Probably a 3.75. Paints a rich picture or Italy, warts and all, and Zen is a wonderfully painted character even if rather flawed and not necessarily that likable. ( )

Billionaire building contractor Oscar Burolo, along with his wife and some guests, is gunned down in his apparently impregnable fortress like villa on Sardinia. Seedy political fixer Renato Favelloni, a go-between for Burolo and prominent Italian politicians, is languishing in jail awaiting trial for the murders. Zen is tasked with filing a report on the investigation thus far when he is approached by an agent of a Government coalition member, fearful of the political repercussions should Favelloni go to court, who wants Zen to travel to Sardinia to frame somebody else (preferably a young man who has been videotaped by Burolo having wild sex with the billionaire's wife) instead in the process getting Favelloni released.

Zen is struggling to fit in with his new work colleagues who don't seem to trust him, he has been pick-pocketed recently and someone has broken into his flat making a veiled death threat. He is having problems on an emotional level as well. His mother who seems to be suffering from some sort of dementia is living with him, his American girlfriend has left him and he is falling for another police officer, Tania Biacis, only she is married. So Zen travels to Sardinia without telling anyone what he is doing to try and break the case without irritating his superiors. Once on the island Zen is confronted by a killer he mistakenly put in jail, based on a police informant's lying testimony, 20 years previously who is now out for revenge.

Despite this being only the second book of the series and he has only recently been promoted to the prestigious Criminalpol division Zen is already disillusioned. He has realised that getting a result might not be the same thing as catching an actual culprit. But he is also a pragmatist who realises that this is how the game is to be played if he wants to survive or even get ahead.

In fact this element of the book is it's real strength. Dibdin portrays well the differing rivalries between both individuals and organisations, the petty bureaucracy and back scratching that seems so prevalent in Italian society even is these match only stereotypes rather than reality.

What lets the book down for me was the actual investigation such as it is. Zen seemed like an ass being led around by it's nose who seemed incapable of actually uncovering any real facts himself despite some pretty loaded hints for the reader. Nor is Zen particularly likeable. He seems shallow and self interested, even his infatuation with Tania seems to be down to the fact that she is simply there rather than any real emotional capacity.

This is my first Zen novel and whilst I haven't been totally put off reading more of them neither will I be rushing out to grab them all. ( )

I like the setting: Italy. I like the prose: clear. There are insights that make me pause: "On a day to day level this had been no more apparent than the movement of a clock's hands. It had taken this crisis to reveal the distance that now separated the two men." ( )

It was not my usual crime/detective novel read. Maybe that's why it took me longer to get to the last pages. I missed the fast-paced style of most contemporary crime novels. Though, the slow development of the case is not a disadvantage, the story gradually builds and eventually picks up speed as the case is solved.
I might pick up another book by Michael Dibdin - though I am not in a hurry. ( )

It was not my usual crime/detective novel read. Maybe that's why it took me longer to get to the last pages. I missed the fast-paced style of most contemporary crime novels. Though, the slow development of the case is not a disadvantage, the story gradually builds and eventually picks up speed as the case is solved.
I might pick up another book by Michael Dibdin - though I am not in a hurry. ( )