Title: Nice setting, weak plot
Product review: I read this novel because I have a professional interest in Venice. After David Hewson's truly dreadful 'Lucifer's Shadow', also set in the city, this was a relatively pallatable novel. But it has some serious failings. Firstly Zen doesn't really exhibit the attitudes and sensibilities of an Italian police officer, but rather that of a well-educated middle class Englishman - i.e. what the author is. This becomes more and more obvious as the story goes on. The second big problem is the way the plot simply fizzles out. There are few, if any, real surprises or revelations, which is rather a let down. Also, like other British authors before him, Dibdin cannot resist reminding us at every turn how mysterious Venice is: the fogs, the creepy narrow streets, the smelly canals and crumbling palazzos, etc etc etc. The trouble is, it's all too familiar. We've all seen it, or at least seen the movies set there.
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