The Deliverance of Evil Author: Visit Amazon's Roberto Costantini Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0857389300 | Format: EPUB
The Deliverance of Evil Description
- Paperback
- Publisher: Quercus Publishing (March 1, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0857389300
- ISBN-13: 978-0857389305
- Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 2 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
Many of the factors that other reviewers had noted as problematic for them are ones that don't tend to bother me that much. Length? Whatever. Some of the best novels I've read are 500 pages or more. Gritty, noir-like atmosphere? Sure; I've enjoyed lots of Scandicrime, not to mention Val McDermid. Unlikeable protagonist? Absolutely; bring him/her on. That just introduces a great layer of complexity into the plot.
What I dislike, however, is an author whose plot feels so out of control that I am constantly left bewildered and trying to puzzle things out. Costantini kicks this off with 150 pages revolving around an unsolved 1982 tragedy: the violent murder of young Elisa Sordi, a beautiful woman whom our main character, Roman cop Michele Balistreri, has lusted after and whose murder he fails to solve. Then we lurch forward in time, to 2005/2006, and meet Balistreri (whose tale is now -- inexplicably -- being told in the third person rather than the first person) trying to solve a series of other deaths. We're supposed to believe he feels guilty because he's jaded and exhausted -- but guilty about what? The author never makes this convincing. The number and nature of the crimes and suspects lead us all over the place, so I began feeling just as jaded as the fictional Balistreri, although my aversion to the tale could be directly linked to the lack of focus and uneven pacing. Every time I thought to myself, aha, this latest twist means that somehow these sprawling narratives will be tied up and we'll follow an interesting course to the end, the result was disappointing.
Eventually, I simply became fed up.
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