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nancyflanagan 's review for:
Unto Us a Son Is Given
by Donna Leon
It was a friend who suggested, about four months ago, that I take a look at Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti series, as a way of taking my mind off the pandemic. He said she was an intelligent writer and her Brunetti mysteries were unique--and set in Venice. That was the bait--Venice, and its people.
This is the fourth one I've read, and I have another on hold at the library. This is the first one I've given five stars to, although they've all been readable and interesting--and different. If you're looking for a tough-guy lead and books that end in shoot-outs, knifings or dangerous capture-the-bad-guy scenarios, Brunetti probably isn't for you. This book did involve a murder, but the motivation and circumstances, as in the other books, were complicated.
Not in a way that was difficult to understand--but complicated by human nature, and Italian law, and our unwillingness to believe the worst. Brunetti solves criminal actions by understanding people (and reading the classics, refusing to master computer searches, and talking to his wife). In most of the books, there are reminders that people don't trust the police. That, too, is refreshing in a crime novel, where police are supposed to be solving problems.
Four and and half stars, rounded up for the unique plotline.
This is the fourth one I've read, and I have another on hold at the library. This is the first one I've given five stars to, although they've all been readable and interesting--and different. If you're looking for a tough-guy lead and books that end in shoot-outs, knifings or dangerous capture-the-bad-guy scenarios, Brunetti probably isn't for you. This book did involve a murder, but the motivation and circumstances, as in the other books, were complicated.
Not in a way that was difficult to understand--but complicated by human nature, and Italian law, and our unwillingness to believe the worst. Brunetti solves criminal actions by understanding people (and reading the classics, refusing to master computer searches, and talking to his wife). In most of the books, there are reminders that people don't trust the police. That, too, is refreshing in a crime novel, where police are supposed to be solving problems.
Four and and half stars, rounded up for the unique plotline.