A review by kleonard
The Girl from Venice by Martin Cruz Smith

3.0

Like all of Smith's books, The Girl from Venice is beautifully written and carefully plotted and paced. The evocations of the city and lagoon, its numerous small islands, and what it may have been like at the end of the Second World War are all things that make the book worth reading. But I felt that there was too much similarity between this book and Smith's breakout novel Gorky Park. Two men, both having had experience in a police state, both acquiescing to and resisting the regime in their own ways, both with the wrong wives who leave them for unpleasant men, seek to assist or help or save a smart, beautiful, passionate young woman who is a political liability. Cenzo is just too much like an Italian Arkady Renko; Giulia, Irina Asanova. Ultimately, things are too easy: of course Cenzo has the unexpected necessary skills and knowledge to get them out of danger.

I received my copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway.