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| Plot Summary of Ratking |
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"It has been more than four months since Italian construction magnate Ruggiero Miletti was kidnapped. The family paid 10 billion lira for his release, but the kidnappers didn't let him go. It is now the early spring of 1982, and Miletti's card-playing buddy Antonio Crepi pulls strings at the national Ministry of the Interior to get somebody sent from Rome to take over the case.
Detective Aurelio Zen, exiled to a desk job in the Ministry since his disgrace on a 1978 case, is sent to Perugia. Pleased to get away from Rome, the native Venetian is not so happy about leaving his mother stranded at his apartment, as well as his girlfriend, an American divorcee who deals in antiques. Naturally, the local Pergia police are not happy about Zen's presence, and strangely, the Miletti family is uncooperative as well. Could one of the victim's grown kids be behind the kidnapping? Things turn even nastier after Zen goes out to pay a second ransom and gets beaten up, and Miletti shortly turns up dead. The case could revive Zen's career or break him forever. This gritty 1989 mystery thriller was the start of Dibdin's Aurelio Zen series."
David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Ratking |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 10%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20%
Tone of story
- Dry-cynical
How difficult to spot villain?
- Difficult, but some clues given
Time/era of story:
- 1980's-1999
What % of story relates directly
to the mystery, not the subplot?
- 70%
Murder of certain profession?
- "All in the family" murder
Kind of investigator
- police procedural, Foreign
Kid or adult book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Crime Thriller
Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown)
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- police/lawman
Age:
- 40's-50's
How much violence does he/she use?
- a little
Ethnicity/Race
- Italian
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Age:
- 40's-50's
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a moderate amount
Motive of antagonist
- power
Setting
Europe
Yes
European country:
- Italy
Style
Part of a series?
Yes
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
How many deaths?
- 3-4
Unusual forms of death
- perforation--bullets
Unusual form of death?
Yes
Amount of dialog
- significantly more descript than dialog
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Click here for more information about this book
Michael Dibdin Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 David Loftus
SCHOLARS:
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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