A Death in Calabria

In this novel seven people are killed in NY and the investigation involves the police in the city, the FBI, Ferrara's team in Rome and forces in Calabria. There are many different people from the different institutions involved in the plot of the novel. Although the author attempts to give them some individuality and include details of their life (usually the state of their marriage) they become a little blurred and are not very convincing. Discovering the person who has committed the crime seems only an excuse for the author to show his knowledge on the procedure of international police collaboration, in this sense, the book is slightly weak as a 'detective' story. Also, the title seems to be wrong as there is more than one death and show more they do not happen in Calabria... very weird! It is not the best book by this author. show less

In this, the fourth book, Ferrara has been promoted to Rome to get him out of the way of politicos that he has upset. Much like the author he heads up a special squad but in doing so he becomes involved in the workings of international and global crime syndicates. This makes him suddenly seem like a little fish in a big pond and although the author tries to indicate the team work and methods used to capture international criminals it actually seems all the more lucky that any sort of justice occurs at all. A good quick read but the weakest of the four books.

While this was a fairly quick read I didn't think it was a good as his previous novels. He needs to send Ferrara back to Florence.

Plot 2/5 A bit convoluted, not entirely convincing but obviously related to real life experience
Writing 3/5 translation doesn't quite work sometimes.
Character development 2/5
Overall: nicely paced thriller, but not special.

The latest, but the most disappointing of Giuttari's novels. He has probably extended himself on this novel.