Customer Reviews

Vendetta

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In this second installment of Michael Dibdin's Aurelio Zen series, we re-encounter the Weltshmerz detective as he wades through an onion skin layering of vendettas that almost cost him his life. Firstly, we glimpse the case of the brutal murder of Oscar Burolo and his guests in his supposed-fortress-like luxury complex on the Italian island of Sardinia. Then, we are again made painfully aware of the infernally clogged(but precisely groomed and clothed) machinery of the Italian bureaucracy with its syncophants, favor mongers, payoffs, good old boy's club and nefarious double dealings with the less-than-desirable underworld. We realize that wealthy and powerful higher-ups in the Italian Ministry have a vendetta of their own---they hotly desire Burolo's murder avenged as Burolo's corrupt dealings lined their purses with the an ever-pleasant flow of cash. Dissatisfied with the currently held murder suspect,and pleased with little-known Zen's written conclusion that exonerates the said suspect, the Italian Ministry moves Zen to Sardinia to drum up a case against ANYONE who will fit the scapegoat bill. Before he leaves, Zen encounters yet another vendetta, one that may be directed solely at himself. Perturbed, but not scathed, Zen ferries off to the island in what he thinks is a sufficient undercover disguise. When he bungles his dealings with police-shy locals,he finds himself stalked by a killer who serendipidiously aids him in discovering the real murderer as he runs for his life over Sardinia's bleak interior. The luck that held for him in "Ratking" sticks with him during this foray; he returns to Rome in disheveled glory.
As in the first Zen mystery, the actual crime and its solution act as a compelling backdrop and springboard to Zen's real problems. In this case, his mother, his love life and his inability to fare well in the midst of the male society of the Criminalpol provide ample insight to an already enjoyable character of immense depth. The settings of Rome and Sardinia add glamour to the well-heeled image-conscious Italian populace which Dibdin allows us to view through Zen's accomplished and somewhat jaded eyes as he further immerses himself within the complex inner workings of Italian law enforcement.
Even thoughI read 'Cabal' and 'Dead Lagoon' before reading 'Ratking' and 'Vendetta', I would recommend reading the books in sequence so that the entire panorama of Zen's difficult life is laid out in front of you as it is intended. Zen's motivation become more understandable. When reading the books out of sequence,the reader has little information about Zen on which to fall back on and there is nothing but the mystery itself to fully engage the reader. Get the whole experience and start from number 1.

No Author will ever replace Mario Puzo; his body of work featuring the Corleone Family is a literary, as well as a cinematic classic. For those readers in search of material that is as excellent in its own way, and takes place entirely in Italy, Michael Dibdin's "Aurelio Zen" series will take its own place in the genre Mr. Puzo introduced to so many readers years ago.

"Vendetta" is the second book in this series and the setting is Sardinia. A dinner party is interrupted when someone with a shotgun appears, and abruptly ends the evening's festivities. A man who said, "If anyone gets in, I will believe in ghosts", designed the security system. No ghost handles a shotgun, and after Italy's equivalent of SWAT Teams can find no way in, the enigma is set.

I have commented at length on why I find Mr. Dibdin to be such a talented writer when I reviewed his newest book "Blood Rain" and his first book "Ratking". I will not be totally repetitive, but I will note that one of the keys to enjoying this Author's work is his ability to sustain your interest with a variety of possible outcomes to the very end. His stories are constructed like a maze, and as Sardinia is a maze both above and below ground, the setting is perfect.

A very, very good series!

The first three books of the Aurelio Zen series (of which this is the second) read as a trilogy.

Whilst enjoyable, and as engaging as its predecessor, Ratking, and successor, Cabal, I thought there were some MINOR plotting weaknesses (eg a luxury car whose steering didn't lock when being driven without the engine running).

The Sardinian setting was well-evoked.

I do recommend reading the Zen series in order, especially the first three, where character development builds.

A riveting crime classic replete with irony and intrigue, this fast-paced thriller will keep you in terrifying suspense, as detective Aurelio Zen, characteristically earnest if somewhat inept, bungles his way around Italy to uncover the identity of a mysterious mass-killer. Readers who enjoy fast-action plot will not be disappointed, as they follow Zen's broken-down mercedes through harrowing chase scenes across the rugged Sardinian landscape. The author's sensitive humanitarian touch offsets the vivid and sometimes shocking portrayal of cruelty and revenge in the underworld of organized crime.

This finely-crafted novel ranks among the best of our era. Surpassing in suspense even the popular-market fiction of Michael Crichton or John Case, Dibdin's "Vendetta" reaches the highest stratum of literary excellence.

