to get their hands on a piece of grave goods which might represent the very soul of this ancient city - tarnished, priceless, charged with mysterious powers. When Fabrizio starts hearing ghostly voices presaging danger and death, he realizes he must find a way to get the necklace back without falling victim to either the camorra or the cops - and in the meantime, he causes a murder, saves a life, gets lucky, and comes of age. The novel gives us both atmosphere of real Naples - along with a graphic tour of its "underground" both literal and figurative, irresistible humor, language that sparkles and sings on every page, and a hot seduction scene.

I shouldn't compare John Domini's "A Tomb on the Periphery" to a novel of almost a whole decade earlier -- Marcos Villatoro's "The Holy Spirit of My Uncle's Cojones (Arte Publico Press, 1999). TOMB is Italian; COJONES is Latino. The young man of TOMB is older, edgier, darker. And Villatoro's COJONES is not in everyone's minds; it's too esoteric to reference, just another small press novel.

Yet neither Domini's nor Villatoro's small press works should be ignored. And while other reviewers are right to praise the suspense and mystery of TOMB, I find my thoughts focusing on the heart of the young man, who in the end must make a choice that will make all the difference in his character -- the consequences of which will reverberate far into his future as an adult, and will determine what kind of man he will be. And that crux of the novel, that choice, that man-in-the-making, is the very thing in Villatoro's novel that was memorable as well.

I cannot say anything more, or else this review would be a spoiler. Read TOMB for what the other reviewers describe. Suspense. Mystery. Utter coolness of setting, of attitude, of plot. Enjoy the ride. But when you get to the end, you may find, as I, that this story of a man in the making -- a young man who finds the cojones to become his own person -- is the story truly worth remembering.

John Domini's A Tomb on the Periphery is the second of a three-novel series set in post-earthquake Naples, Italy. The main character Fabbrizio, or Brizio for short, takes us on a wild ride through the grittier side of an already chaotic disaster area created Domini's first book in the series, Earthquake I.D. Though it is part of a series, A Tomb on the Periphery can be thoroughly enjoyed on its own.

As a result of the catastrophic earthquake, new archaeological ruins have been uncovered on the periphery of town. Known for being a guy who can get around law, Brizio finds himself tangled up with Shanti, an American with her eyes on a priceless artifact found among the tombs. Fabbrizio unknowingly forms a connection with the artifact and its previous owner, who is now reduced to a pile of bones in a duffel bag being shuffled all over the city. Danger looms from all sides as Brizio attempts to sort out the American, trouble at home, an illicit jewelery replication project and the ever present immigration issues.

Domini treats his readers to a feast of thugs, high-speed action, social commentary, humor and even a bit of romance in a well-packaged story. I found TOMB to be even more satisfying than Earthquake ID and hope the third and final book of the series will continue the trend of better and better.

A Tomb on the Periphery, the second novel in John Domini's exciting Naples trilogy, is a brilliant literary thriller, one that also offers an intimate, unique look at the current tensions complicating present-day Southern Italian life. Twenty-something Neapolitan, Fabbrizio, a small-time criminal surviving in the wake of a devastating earthquake, gets more than he bargained for when he pairs up with Shanti, a mysterious and sexy American archeologist, in a grave robbing scheme that is enough to attract both the attention of the local authorities and an ancient Mediterranean Goddess. Pressured to support his mother's extensive medical expenses, Fabbrizio soon becomes entangled with the cammoristi, Naples's equivalent to the Mafia. Like Earthquake I.D., the narrative in A Tomb on the Periphery is driven by a fierce momentum, richly-developed characters and an edgy plot full of nonstop suspense and intrigue. The language Domini uses is gorgeous in its use of brilliant detail and poetic syntax. But what I found most refreshing about this work was Domini's deep sense of compassion, the way in which he involves the ongoing issue of African immigration and severe lack of resources that Southern Italians continue to face. This novel is as educational as it is entertaining, and should not be missed. I look forward to the last forthcoming novel in this great trilogy, The Color Inside of a Melon.

The first line--"It wasn't midnight yet, to judge from the moonlight, the clarity it gave to the exposed skeleton"--sets us up for the seductive tale that unfolds, and the promise of that opening does not disappoint. A TOMB ON THE PERIPHERY, in short, should not be passed over.

This novel crackles with originality. The influence of the mysticism of the old masters such as Dante are present within the pages of Domini's novel, as is the glorious and ghostly presence of Naples.

TOMB is in all ways and shapes the sort of thriller we read with pleasure. But it resists simply being a mere guilty delight because of the flare of the language and the literary nature of the prose. From the seductress Shanti to the protagonist's jewelry-crafting father, the characters never bore us. Similarly, the momentum of the story never lets up as Domini never takes the foot off the pedal in this twisting and winding thriller. Though it is a sequel to the much-acclaimed EARTHQUAKE I.D. starting with this book is well worth your time.

As Domini has said in recent interviews, "If my novels are any good, they never reduce Naples to a metaphor for myself. I want the troubled city, not the troubled guy." To be sure, you won't find any self-pitying dirty realism nor any humdrum story arcs built around abstract ideas. The plot moves. The characters act. The novel never fails to impress.

John Domini shows us once again that he is a master of fiction. His plot and characterization are tight and without flaw; his understanding of the craft of fiction is flawless. Not only are we taken through a rollicking and sometimes terrifying ride in the underworld of Venice, we meet a corrupted young man who is worth redemption. This is an excellent book, and a spellbinding read.

Eva Hunter

I read this to the last page without stopping -- all the time thinking what a delightful feature film it would make one day.