Dante's Numbers
From Amazon
This story is more of a travel log than a mystery thriller. Not that the descriptions of Rome and San francisco aren't interesting, but they seem more like filler than important to the story line. The conflict between the police and the Carabinieri is more a distraction than a help to the plot. I know little of that relationship: it seemed like slap-stick. Nic Costa seems like he is along for the ride and really doesn't do much detective work. Terasa Lupo was the most interesting character and seemed to do the leg work. Will try one more of Hewson's work before moving on.
dante's number
From Amazon
It was slow moving with alot of filler, was rather disappointed as have read most of his previouw novels. I will try one more when he comes out with one in 2010.
Poor Excuse for a Police Procedural
From Amazon
The glittering premier of the blockbuster movie "Inferno" ("Hell"), based on Dante's poem, is shattered when the actress playing Beatrice, Dante's beloved and in the film(not the poem) his guide through Hell, is attacked by a horse-mounted officer of the Carabinieri wearing full dress and firing a weapon. Other Carabinieri in the security detail kill him, without much effort to stop or capture him. But the whole affair was a stunt. The dead "officer" was an imposter, a minor actor firing only blanks. The fiasco distracts the security forces from the disappearance of the film's leading man, international star Allan Prime who played Dante. Prime has been abducted and soon turns up being grotesquely murdered by a bizarre device on a live internet feed as the Carabinieri botch a rescue attempt.
The premier is cancelled and relocated to San Francisco, actual home of "Inferno's" legendary Italian director, Roberto Tonti. The Italian security goes along, the Carabinieri for cast protection and the state police to guard the invaluable artifacts that are on exhibit. But attacks, and other strange events, continue. Quattrocchi, the buffoon who leads the Carabinieri, thinks that some of the Dante lovers who have been attacking the film for desecrating Dante's poem, are responsible and that they are connecting their actions to his poem. The state police slowly come to think that there is a movie connection, but not the one the Carabinieri think.
By now it should be obvious that realism is not a big part of this book. The opening events alone require not merely that belief be suspended but that it be nailed to the ceiling. Frequent hyperbole and occasional surrealism are integral to the book. If you want a gritty police procedural, this book will disappoint. This book is an over the top entertainment.
That said, it is a successful entertainment. It is smoothly written and pushes the right buttons: Bizarre conspiracies that continually reveal new depths; Tough cops; Idiot cops; Bureaucratic infighting; Violence, both weird and straightforward; Sane and insane villains; Glamorous but clueless movie stars; Some romance and even (to coin an oxymoron) some shallow depth to give some faux seriousness. The book moves along and it will please many.
Disappointing...
From Amazon
Having read all of Hewson's Costa series I was excited to get another. I shouldn't have been so excited. I had a really hard time with this one. It didn't grab me at the beginning and it laid around for a days before I picked it up again. Then it just seemed hard to follow and just not what I expect from this author. I never really got into it and unlike his others I wasn't sorry when it was finished and I could move on to something else. Sorry Mr. Hewson..maybe next time.
Watch "Vertigo" before you read this book.
From Amazon
As someone who lived in San Francisco for 20 years, and just watched Vertigo on-line as soon as I saw it mentioned in the book, reading "Dante's Numbers" was a total delight. And that's saying something for a suspense novel with brutal murders - but I loved it and highly recommend it. This is a perfect book for people who enjoy San Francisco, Hitchcock and David Hewson.