This book hooked me from the 1st page. I was clearly in the mood. It was however sad. Don't read this if your mood can't take it. Great character study mixed with a tragic mystery. ( )

storage bookbox 13

This book got 3 stars from me, because I can't realky decide what to think of it. It was nice to read (text wise), but the story was way to slow.
I like a bit of action every now and then, but in tbis book even these parts were slow. When all of the suspects were eliminated in one form or other, there was only one character left who could have done it. The way that was written down was okay, but I arrived to that conclusion before Joseph did.. ( )

Ne ho letto la recensione su un Venerdì di Repubblica: non conoscendo l'autore l'ho preso a prestito in biblioteca, ma che tortura! Il romanzo è zeppo di frasi da sottolineare, di quelle che ti restano nel cuore, che pensi avresti potuto scrivere tu, o avresti voluto che qualcuno ti dicesse. ( )

This book starts when Joseph Vaughan's father dies. Joseph is 12 and hopes that his father has become an angel. That year the first little girl in his community is murdered. The book follows Joseph's life as he is touched by the horror of Hitler's war in Europe and the more local horror of the murders of young girls.

I have to say the plot was nothing like I anticipated. From the book jacket you are given to believe that the first part of the book will be about Joseph's childhood and the local murders. Then, 50 years after the killings cease, Joseph confronts his past. This is not accurate at all. The book follows all of Joseph's life linearly after the age of 12 years, with no break. Some years are admittedly summed up quickly, but the killings do not stop and Joseph is only about 40 at the end.

The beginning was well written and pulls you immediately into the story and inside Joseph's mind and heart. Admittedly the middle of the book began to drag a little for me, but at one point about 3/4 through I could not stop reading and finished it in one sitting. The ending was thoroughly engrossing and I had to keep reading to find out who the killer was. Your mind cycles through multiple suspects before the ending.

The weaknesses: I thought in the beginning Joseph was much too young to be thinking such deep and morose thoughts. And his later sexual affair with an older woman struck me as wrong on her end. The story itself was written very dark, with the characters acting and speaking a bit melodramatically. But overall a really good and engrossing story. ( )