A Small Death in Lisbon

Rating:
Summary: Noir-est finest kind of reading, don't miss it
Review: This is finest-kind of reading. Superb noir novel, then (Nazi Germany) and now (the present in Portugal). The first 30 or so pages are a jumble but it sorts out after that to be a terrific read. Really. Ok, ok, finest kind, of the could-not-put-down category. Can't wait to read more from Wilson.

Rating:
Summary: Decent Thriller
Review: This is essentially two books; an espionage story set largely in Portugal during WWII and a police procedural in contemporary Portugal. The WWII story sets the stage for the contemporary mystery. Wilson is a competent writer and each story is handled fairly well. These two threads are brought together at the end in a needlessly complicated conclusion. There is a good deal of gratuitous, both in the conventional sense and in the sense that it doesn't really advance the plot, violence and sex. Books with repeated scenes of rape are usually not very appealing.

Rating:
Summary: Absorbing, Haunting Tale - Carefully Structured Novel
Review: A Small Death In Lisbon was awarded the Golden Dagger for the Best Crime/Suspense Novel of 1999. Much of the critical praise on the dust jacket is clearly justified. Robert Wilson has crafted a complex, haunting tale of events in Portugal's fascist past that inevitably lead to a sordid murder of a young disturbed, promiscuous girl in modern Lisbon. Carefully structured with a fascinating historical setting populated by absorbing characters - all this and more, and yet I am unable to give five stars to A Small Death In Lisbon.

No one point in Robert Wilson's tale is excessively brutal, nor excessively graphic, and yet Wilson seemingly skirts on the edge of being so. In a slow, cumulative fashion A Small Death in Lisbon became somewhat distasteful and depressing. I had a sense of relief when I was able to set aside this novel. Many readers may not share my response and I don't wish to overemphasize my reaction. I have little difficulty giving four stars to A Small Death in Lisbon.

Robert Wilson is to be commended for his skill in weaving together the past and the present. Wilson bridges the initially separate story lines - WWII Nazi intrigue to acquire wolfram from Portugal and a contemporary investigation of a brutal crime in Lisbon - with a disturbing portrait of Portugal's intervening years under the fascist Salazar regime. A Small Death in Lisbon is an absorbing, haunting tale.

Rating:
Summary: An Artificial Grand Drama Without Weight and/or Depth
Review: Two seemingly unconnected stories are described alternately. In 1941 during WW2, Klaus Felsen, a German industrialist, is forced by Nazis to take a command of the tungsten procurement operation in Portugal. In 199*, Ze Coehlo, a police inspector, investigates a murder case of a 15-year-old girl in Lisbon.

The idea is very interesting, but I am quite disappointed. This novel is too artificial and it lacks weight and/or depth as a grand drama of a half century. Coehlo's story is tedious and Felsen's story is hasty. Especially, I lose interest when Felsen, a likable man in the beginning, turns into a savage brute too rapidly. It might be a little better if his change were described more slowly and carefully. And the conclusion may be elaborate, but it is too artificial.


Rating:
Summary: A sad tale about the cycle of sexual deviance
Review: Inspector Ze Coelho investigates the 1990 murder of a teenage girl who seems to have slept around a lot. However, the key to the murder is buried in Portugal's past. The tale begins in 1941 when an SS officer comes to Lisbon, Portugal to smuggle the precious metal, wolfram, for Hitler's blitzkrieg. Even though it was well-plotted and rich with details, the tale was a bit too drawn-out for me. Readers who are more familiar with the 1974 revolution or Salazar's rule will appreciate this book more than I did.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic book....
Review: until the conclusion. I really thought this was one of the finest books I've ever read until I reached the conclusion. The ending was so complicated and bizarre I couldn't understand it. This was definitely one of the strangest books I've read in that regard.

The beginning of the book was so good that I had to give it a fair grade.

Rating:
Summary: "The obscure talent of wolfram."
Review:
In the 1990's a vile crime is committed in Portugal, a teen-aged girl brutally slain and discarded on a beach near the home of Inspector Ze Coelho. The Inspector is called to the scene, paired with a young officer, although there are few clues to begin the murder investigation. Meanwhile the inspector and his colleague examine every fragment of evidence, tracking the final day of Catarina's sordid and misdirected life, her innocence destroyed by sex, drugs and emotional abuse.

