The Crocodile

The most astonishing thing about this misogynistic anti-abortion screed built on laughable premises, with outdated views and stereotypical characterisation, is that it was published in 2012, actually in the 21st century. It stinks of the 60's pre-liberation fights for women's rights, although it's only fair to admit Italy still has a way to go on those.

The plot concerns killings of children of single and utterly doting parents. Although the pattern is obvious, only one cop is smart enough to notice it, the disgraced inspector Lojacono. We are asked to believe that Lojacono, an intelligent, honest, sensitive professional, father and husband, was overnight destroyed on the mere say-so of a two-bit mafioso who falsely claimed to have show more bought him. I laughed so much I almost stopped right there, but eh, it's understood that sometimes we put up with ridiculous handwaving in the background to allow for specific features; De Giovanni clearly needed his cop to be an outsider, transferred from beloved native Sicily to a chaotic and alienating Naples.

Another improbability is that Lojacono's wife of 15-16 years and teenage daughter also accept immediately that he's guilty and refuse to talk to him! His closest kin drops him without questions asked but two utter strangers, two good women there are, the motherly trattoria owner Letizia, who takes Lojacono under her wing (and would like nothing better than to include her bed) and the beautiful judge Laura, with tragedy in her past, who picks up on his unique qualities.

De Giovanni can't write women outside a connection with a romantic or, better yet, maternal passion. And these passions overwhelm them to the point of disdaining life itself should they lose them.

Nothing against depicting female characters who are man- or child-mad but I do have to quibble when there are nothing but such, or when the reality of the 2010s (or, for that matter, the 1970s) is falsified to the point it is here, with female students of medicine (or teenagers for that matter) so oblivious of or hostile to abortion. It just ain't happening.

In fact, millions of Italian women (and men) protested for decades for the right to abortion, which was legalised in the late 1970s. Universities are the most progressive loci of Italian culture and students the most socially-aware demographic (whatever political opinions they may hold). The killer's motivation in their own context may be "logical", but De Giovanni's framing of the story as a revenge for an actual crime is dishonest and false. show less

Satisfying debut for Inspector Lojacono, exiled from his native Sicily on false charges of corruption, and dumped in a Neapolitan precinct desk job. But when a serial killer starts knocking off young people with no apparent connection to one another, Lojacono takes an interest and his insight into what the murderer is up to pulls him into the case. The plot has been done before by Cornell Woolrich, but it's still a good one. The rumpled and lonely Lojacono attracts more than one woman - both of whom are smart, good people and - sigh - beautiful, and whose physical attractions are mentioned rather more than necessary. The plot also revolves around the issue of abortion, and at this moment, I got more than a little disgusted with De show more Giovanni's purple paeans to the miracle of motherhood (and fatherhood, which takes a dark and creepy turn) and his evident feeling that those who get or participate in abortion deserve some kind of punishment. Still, a good, solid police procedural and with a breathless ending that doesn't take the nick-of-time way out. show less

Quite different from the Ricciardi series, but still worthwhile reading. A policeman from Sicily, Inspector Lojacono, is accused of passing sensitive information to the Mob, so he is sent to Naples and demoted to the "Crime Reports" room of a Naples police station and told not to investigate any crimes. While on the night shift, he is the first at the scene of a murder and can't help himself. He notices the criminal left used tissues and a certain bullet casing at the scene. His colleagues reach a dead end in their investigation, and the assistant DA, having noticed his obvious talent for investigation, requests he be assigned to help her. The novel follows the unnamed perpetrator and his very deliberate MO. He is dubbed by the show more newspapers the "Crocodile" from his habit of wiping his weepy eye--an eye disease. Lojacono figures out the MO. He compares the man to a crocodile in another way--how he plots his crimes--scoping out his target with every meticulous detail and the man's chilling sangfroid. We follow the investigation. Why are three young people, with no overt connections, targeted? Lojacono opines by killing the young people, the serial killer really aims to devastate someone else close to them.

A very exciting mystery, that kept me breathless. I felt the original Italian title: The Method of the Crocodile a better title than that given to the English translation.

Highly recommended.

the poli show less

Originally from Sicily where he had been a respected detective, Giuseppe Lojacono has been banished to Naples because a Mafioso said he was their police informant. Although he was not officially proven guilty, the implication cost him his career and the love of his wife and daughter who felt endangered by the accusation. In Naples he is isolated from active involvement in any crime investigation and told to keep out of the way. One night he is called to a crime scene. Even though he is the only police officer available, his boss arrives and demands he leave immediately. Before he goes he points out a shell casing and some discarded tissues marking the murderer's hiding spot.

The police who take over the case are determined to follow show more Mafia related leads and ignore anything that distracts from that line of inquiry, but Lojacono isn't convinced that organized crime had anything to do with this case. As pressure mounts with further murders, a young female prosecutor turns to the Lojacono for help. Meanwhile, the killer is revealing his inner thoughts to the reader through his emotional messages to a woman he loves. He travels through Naples, going anywhere he wants to go, but remains as invisible as a crocodile lurking beneath the surface of the water. We discover a man who prepared for ten years for his opportunity to wreak vengeance on a world that he feels has betrayed him.

