A Season for the Dead

Rating:
Summary: Great Premier Novel to the Nic Costa Series
Review: A SEASON FOR THE DEAD is the first in a series of Italian crime thrillers set in Rome featuring Nic Costa as the protagonist. Costa, 27, is an atypical detective in the Rome Questura. He's a straight-laced, health conscious vegetarian and son of an infamous Communist party political organizer, who is dying. He has a passion for the works of Caravaggio.
Things get off to a fast start with a grotesque double homicide in a Roman church with strong similarities to an historic martyr killing within the early Church. Because the victims had ties to beautiful university professor Sara Farnese, she is put under the protective police custody of young Costa. As the plot unfolds with more similar deaths, there is a frantic search for the heinous serial killer who appears to have ties to the Vatican. The Vatican connection is difficult to investigate because of the turf battles between the Questura and the Vatican authorities. The locations used within Rome are off the tourist track and give the reader a better understanding of the underbelly of this great city. The novel is fast moving and exciting with lots of violence and some sex; and there are some unexpected surprises near the end. It brought back memories of Hewson's first novel SEMANA SANTA.
Hewson has created an exceptional array of supporting characters, albeit a few too many were non-Italians. Within the Questura, there is Costa's new partner, Luca Rossi and their hard-nosed boss Leo Falcone. Falcone is disliked by everyone, but is honest and determined. Terese Lupo, the police pathologist, is one very busy lady as the death toll mounts. Within the Vatican, we meet security head Brendan Hanrahan and Cardinal Denney, who has been recently disgraced due to the failure of his corrupt Banca Lombardia. Minor characters include a lesbian parliamentarian from Bologna, an American tourist guide, an overweight TV commentator, a whore from Kosovo, and a patron of the arts with Mafia ties.
Assuming David Hewson continues with the Nic Costa character, I welcome him to the ranks of Donna Leon, Michael Dibdin, Andrea Camilleri and others who entertain us with their series of Italian mysteries.

Rating:
Summary: Tight Suspense
Review: A serial killer is wandering the sweltering streets of Rome when Nic Costa and Luca Rosta begin their investigation into a series of murders depicting scenes of martydom from various painting - which all seem connected to Professor Sara Faranese; Nic has to discover this connection while being increasily drawn to Sara.

I found the Italian police both frustrating and intriguing along with the inner workings of the Vatacian and Cardinal Denney's relationship with Sara (which confuses Nic even more for Sara is a very complex and sexually active women.)

You'll find yourself asking 'why' around every corner as you attempt to figure out this more than interesting, more than run of the mill, more than the same of crime drama - mystery - and it'll be worth every page you turn!

Rating:
Summary: This Tale is a Dark Delight and a Compelling Read
Review: David Hewson is already well-known overseas as a writer with the ability to craft extremely intelligent novels that at once viscerally entertain and intellectually challenge. While he is relatively unknown in the United States, the publication of A SEASON FOR THE DEAD will change that status for him, and do so immediately.

A SEASON FOR THE DEAD begins in the Reading Room of The Vatican. Sara Farnese is an attractive, enigmatic scholar whose field of study is early Christianity. Her tranquil examination of an ancient document is violently disturbed when a colleague, and former lover, bursts into the library waving a gun, dumps a grisly trophy of a violent crime on her desk, and repeats a puzzling quotation before he is shot dead by Vatican guards. Two bodies are subsequently found in a nearby church. Detective Nic Costa of the Italian police is one of the investigators on the case, a riveting, complex character who is a student of the painter Caravaggio and the son of a famous Italian Communist.

Costa is almost immediately drawn to Farnese. The attraction becomes all the more intense when subsequent murders begin to occur throughout Rome, each act replicating the martyrdom of a saint and each victim having an intimate tie to Farnese. Costa becomes infatuated with Farnese in spite of himself, knowing that Farnese is not telling what she knows about the murders and the victims. In order to find the killer, Costa must unravel a pattern of deceit, dishonesty and treachery that leads into the heart of the Vatican itself, a city nation that has its own layers of quiet duplicity.

Hewson is one of those writers with a fine eye for background detail, and his ability to detail the machinations of the delicate balance between Rome and Vatican City while describing the churches, thoroughfares and people who have earned Rome the title of "The Eternal City" is quietly breathtaking. Hewson additionally possesses two rare abilities. The first is the ability to take his reader through an increasingly complex plot step by step with a minimum of confusion and puzzlement. One could be totally unfamiliar with the Vatican and the early history of the Roman Catholic Church and still feel comfortable with the progression of A SEASON FOR THE DEAD. Hewson also renders comprehensible the history and the scandal of Banca Lombardia in a few pages, a feat that some writers have been unable to accomplish within an entire book! Hewson's other major ability is his penchant for creating strong secondary characters who do not overwhelm the protagonist(s), but instead assist in moving the story along. The result is a tale that is a dark delight, a story that one is compelled to read at one sitting while simultaneously wishing it will never end.