Vice-Questore Aurelio Zen, officer of the Criminalpol section of the Ministry of Interior in Rome, is entrusted with a video cassette connected to the sensational "Burolo Affair" about which Zen has to write a report summarising the case to date. Since Oscar Burolo had a mania of recording the highpoints of his life, the video tape shows a dinner party at his extravagant villa in Sardinia, when suddenly Oscar and his party reel away from shotgun blasts apparently coming from nowhere, the murderer having passed through the elaborate electronic defences of the property as if they didn't exist.

But when, sometime later, a pickpocket manages to steal the video cassette while Zen is boarding a bus and when Zen is summoned to the Palazzo Sisti and asked by "l'onorevole" to go to Sardinia and fake some evidence in order to withdraw the charges against the main suspect Renato Favelloni, the inspector is about to start one of the most dangerous investigation in his career.

Very good action-packed thriller with breathtaking scenes in Sardinia and an Aurelio Zen in full swing!

Michael Tudor Barnes delivers a stunning performance reading "Vendetta".

Zen is one of the most interesting characters in crime fiction. Corrupt, sometimes inept, full of human weakness - yet somehow likeable. Didbin has a literary flair invisible in most other writers of the genre. Combined with excitement, humour and deep cultural insight, this novel is a classic.

A very gripping, somewhat dark, mystery. Thankfully, Aurelio Zen has a cat's nine lives. It's a very atmospheric novel, and I plan to read all the Michael Dibdin books I can get my hands on.

In the second installment of the Aurelio Zen series, Dibdin sends police detective Zen off to Sardinia to solve the seemingly impossible murder of a wealthy Oscar Burulo, his wife and two dinner companions in his ultra-secure mansion in the mountains of Sardinia. As it turns out, Burulo liked to videotape his dinner parties, so the shooting of the victims is recorded, but the assailant stays out of view. Burulo had recently run over and killed a young member of a Sardinian crime family to get out of an attempted kidnapping. But rich men collect enemies and maybe the killer is one of the guests who departed immediately before the shootings. Or could it be one of the grounds crew at the billionaire's complex?

Meanwhile, Zen is working on a new love interest and enjoying his new found status after his `success' related in Ratking, the first book in the Zen story. This being Italy, however, his colleagues assume, with some justification, that his promotion is a payoff for his cooperation with a seriously bent family scion in that tale. Zen did not really do what his benefactor thinks he did to earn this reward, but Zen is not going to correct that misimpression.

As a result of his new reputation, another leader of a criminal enterprise dispatches Zen to Sardinia to `solve' the murder, i.e. frame their chosen victim. Zen travels to the island under the guise of being a Swiss real estate agent looking to buy a large mansion. Zen is trying to figure out a way to avoid framing an innocent man while putting in enough effort to satisfy the crime boss. The action starts there.

Vendetta continues the development of Zen as a fully dimensional character with satisfying intrigue and action and a full dose of cynicism. A significant fault, however, is the unexplained motivation for one of the key actor's in the book's climax. (Perhaps I missed it.)

I was a bit sceptical at first. An Italian detective by a British-American author; sounded like it could be coy or arch. It wasn't. Dibdin writes far beter than most mystery writers. The plot is maybe a tad too too (as my grandmother used to say).

Anyway I paln to read more of the Zen books.

Aurelio Zen, a detective in the Criminalpol in Rome, will never be one of the boys in the criminal justice world he inhabits. He feels compelled to solve crimes even though that is not what his bosses and fellow detectives want him to do. Zen learned the hard way in his past that he is expected to find the politically expedient result, even if it means faking evidence. With Italy abounding in corruption, Zen seems put on the spot very frequently, caught between needing to make a case turnout the way very important people want him to and being able to live with himself.

In "Vendetta," Zen again must "solve" a crime of horrendous murder to the satisfaction of others, but this time on the wild and frankly scary island of Sardinia, where the rule of law is the rule of the toughest local thugs. However, that is not his only problem, as Zen is being hunted down by a criminal just released from serving many years in prison because of Zen's testimony. How these two plots become intertwined is surprising, and the resolution comes a bit out of nowhere, but it all makes for a good story with Zen ending up looking like he has done what everyone wants.

As for the setting, Sardinia's wild country makes a great backdrop for Zen's long escape (perhaps too long) from a pursuer. Dibdin also takes the reader through the ancient ruins of the Palatine Hill as he escapes from a tail in Rome.

The reader gets to know Zen much better in this book--his worries about what his life will be like when he retires, his view of his romantic life, his perception of his mother. We see him start up a romance--will that be a wise decision? We see how his mind is somewhat corrupted like his cohorts as he strategizes how to either prove an innocent man a criminal or to find someone else to be viable replacement, whether guilty or not.

The writing remains excellent in "Vendetta." Dibdin's skill exceeds that of many mystery writers. Perhaps he still provides too much minute detail of scenery and buildings.

The only think I do not care for in this book is the insertion of sections from the mind of the murderer. These were not needed in an otherwise well-crafted book.