What a wonderfully compelling novel of a dark and violent crime. There is an excellent building of suspense as the pace of the story accelerates. All the pieces are brought together to a stunning conclusion. Maurizio de Giovanni is an author worth reading and even though I've never ready any of his Ricciardi novels, I intend to do so immediately. I hope there will be more of Lojacono in the future though and I think there will be. It’s a very dark read all-in-all but an enjoyable one and although it isn’t filled with surprises, the strength of the characters keeps the pages turning. I found Lojacono a great creation and look forward to reading more. show less

Originally from Sicily where he had been a respected detective, Giuseppe Lojacono has been banished to Naples because a Mafioso said he was their police informant. Although he was not officially proven guilty, the implication cost him his career and the love of his wife and daughter who felt endangered by the accusation. In Naples he is isolated from active involvement in any crime investigation and told to keep out of the way. One night he is called to a crime scene. Even though he is the only police officer available, his boss arrives and demands he leave immediately. Before he goes he points out a shell casing and some discarded tissues marking the murderer's hiding spot.

The police who take over the case are determined to follow show more Mafia related leads and ignore anything that distracts from that line of inquiry, but Lojacono isn't convinced that organized crime had anything to do with this case. As pressure mounts with further murders, a young female prosecutor turns to the Lojacono for help. Meanwhile, the killer is revealing his inner thoughts to the reader through his emotional messages to a woman he loves. He travels through Naples, going anywhere he wants to go, but remains as invisible as a crocodile lurking beneath the surface of the water. We discover a man who prepared for ten years for his opportunity to wreak vengeance on a world that he feels has betrayed him.

What a wonderfully compelling novel of a dark and violent crime. There is an excellent building of suspense as the pace of the story accelerates. All the pieces are brought together to a stunning conclusion. Maurizio de Giovanni is an author worth reading and even though I've never ready any of his Ricciardi novels, I intend to do so immediately. I hope there will be more of Lojacono in the future though and I think there will be. It 19s a very dark read all-in-all but an enjoyable one and although it isn 19t filled with surprises, the strength of the characters keeps the pages turning. I found Lojacono a great creation and look forward to reading more. show less

PEARL RULED (pp44–45)

Eleanora walks along, hugging the wall, and no one sees her.

She's clutching a crumpled ball of paper in her hand, and she's crying. Not sobbing, her face isn't twisted in a grimace, but tears roll freely down her cheeks.
...
Now what'll happen, Eleanora wonders. How can I tell him? And what will he say when I do? What will we do, the two of us? We're still in school, there's a long road ahead of us, I don't want to force him to change his plans, his ambitions; and I have dreams of my own. I can't throw Mamma and Papa's sacrifices to the wind.

In front of her eyes float the images of her parents. What will she say to them? Another spasm, another surge of retching.

Eleanora walks along, hugging the wall, and no one

show more

sees her.

The first and last paragraphs of Chapter 10. Two pages of nothing much, about someone we don't know in an unspelled-out troublesome situation that you'd need to be pretty naive not to recognize instantly. In fact, in 45 pages, having reached Chapter 10 should've warned me that Book'n'Me ain't gonna be besties...though I will say in my own defense that I really, really wanted to love this book the way most others seem to have done and found that I simply am not de Giovanni's perfect reader.

It's not like I'm averse to short chapters, or to emotional scenes, or to the plight of the pregnant lassies whose life changes for the worse no matter what...it's just that I can't connect with or care about anyone in these gefilte-fished, stuffed with mashed boneless smelly glop, chapters. Trying too hard to Make Art is my diagnosis of what caused me to stop wanting to flip pages.

Dammit! I need a new Italian procedural series to be addicted to since Camilleri's dead! show less

This is the first book in the Giuseppe Lojacono e i Bastardi di Pizzofalcone series and it hooked me straight away. No wonder, I love di Govanni's Commissario Ricciardi series too, which I haven't finished yet.
But now to this book. Inspector Lojacono has been transferred from Sicily to Naples. His Napoletan superior does not want Lojacono to have anything to do with a current case. He is supposed to spend his time doing nothing, playing games on the computer, in the office. While on night shift, he is involuntarily called to a murder case, where he arrives even before his superior. A young man is found dead with a shot in the neck. Only Lojacono notices the wet handkerchiefs in an alcove; everyone else immediately jumps into the show more investigation with the suspicion that the mafia is to blame. Lojacono does not agree with them and the only one who listens to him is the tough prosecutor Laura Piras. She takes him into the special commission, which Lojacono's superior does not like. There are more murders until they can solve the mystery. It is a vendetta that began years ago but is only now being carried out. The themes of abortion and drugs are at the forefront.
I will definitely continue with this series. show less