There have been some comparisons between A SEASON FOR THE DEAD and THE DA VINCI CODE. I suppose that some comparison is inevitable, given that A SEASON FOR THE DEAD deals to some extent with the Roman Catholic Church and paintings that are linked to a series of murders in Rome. Such comparisons are ultimately unfair to both books, particularly to A SEASON FOR THE DEAD, which can certainly stand alone and be judged on its own considerable merits.

The sequel to A SEASON FOR THE DEAD is about to be published in Europe, and several more volumes in the series are planned. The introduction of Nic Costa to these shores, while overdue, is most welcome, and will undoubtedly herald the success of future novels from Hewson involving Costa and the Italian police.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

Rating:
Summary: Bravo for "A Season for the Dead"
Review: Having recently returned from Rome, I found this book to be a fascinating and a compelling murder mystery set in the Eternal City. The heat literally and figuratively rises as young Nic Costa tracks a serial killer through the streets and churches of Rome. He weaves through the gauntlet of legal blocks from the Vatican and a complex yet attractive crucial witness.

David Hewson vividly captures the dark shadows of the dolce vita in Rome. The characters are intelligent yet tragically flawed and create terrific tension and suspense. This book is definitely not a cure for insomnia as I have spent several nights up late voraciously reading towards the end.

Rating:
Summary: Taut crime / thriller
Review: I very much enjoyed this book. It will appeal to and be sought out by readers of series crime novels set in vividly depicted locations. Readers of Michael Dibdin's Aurelio Zen series, which features another Rome-based cop, Donna Leon's Inspector Brunetti, and Barbara Nadel's Istanbul cop, Inspector Ikmen should enjoy this as well.

The identity of the killer is unknown to the reader for about the first half of the book. It is then revealed to the reader, so in that sense there is no last-page denoument. However, there are other mysteries around motivation that propel the mystery forward and keep the reader guessing til (almost) the end!

If you are squeamish about fairly graphic depictions of violence you may not be as drawn to this book. I compare it to some of the scenes in, for example, Carol O'Connell's 'Killing Critics', featuring New York cop Mallory.

Hewson manages to depict a sense of place very successfully, so Rome assumes an identity as a 'character' alongside the human protagonists. Anyone with an interest in the art of Caravaggio will be equally enthralled, as Nic Costa, the young main character cop, is an afficianado. There is some vivid imagery involving several of the paintings of that 17th century Roman 'badboy'.

Rating:
Summary: An interesting unique crime drama.
Review: Rome is stifling under the summer heat when a serial killer begins a spree that leaves the dead posing as a martyred victim of Roman Catholic Church excessive zeal. Detective partners Nic Costa and Luca Rosta finds few beneficial clues and not much cooperation from the Vatican hierarchy though the first deceased was found in a reading room on the premises.

However, their inquiries lead them to the professor of early Christianity Sara Farnese who witnessed the death in the reading room and may be the next target. Nic is immediately attracted to the beautiful academia though her past is shrouded and her sexual behavior seems mirthless and sad. As Nic and Luca dig deeper, the former wonders how the woman he is falling in love is linked to the high profile homicide case and what is her relationship is with dishonored Cardinal Michael Denney.

This is a special Italian police procedural that will intrigue readers due to the opposite pulls that yank at a beleaguered Nic. His reaction to Sara who at worst case may have committed murder and apparently at best sleeping with the sullied Cardinal fogs his brain while he and his partner try to do the right thing. His struggles make A SEASON FOR DEAD an interesting unique crime drama.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: An interesting unique crime drama.
Review: Rome is stifling under the summer heat when a serial killer begins a spree that leaves the dead posing as a martyred victim of Roman Catholic Church excessive zeal. Detective partners Nic Costa and Luca Rosta finds few beneficial clues and not much cooperation from the Vatican hierarchy though the first deceased was found in a reading room on the premises.

However, their inquiries lead them to the professor of early Christianity Sara Farnese who witnessed the death in the reading room and may be the next target. Nic is immediately attracted to the beautiful academia though her past is shrouded and her sexual behavior seems mirthless and sad. As Nic and Luca dig deeper, the former wonders how the woman he is falling in love is linked to the high profile homicide case and what is her relationship is with dishonored Cardinal Michael Denney.

This is a special Italian police procedural that will intrigue readers due to the opposite pulls that yank at a beleaguered Nic. His reaction to Sara who at worst case may have committed murder and apparently at best sleeping with the sullied Cardinal fogs his brain while he and his partner try to do the right thing. His struggles make A SEASON FOR DEAD an interesting unique crime drama.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: a good and compelling read
Review: The first novel in a series that is to feature police detective Nic Costa, "A Season for the Dead" proved to be a swiftly paced, taut, police thriller that kept me happily engrossed until I reached the last page.

