Title – And Then You Die
Author – Michael Dibdin
Published – 2002
Genre – Crime fiction
Like most other bloggers, I started my blog with reviews of books I already owned and while it’s lovely to be given review copies, I’m still buying and being given books as presents that I want to read. So for September I’m skipping review copies and catching up on my own books.
One (of many) series that I am behind on are the Italian-set books by Michael Dibdin featuring Inspector Aurelio Zen. And Then You Die is the eight book in the series which started with CWA Gold Dagger winning Ratking in 1988. Despite his English roots Dibdin set the series in Italy and Zen is by birth a Venetian who has spent most of the series living and working in different areas of Italy. In Blood Rain, which preceded And Then You Die, Zen had been in Sicily and attracted the ire of the Mafia, ending in a devastating explosion.
And Then You Die opens in the coastal town of Versilia where Zen is both recuperating and lying low, but while he is trying to remain inconspicuous and blending in with the locals on the beach, a fellow sunbather is discovered dead. Those trying to ensure his protection in advance of a Mafia trial decide to move him and the first half of the book sees him relocated several times, with some more seemingly coincidental calamities wherever he goes. While the story is quite entertaining it’s not exactly gripping.
Finally, he is able to return to Rome where he is invited to head up a new specialist division and offered the opportunity to return to Versilia prior to taking up this role. This enables Zen to follow up on a love interest that had been hinted at during his earlier stay. Before he can become too involved, a face from the past returns and many of the loose ends from Blood Rain are tied up. This latter half of the book has more action, but still there’s nothing what I would recognise as a typical police procedural and felt more like a farce. I guess it didn’t help that it was some time since I had read Blood Rain and I don’t remember the story in enough detail to be overly worried by the previous events. Returning to the series Zen seems a somewhat diminished character and the book lack the dark humour I remembered from the before – or perhaps I’m just remembering it fondly…
At just 279 pages the book is more of a novella than a full length novel. For me, what it lacked in pages it also sadly lacked in plot. A disappointing read.
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