Then the story backtracks to Germany 1941, where evil prevails, in stark relief to the ambiguity of everyday violence in the 1990's. Unbridled power dominates the eerie blackness of the Reich years, unparalleled opportunity, greed, avarice and lust. Rendered more compliant after a few days of torture, Klaus Felsen, a successful factory owner, is cashiered into the SS. His job for the Reich is critical, purchasing or poaching a particular metal need by the Reich. Lisbon is his base of operations, near the source of the metal, wolfram. Clearly the corrupt fingers of the past reach out to poison the future, where Inspector Coelho has just begun gathering information for the case of the murdered girl in Lisbon.

Wilson moves masterfully from one era to another, from modern-day Portugal to the great cataclysm of World War II and German mining interests. No sooner does he slip into Lisbon's heated rhythms and Coelho's unique style of detective work, than Wilson plunges back into the abyss of Felsen's nightmarish world, where brutality is a by-product of the Reich mentality. The dark mysteries of history are slowly revealed, depositing fetid secrets and infamous deeds into the present, emphasizing the need to disguise the truth behind a facade, a world hiding from its ugly past. The men who have survived and profited from the war years, now respectable, have much to fear and a serious mistrust of one another.

As Coelho slowly unravels the complicated threads that link past actions to the murdered Caterina, the stark simplicity of practiced evil is shattering, repulsive and part of an ongoing human drama. In the clear light of day, the same parasites thrive on the underbelly of society, the same sick souls that inhabit every century. But the inspector has seen much of what life has to offer and is resolute, dogged even, in his pursuit of the truth. Nothing, absolutely nothing is what it seems. As Coelho discovers, there is always another layer, yet another level of mankind's depravity. We should learn through the repetition of our mistakes; Coelho understands: "It is a personal thing and people are vengeful creatures, which is why history will never teach us anything."

This is a remarkable and powerful novel, beautifully structured, with characters that make your skin crawl and others who inspire hope. The complicated series of events build to a satisfying resolution in a thoughtful novel that will stay in your mind long after the last page is turned. Luan Gaines/2004.




Rating:
Summary: OK murder mystery, good premise
Review: I was disappointed after reading through so much difficult story to get to the end. The killer came out of no where... not believable at all. It was all too tidy and trite. And the relationship between Carlos & Olivia was ridiculous. Give me a break. Only a male author would write such nonsense. Oh yeah, and the father's just going to be fine with it, yeah OK. I just felt it was a farfetched story to begin with.
It was a dark and dreary, seedy and grizzly novel, and I did not care much for it. It was also very confusing at times. I didn't have as much trouble with Umberto Eco as I had with this novel.

Rating:
Summary: Kept Me Interested
Review: Klaus Felsen is a peasant-turned-businessman living in Berlin during the start of World War II. A playboy with good economical instincts, he is chosen by the Nazi regime to head a wolfram-smuggling operation in Portugal.

Ze Coelho is a widowed police inspector trying to raise a teenage daughter on the Portuguese coast when the body of a young girl is found on the beach near his home. During the summer of 1999, he is paired with an inexperienced partner to undertake the mystery of the girl's murder.

Add Berlin nightclub owner Eva Bruckë, Portuguese businessman Joaquim Abrantes, bank owner Miguel Rodrigues, and retired lawyer Dr. deOliver, and you have Robert Wilson's film noir drama, "A Small Death in Lisbon". Alternating between World War II and the present, Wilson navigates two seemingly unrelated stories - one of murder, the other of deception - into a single tale of mystery and intrigue.

While the storytelling itself takes an interesting form, jumping between two different stories that eventually become one, Wilson is a bit sloppy in one way: he rushes bringing the tales together. During part one of the book, the stories alternate every four chapters. This speeds up during the second half, when viewpoints shift every other chapter to symbolize the passage of time. This approach does build some momentum, but I must admit that it did leave me a bit confused. And, while every character was believable, those mentioned at the book's start were more developed than those quickly rushed in toward the end.

A classical masterpiece? Not quite. However, "A Small Death in Lisbon" does provide an interesting read, and it kept me involved until the last page.

Rating:
Summary: Intelligent Murder Mystery
Review: Two seemingly unrelated plot lines: a World War II smuggling operation between Portugal and Germany and the 1998 murder of a teenaged girl in Lisbon. As the story unfolds, slowly and in exquisite detail, readers discover how the two are linked. Wilson's prose, characters, and dialogue are brilliant. Readers may need to keep a scoresheet to monitor the minor characters --most of whom end up playing pivotal roles in the outcome. A wonderful nuanced story of complexity and intelligence, with the requisite twist at the end.