While the August heat wave bakes the city of Rome (and the few locals left in the city), university professor Sara Farenese sits coolly in the Vatican Library Reading Room perusing Apicius. But unexpected violence soon rocks her remote academic world when a colleague, Stefano Rinaldi, bursts into the room with a gun and a bag. Even as Sara watches, horrorstruck, Stefano flings the contents of the bag on her desk, announces that "the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church," and is killed by the panic stricken Swiss Guards. But this is just the first in a series of increasingly horrifically violent murders. Hampered by Vatican politics (the Vatican is treated as a separate country and as such the Roman police have no jurisdiction there and are totally dependent on whatever help -- or non-help -- that the Vatican security will give) the police are hard pressed to figure what's going on and stop the mad killer. For young police detective Nic Costa and his partner, Luca Rossi, first at the scene of Rinaldi's death due to happenstance, this is the case that will change their lives and outlooks forever. Moved by Sara's beauty, remoteness and silent anguish, Nic is further drawn to Sara (much to the dismay of Rossi) when the realization dawns that she is somehow at the center of all the madness that is going on. But Sara refuses to be more forthcoming, and Nic is loathe to push her or to believe the worst. Will he have cause to regret his reluctance? What dark secret is Sara hiding, and how will it impact the investigation?

For mystery buffs who enjoy tautly paced thrillers, "A Season for the Dead" will be a real treat. David Hewson has written an intelligent and engrossing mystery novel, that is complex, suspenseful and that has some truly stunning plot twists. Hewson's ability to describe the city of Rome and the Vatican, and to portray all the various power plays that makes these two cities go 'round is brilliantly done as well. If I had any criticism is was that the main characters (save for Nic's father, Marco and the police pathologist, "crazy" Teresa) are at times very remote and that it is rather difficult to relate to them or to figure out their motivation. However, aside from this one criticism, I found "A Season for the Dead" to be an incredibly intelligent and suspenseful read, and head and shoulders above the other novels that dwell (in a rather fantastical manner sometimes) on Vatican shenanigans and history.

Rating:
Summary: a good and compelling read
Review: The first novel in a series that is to feature police detective Nic Costa, "A Season for the Dead" proved to be a swiftly paced, taut, police thriller that kept me happily engrossed until I reached the last page.

While the August heat wave bakes the city of Rome (and the few locals left in the city), university professor Sara Farenese sits coolly in the Vatican Library Reading Room perusing Apicius. But unexpected violence soon rocks her remote academic world when a colleague, Stefano Rinaldi, bursts into the room with a gun and a bag. Even as Sara watches, horrorstruck, Stefano flings the contents of the bag on her desk, announces that "the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church," and is killed by the panic stricken Swiss Guards. But this is just the first in a series of increasingly horrifically violent murders. Hampered by Vatican politics (the Vatican is treated as a separate country and as such the Roman police have no jurisdiction there and are totally dependent on whatever help -- or non-help -- that the Vatican security will give) the police are hard pressed to figure what's going on and stop the mad killer. For young police detective Nic Costa and his partner, Luca Rossi, first at the scene of Rinaldi's death due to happenstance, this is the case that will change their lives and outlooks forever. Moved by Sara's beauty, remoteness and silent anguish, Nic is further drawn to Sara (much to the dismay of Rossi) when the realization dawns that she is somehow at the center of all the madness that is going on. But Sara refuses to be more forthcoming, and Nic is loathe to push her or to believe the worst. Will he have cause to regret his reluctance? What dark secret is Sara hiding, and how will it impact the investigation?

For mystery buffs who enjoy tautly paced thrillers, "A Season for the Dead" will be a real treat. David Hewson has written an intelligent and engrossing mystery novel, that is complex, suspenseful and that has some truly stunning plot twists. Hewson's ability to describe the city of Rome and the Vatican, and to portray all the various power plays that makes these two cities go 'round is brilliantly done as well. If I had any criticism is was that the main characters (save for Nic's father, Marco and the police pathologist, "crazy" Teresa) are at times very remote and that it is rather difficult to relate to them or to figure out their motivation. However, aside from this one criticism, I found "A Season for the Dead" to be an incredibly intelligent and suspenseful read, and head and shoulders above the other novels that dwell (in a rather fantastical manner sometimes) on Vatican shenanigans and history.

Rating:
Summary: Unusual thriller
Review: The story opens in a Vatican reading room where a professor brandishing both a gun and an epidermis is shot to death by the Vatican guards. Shortly thereafter, two more bodies are found killed in a most grotesque manner. Nic Costa, a young Roman detective is assigned to the case. At the forefront of the murders is university professor Sara Fornese. Sara is linked to each of the victims. The puzzle deepens as more people are murdered, each one representative of the death of a martyr of the Church. Sara is put into Nic's protective custody while trying to unravel truth from fiction.

This is one of the more unusual thrillers that I have read in a long time due to the setting and the uniqueness of the characters. The story has more than one mystery embedded within, and the beautifully maintained suspense increases until the very end. Hewson has woven an intense, complex plot that takes us on a realistic journey into the life of abuse and co-dependency. This was an intriguing debut for the protagonist of Nic Costa. The only real complaint is that the violence was very, very graphic. I would recommend this book to readers who are not squeamish