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2000s: You escaped. Your abductor is back and he wants to see you again
2000s: You escaped. Your abductor is back and he wants to see you again
Dante Torre spent eleven young years in captivity – held by a man known only as The Father – before outwitting his abductor. Now he works for the police force, and so when a young child goes missing in similar circumstances in Rome, Torre must confront the demons of his past to attempt to solve the case.
Paired with Deputy Captain Colomba Caselli, with problems of her own, all evidence suggests The Father is active after being dormant for so long
What’s more is that he’s looking forward to a reunion with Dante …
This is the Rome which you’ve never seen! From the narrow streets of Trastavere where Columba starts to like and realises she feels safe here to the wide boulevards where the whizz of travel and city noise masks what’s really happening in the shadows.
As well as the two protagonists racing around the streets investigating the unfolding crime, there are some nice moments of local flavour such as the bookstall in Piazza Cavour that Columba likes and the Forne La Renella which is described as “the best bakery in Rome”.
The action takes in the twists and turns of the narrow, cobbled streets leading to dead ends, red herrings and the frustration of the police trying to find one man in the crowds of the bustling metropolis. There’s plenty of homes visited and areas of the city:
“This was Rome, and she liked it precisely because it was dirty and nasty, even if that was something the tourists would never understand”
It all starts off with a crime scene in the nearby Vivaro mountains and valleys nearby. Monte Cavo is where the family at the start of the story is having a picnic when the horror starts to unfold. It’s also called “Monte Albano,” and is the second highest mountain of the complex of the Alban Hills. The site at the top has been many things such as a Pagan temple, hermitage, hotel, and station.
The city of Cremona is especially noted for its musical history and traditions, but in this thriller , the only soundtrack you’ll hear is that of blood curdling screams, secrets of the past and a gripping finale. Dante has many links to this place and he and Columba drive down the country lanes to places in and around this town in search of the truth. It is a unique landscape, one of discover and also fear.
In the street they drive to -in the Boshechetoo quarter – ” a street with twenty other identical houses that could told apart only by the colour of their garage doors”The small enclosed garden boasted magnificent cyclamen bushes and numerous garden gnomes”
Susan: @thebooktrailer
WOW What a ride of a book! From the first gory chapter, there’s no let up and the action, the chase for the truth comes thick and fast. The entire premise of the story coupled with one of the best duos in crime fiction – with their own set each of deliciously dark problems – I’ve read about in some time.
A man searches for the monster who imprisoned him for many many years. His colleague is a women who is off the police force recovering from what is only referred at first as “The disaster” and the two don’t like each other at first. They work together and bounce off each other in a way that is both fascinating to watch and understandable given their circumstances. The Father looms large throughout the story and he’s always in the shadows…
Gripping is not the word. The characterisation is spot on, the action never ending and the Rome and Cremona setting rocky, dangerous and enthralling. There’s unease and foreboding throughout made even more tense by Dante’s reactions to unfolding events. Seeing the case through the eyes of a former victim like him, is deliciously evil and grippingly good all at once. There’s some very dark issues in this book and a scientific theory that really makes you think = author’s research can be found at the back of the book, and if you’ve seen a certain movie, you will especially want to see more..
I have time to recover from this heck of a journey to Italy as the author’s next book is out next year – Kill The Angel, if the first four chapters are anything to go by mean that the rollercoaster is back and even more jaw dropping and stomach churning than ever!
Destination: Rome, Cremona Author/Guide: Sandrone Dazieri Departure Time: 2000s
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