Rating: 
Summary: Let Zen Live!
Review: I am ready to sacrifice many things in this life. But I am not prepared to accept Michael Dibden's dispatching Aurelio Zen to the afterlife at the end of BLOOD RAIN. As much as I love Freeling, Leon, Simenon, or even Le Carre, I am not prepared to live without another Zen. I can live with Holmes going over the falls with Morriarity, or Clarice going off to Jamaica with Dr. Lecter, but I can't live without another Zen novel. My copies get worn from rereading. Please, Mr. Dibden, tell us it ain't so.
Dibden writes as evocatively about Italy as Barzini or Leon Battista Alberti or.... He and Zen should go forward. Avanti! Sempre!
Rating:
Summary: Another Winner
Review: I discovered Michael Dibdin only recently and have eagerly devoured all his books. I especially like the Aurelio Zens. These books are so much more than mysteries--they're about politics, culture, human nature, and that student of same, Zen himself. This latest does not disappoint. From Rome, to Venice, to Naples, Zen has worried about being sent to Sicily. Once he gets there, his worst fears are confirmed. Zen tries to stay out of the way, but fate has other things in mind for him.The mood and tone in Blood Rain is intense, personal and sad. Some of the scenes are distinctly dreamlike, a quality that persists right to the end. An excellent read.
Rating: 
Summary: Zen lives....
Review: I really enjoyed this latest entry in the Aurelio Zen series. The writing style is wonderful as is the texture; makes me want to go back to Italy. Like some other reviewers, I also thought that Zen died at the end. Fortunately, that is not the case. Following is an excerpt from a recent Q&A with Michael Dibdin, as published by The London Times: Question: Mr Dibdin, I thought at the end of the last A. Zen book, our hero was killed. Did I misread? The circularity of much of the movement in the book, traced for the reader in a fatalistic manner, combined with the seemingly deepened cynicism about Italian governmental corruption led me to conclude that you had had it with this series. I am very glad that you are continuing, but did I completely misread the previous book? Sam Garren, Greensboro, NC, USA. Answer: A lot of readers thought the same thing, so the answer is obviously no, I miswrote it. The idea was that Zen had to emerge with some physical damage from his Sicilian posting - lest it appear an insult to all the real policemen and magistrates who have been killed there - and combine this with a tongue-in-cheek homage to the old cliff-hanger ending so dear to the thriller/mystery genre. Nice try but but no cigar, Dibdin. Oh well ... Fans of Dibdin might like to read the entire article. Just go to ... and do a search on Dibdin's name. Interesting reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Not My Favorite
Review: In this installment of the Aurelio Zen series. our police inspector finds himself as part of an anti-Mafia taskforce in Mafia--not an assignment he particularly requested as he has avoided being relocated to Sicily ever since his debacle in Venice three books prior to this one.
Here the mystery in underplayed and Zen's life is looked upon from a melancholy aspect--his life just barely survives two major personal jolts and then is almost fatally threatened again in an 'explosive' cliffhanger.
Zen's usual cynicism does not serve him well in Mafia country;his bleak pessimism regarding the status of his life at this point needs the jolt it receives at the end of the novel. I kept comparing Zen to the Pazzi character in the Thomas Harris novel 'Hannibal'--while his intentions were good, whatever he did virtually amounted to nothing as powers greater than his were at work to sabotage his frail efforts.
This installment is not that difficult to follow, again I recommend reading the books in order so that the full impact of Zen's mental state is appreciated.
Recommended only because it is part of the series.
Rating:
Summary: The Very Best
Review: Mr. Dibdin and his Aurelio Zen books are the finest suspense fiction around. These are rare books. You read very word. It is the same with this latest one. May they continue.
Rating:
Summary: Three ways to find a great new Author
Review: Recently I have found a series of new writers that were unknown to me. I understand the number of books offered on a given day is enormous, but those worth the time it takes to read them are comparatively few. Some book jackets compare one Author to another, as was the case here. I had never heard of Mr. Dibdin or this series of Aurelio Zen mysteries, and if you haven't either, something special by a gifted Author awaits your attention. If you enjoyed the late Mario Puzzo's Sicily, this particular installment, "Blood Rain", is for you. Very little is as it appears the first, second, or third time you read it during this story. Mr. Dibdin has the ability to sustain the uncertainty of the tale's direction and outcome until you literally are at the final page. What you feel you have learned even at that point is still open to question. None of this is done so as to be cliché, no surprise lurks around a corner. One of the skills Mr. Dibdin is so good at is knocking you off your chair when there is absolutely no reason to expect it. The brilliant part is, even though he surprises you, he has laid the basis for his moment, and still you really are stunned. I know it sounds trite, but you will not see the event coming. You may find yourself flipping back a few pages thinking you missed a clue, but don't bother looking; you missed nothing, no pages stuck together. The Author manipulates his readers with subtlety and perhaps a bit of guile. One other element I enjoyed was the length. The book can be comfortably read in a sitting for it is only as long as it needs to be. Mr. Dibdin does not feel the need to produce 600 pages when 272 will do. He needed 272, no more or less, and you are rewarded for it. The other 2 ways to find these new writers, you can follow the links of what others have bought on Amazon, you will turn up new Authors faster than you may think. The other alternative is to get down on the floor of a bookstore, your face nearly on the carpet. There, if you are lucky you will find these wonderful books. In more ways than one they are holding up many "marquee authors" that are on the top shelves, as foundations are the strength of any sound structure. On the top shelf does not mean top shelf quality. I don't mean to be pretentious; it is just that I am tired of plowing through, clicking through, around and around the latest book with an initial run of millions of copies, to find someone or something new. Read Mr. Dibdin you will not be disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: This Book is an exciting time travel adventure book.
Review: This Book is an exciting time travel adventure book that seems to take you to the corner of the nexus of the universe, in so many wonderful zen ways.
Rating:
Summary: Gritty and beguiling
Review: This is Dibdin at his best - Aurelio Zen continues his litany of faults, idiosyncracies and insights into the most dangerous and beguiling scenario of his career. Caught between feelings for his almost daughter, Carla, and his need to solve the crime, Zen is drawn further into a truly perfect web. The end is traumatic and yet absolutely perfect -- you just have to read your way here.
Rating:
Summary: Gritty and beguiling
Review: This is Dibdin at his best - Aurelio Zen continues his litany of faults, idiosyncracies and insights into the most dangerous and beguiling scenario of his career. Caught between feelings for his almost daughter, Carla, and his need to solve the crime, Zen is drawn further into a truly perfect web. The end is traumatic and yet absolutely perfect -- you just have to read your way here.
Rating:
Summary: Can't wait for the next Zen book
Review: This one I wanted to slow down, so as not to miss any of the atmosphere, any of the detail. Having fallen in love with Italy, I could feel I was there, a part of the intrigue. Good fun. Great read. The essence of light.
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