The Darkest Winter by Carlo Lucarelli (translated by Joseph Farrell)

I'm delighted to help mark the publication of The Darkest Winter by Carlo Lucarelli,  translated from the Italian by Joseph Farrell, with my stop on the blog tour. Many thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for my invitation and to the publisher of my review copy. 

The Blurb

In November 1944, in the worst winter ever known in Bologna, in the depths of the war, the bomb-scarred streets are home to starving refugees who have fled the advancing Allies. The Fascist Black Brigades, the officers of the S.S. and the partisans of the Italian Resistance compete for control of the city streets in bloody skirmishes.

Comandante De Luca, who has proved himself "the most brilliant investigator" in Bologna, but who is now unwillingly working for the Political Police in a building that doubles as a torture facility, finds himself in trouble when three murders land on his desk: a professor shot through the eye, an engineer beaten to death, and a German corporal left to be gnawed on by rats in a flooded cellar.

De Luca must rapidly unravel all three cases with ten lives on the line: ten Italian hostages who will face a Nazi firing squad if the corporal's killing is not solved to the German command's satisfaction.

As he navigates a web of personal and political motivations – his life increasingly at risk – De Luca will not stop until he has uncovered the dangerous secrets concealed in the frozen heart of his city.

The Darkest Winter is published in the UK by Open Borders Press (an Orenda Books imprint) and released today.

My Review

Well, The Darkest Winter has it all going on! Set in 1944 Bologna, ex policeman De Luca, now a member of the Political Police, almost accidentally comes across three dead bodies in a small area of the city over a short period of time. He is then tasked to solve all three - one for his own people, one for the resistance and one for the Germans. And the fates of ten innocent Italians rest on the latter. Poor De Luca has a heavy weight on his shoulders, although for some of the enquiries he is helped, or maybe that should be hindered,  by policeman Petrarca. 

The setting of this book was so interesting to me, as I knew nothing about Italy, particularly Bologna, during the war, so it was great to learn about it. The author paints a very vivid picture for the reader. I could imagine the animals in the street, where refugees from the countryside have brought them to the designated safe area where they will hopefully be safe from bombs and danger. And the fear that De Luca and his colleagues have for the Germans is well described. 

This is a book you really need to focus on, as there are three different murders to solve, each involving different personnel with different titles. There is a very helpful glossary at the end of the book but I must confess I occasionally struggled to follow things, and sometimes got confused with dialogue as to which character was talking. But overall, I followed along fine and really enjoyed the three storylines. 

The characters are really well drawn. My favourite was Vilma, secretary to De Luca's boss - she was particularly colourful. De Luca came across as a fairly isolated man, but one who loved getting his teeth into crime solving, as he had done when he was a regular policeman. He's dogged and determined, doesn't give up, even in the face of opposition. I worried about all the sleep he was losing, though! 

Overall I really enjoyed The Darkest Winter, a crime novel containing three twisty storylines and a great protagonist in the centre of it all. The characterisation is brilliant but, I think, for me, the best part was getting a completely different view of life in wartime, and learning more about the situation in Italy at that time. Great. 

The Author

Carlo Lucarelli was born in Parma in 1960. While researching for his thesis on the history of Italian law enforcement, he became intrigued by the Italian police force’s role in the political upheavals of the 1940s during and after the Second World War. From this seed sprouted his De Luca trilogy, later to grow into an oeuvre of more than twenty crime novels focusing on various characters. Lucarelli hosted the popular late night Italian television programme Blu notte misteri d'Italia, on unsolved crimes and mysteries, and he is the founder of the Italian crime-writing collective Gruppo 13. He is also a journalist and has worked for multiple Italian newspapers.


The Translator

Joseph Farrell is Professor Emeritus of Italian in the University of Strathclyde. He has also been theatre reviewer, translator of film scripts, novels and plays, and author of several works including a travelogue on Sicily, a biography of Dario Fo and Franca Rame as well as the biographical study, Robert Louis Stevenson in Samoa. His translations include works by Leonardo Sciascia, Vincenzo Consolo, Dario Fo and Valerio Varesi as well as Carlo Lucarelli.

The Night Stalker by Chris Carter #blogathon

On this bright sunny day, even here in Scotland, I've got a slice of the dark for today's post because we're on the next instalment of the epic Chris Carter blogathon and today I'm presenting my review of the third Robert Hunter book, The Night Stalker. And it's a tense, creepy one! My thanks to Tracy Fenton at Compulsive Readers for inviting me on the tour. I read from my own e-copy.

 

The Blurb

When an unidentified female body is discovered laid out on a slab in an abandoned butcher's shop, the cause of death is unclear. Her body bears no marks; except for the fact that her lips have been carefully stitched shut.

It is only when the full autopsy gets underway at the Los Angeles County morgue that the pathologist will reveal the true horror of the situation - a discovery so devastating that Detective Robert Hunter of the Los Angeles Homicide Special Section has to be pulled off a different case to take over the investigation

But when his inquiry collides with a missing persons' case being investigated by the razor-sharp Whitney Meyers, Hunter suspects the killer might be keeping several women hostage. Soon Robert finds himself on the hunt for a murderer with a warped obsession, a stalker for whom love has become hate.

My Review

So we've reached the third book in the epic Robert Hunter series, and this was the most difficult read for me so far. It reads well as standalone, with plenty of back story, so don't worry if you haven't read the first two books, but I always think it's a richer reading experience if you read a series in order from the beginning.

The book opens with a bang - literally! Robert Hunter and Carlos Garcia find themselves investigating a murder knowing nothing about the murder or the identity of the victim. And that's just the beginning... They also cross paths with Whitney Myers, an ex cop turned PI, who is looking for a musician reported missing by her father. Hunter is impressed by Myers but he's also not a man who trusts easily. He is a fascinating character and we learn a wee bit more about him in this book - he can lip read, for example!

The storyline is tense throughout but especially so at the end which kept me right on edge. I'm not going to go into the story in any detail for fear of spoilers, but I found it a difficult read due to the nature of the crimes - there was a light on at night when I was alone in the house and reading this! . I think this might be a harder read for female readers, particularly. But all this series are on the darker side of dark crime, so as long as you're prepared for that going in, you'll be fine. And the plotline is satisfyingly twisty and complex with bits of science and psychology dropped in here and there. And the odd red herring. And plenty, plenty of threat and peril. 

From its explosive beginning to its nail biting end, The Night Stalker is a ride. Albeit a pitch black one. But it's a plot that won't let you go until it's wrung every emotion out of you, including sadness for the victims, but also the story behind it all, whilst horrifying and shocking, is sad as well. So, all in all, a satisfying read, but an uneasy one for me, that I've thought about a lot since I finished it. Strapping in now for part four!

The Author 

Born in Brazil of Italian origin, Chris Carter studied psychology and criminal behaviour in the USA. As a member of the District Attorney's Criminal Psychology team, and working together with the Police Department in numerous cases, he interviewed and studied many criminals, including serial and multiple homicide offenders with life imprisonment convictions. He now lives in London, UK.