Category Archives: Valerio Varesi

Putting the mockers on (or thoughts on the CWA International Dagger Award 2011)

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Friday night (well Saturday morning my time) at the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate the winner of the CWA International Dagger award for 2011 will be announced.

Of the seven shortlisted novels I have read six (but ran out of puff for the seventh) and definitely have my favourites though I am almost reluctant to speculate on a winner given my notoriously poor form with such matters. Though perhaps it is a smidgen narcissistic to believe that my actions could have a negative outcome on the results?

The six books I have read (in order) are

So….there are three books (marked with *) that I would be happy to see win the award and only one that I would genuinely grizzle about if it were to win (marked with ^). Until two days ago I was madly hoping for a win by Needle in a Haystack but having finished Death on a Galician Shore this week there’s now stiff competition in my heart. On balance though I think Needle offers a more well-rounded reading experience through tackling some weightier issues and being more tightly written. So I’m still crossing my fingers for a win by Mr Mallo and hope this hasn’t put the mockers on his chances. Of course Jean-François Parot’s The Saint-Florentin Murders, which I didn’t get around to reading, might be the best of them all and if it wins I’ll have to accept that the judges knew best, though it probably won’t stop me taking issue with them ;)

I am a little disappointed in this year’s shortlist as it doesn’t quite live up to the high quality of last year’s and I can think of a book or two that I’d have rather seen included (in particular Shuichi Yoshida’s Villain (Japan) and Liza Marklund’s Red Wolf (which even if it isn’t her best work is vastly superior to Three Seconds in my humble opinion). But I’m still genuinely thrilled that there is such a depth of translated crime fiction on offer to us pathetically monolingual readers and applaud the CWA for acknowledging this under-appreciated aspect of fiction which (hopefully) helps to ensure we will have more translations in the future.

 

Review: River of Shadows by Valerio Varesi

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In the Po valley in northern Italy it has been raining for days and the river is flooding. Among those watching the water during the night are members of a boat club who see the old barge owned by Anteo Tonna leave its moorings and weave it’s way down the river, though no one is sure if the old man is on board. At various bends and crossings along the river people try to make out who, if anyone is on board the boat but when it comes to rest they determine that the barge is empty. At the same time as this drama is unfolding Commissario Soneri of the Parma police is called to what is thought to be the suicide of an elderly man at a local hospital. However Soneri soon discovers this man, Decimo Tonna, is the brother of the missing boat man and, thinking this an unlikely coincidence, he links the two cases although this is not a popular move with the local magistrate.

River of Shadows has one of the most atmospheric settings I’ve read in a long time, with Varesi deftly painting a picture of the swelling river and the mixture of people living and working along it. I really did have a sense of being there. The opening pages which describe the deluge of rain and the pragmatic approach to it and the flooding river that the old timers have drew me in very quickly. I chuckled too at the conflict between those who had lived around and worked on the river for years and the bureaucrats from far away issuing edicts that no one would follow. I also liked that my copy of the book had a little map of the region and the towns mentioned as many books used to do and few seem to do these days. I feel like starting a campaign to bring them back though as I found it very useful.

The investigation, for Soneri really does treat it as a single case, did prove in the end to be interesting too, though I have to say I found the middle of the book a bit lacking in direction and it didn’t quite hold my attention as much as I’d have liked. Ultimately though the resolution is a satisfactory one, revolving around the volatile political past of the area and the long memories that some people have of such things.

Although I did enjoy this book I didn’t love it and I think the biggest reason for this was that I didn’t find the characters particularly engaging. Soneri himself seems cold and not terribly interesting. His only significant relationship is with a woman who likes to entice Soneri into having sex in dangerous places where they might easily be caught (and will never do it in a bed). But even this relationship is a very distant one and none of the other people depicted are any warmer or more engaging.

I enjoyed the atmosphere created by this book and the insights into human nature offered by the kind of investigation explored here. But in the end I thought the book, or its main character anyway, lacked whatever ‘x factor’ it is that draws me back to a series. I’m not suggesting I’d never read another book in the series, merely that I won’t be counting the days until a new release is available as I do with my favourite reads.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

River of Shadows has been reviewed at Crime Scraps and Euro Crime (By Maxine)

This is one of seven books nominated for this year’s International Dagger award for translated crime fiction which will be announced later this month. So far I have read Anders Roslund & Borge Hellstrom’s Three Seconds, Ernesto Mallo’s Needle in a Haystack, Fred Vargas’ An Uncertain Place and am half way through Andrea Camilleri’s Wings of the Sphinx. I have Domingo Villar’s Death on a Galician Shore and Jean-Francois Parot’s The Saint-Florentin Murders on my eReader but am not sure I will get through them both before the award is announced.

Although I have read quite a few books set in Europe I keep forgetting to count them for the global challenge, so shall count this as the second European leg of my virtual tour.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
My rating 3/5
Translator Joseph Farrell
Publisher Quercus [this translation 2010, original edition 2003]
ISBN 9781906694272
Length 259 pages
Format hardcover
Book Series #1 in the Commissario Soneri series
Source borrowed from the library