Author: Claudio Giunta
Genre: Contemporary, Thriller, Suspense
First Published: August 25, 2015
Book description: This is the new revelation in Italian noir fiction genre.
Three young Italian guys disappear from a trip to the Solovetsky islands in the White Sea, there where evil quietly rests underneath the ice.
The White Sea is a frightening color black, a sort of black that blends with the sky, one that blends with the icy wind that enters ships' crevices, people's homes, and their hearts. It is a raging, hostile sea, in the midst of which the Solovetsky islands linger submerged inside its fog.
The three friends from Florence who went to that old Soviet gulag to restore a monastery on a Unesco mission, never returned. While the Russian and Italian police learn towards an accidental death theory, Alessandro Capace, an independent journalist or rather a frustrated writer, travels to the scene to try to unmask the truth.
Did they run away or did they mysteriously disappear? Were they really friends? And, what link is there between their deaths and the island's past of violence and injustice, where for decades, evil has remained dormant like a virus.
Review:
This is a very slow story, focusing mainly on Alessandro's middle-life crisis and his search for the truth in the disappearance of the 3 Italian men he never met.
We see how Alessandro is struggling in a journalist's life, struggles to get steady work, gets over the separation from his wife, and come to terms with his affection towards his young son.
This is a bit different than what I expected. The focus on the investigation, looking for clues by interviewing people, was a nice change- but it felt a bit off for me.
At first, Alessandro is only looking for a story, he wants something that will make him noticeable enough that he get a spot and stop being a freelance journalist. He is excited to travel, yet he really doesn't care much about the 3 men as people, they are just names for a story for him. As he talks to more people and uncovers more questions, the island and the missing people start to become an obsession for him.
Even after society moves on, he is the only one still trying to find out the truth.
For me, the plot twist was the best part. I was caught completely off guard. He discovered the truth and put it aside, but then bum a huge twist comes to light. I found that it was brilliantly done, it doesn't matter that is very unrealistic- I mean everything was set behind so why would anyone leave that letter to be found?
I would have destroyed it, better have no one ever find it, but it gave the best sucker punch. Thanks to that little letter, this book went from being an ok but forgettable read to a very good twist.
This was used for the challenges:
Spanish
Use Library more often
Comments