SYNOPSIS
In his many years as a Commissario, Guido Brunetti has seen all manner of crime and known intuitively how to navigate the various pathways in his native Venice to discover the person responsible. Now, in the thirtieth novel in Donna Leon's masterful series, he faces a heinous crime committed outside his jurisdiction. He is drawn in innocently enough: two young American women have been badly injured in a boating accident, joy riding in the Laguna with two young Italians. However, Brunetti's curiosity is aroused by the behaviour of the young men, who abandoned the victims after taking them to the hospital. If the injuries were the result of an accident, why did they want to avoid association with it?
As Brunetti and his colleague, Claudia Griffoni, investigate the incident, they discover that one of the young men works for a man rumoured to be involved in more sinister night-time activities in the Laguna. To get to the bottom of what proves to be a gut-wrenching case, Brunetti needs to enlist the help of both the Carabinieri and the Guardia di Costiera. Determining how much trust he and Griffoni can put in these unfamiliar colleagues adds to the difficulty of solving a peculiarly horrible crime whose perpetrators are technologically brilliant and ruthlessly organised.
As Brunetti and his colleague, Claudia Griffoni, investigate the incident, they discover that one of the young men works for a man rumoured to be involved in more sinister night-time activities in the Laguna. To get to the bottom of what proves to be a gut-wrenching case, Brunetti needs to enlist the help of both the Carabinieri and the Guardia di Costiera. Determining how much trust he and Griffoni can put in these unfamiliar colleagues adds to the difficulty of solving a peculiarly horrible crime whose perpetrators are technologically brilliant and ruthlessly organised.
Title: Transient desires
Author: Donna Leon
Series: Commissario Brunetti #30
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
Publication date: March 23, 2021
REVIEW
RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
"Transient Desires" marks the 30th installment (30th!) in the Commissario Brunetti Series, and that just made me realize that I've been reading this series for over 20 years! More than half my life! Each yearly meeting with Brunetti and Co. feels like meeting back with that friend you don't see often but when you finally do feels like no time has passed at all.
After being slightly disappointed with the latest books in the series, in "Transient Desires" Donna Leon is back to form, turning what in appearance was a minor crime into a much serious one. Unlike in her last books, here the story takes off practically from page one, when Brunetti finds out about two young American women that have been badly injured in a boating accident in the Laguna. To get to the bottom of the case he must enlist the help of the Carabinieri and the Guardia Costiera. Although it was nice watching him work with some new colleagues, I missed seeing more of Vianello, Patta and, of course, Signorina Elettra.
The plot goes revealing its layers as the story progresses, and although it's not a whodunit where we don't know the "who" till the end, it managed to kept my attention, as the important thing to find out is if that persona will face justice or not. Everything leads to a last couple of chapters that kept me biting my nails and, although the end was quite abrupt (I had to check several times there was no more pages in the file), that's been quite the norm in Leon's last novels, so it didn't come as a surprise cause, as justice itself, it may not always be satisfying.
Once again Leon shows her ability to paint the city of Venice, allowing the reader to see it through the eyes of those who live there, and her skill in creating complex characters brought to life vividly.
Thanks to NetGalley and Atlantic Monthly Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
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