usbsticky's review
5.0
This is probably the best of the Mario Silva books I've read so far (I'm not reading them in order). This is a character driven series, the cast of characters is what makes the book, even though sometimes the telling of the background of the characters take too long, especially the bit characters. The crime part is usually so-so. The third part of what makes this series good is the setting of Brazil. I usually learn a lot about Brazil (national character, geography, politics, its people, etc.)
Spoiler/synopsis: The book starts off with a single murder of the son of a VIP so Silva (a chief inspector of federal police and the book's protagonist) is dispatched to investigate because as we all know, in Brazil, who you know or your connections is what matters. But then another murder surfaces with the same MO. And then another.
As they investigate, they find that the murders have a common thread, they have all been passengers of the same flight into Brazil a few weeks back. As the author always show the criminal's POV (or he is not good with the suspense part of writing), the readers soon figure out what the commonality is. But we follow the rest of the murders anyway. There is indeed a twist at the end, but to be honest, the suspense is spoiled and could be done better.
Overall, I like the books not because of the crime part of the book, I like the cast and the setting. I definitely recommend reading this series in order (even though I didn't like book 1 and would have stopped there). But reading the series in order introduces you to the cast in order. Anyway, I'm off to read the next in the series.
Spoiler/synopsis: The book starts off with a single murder of the son of a VIP so Silva (a chief inspector of federal police and the book's protagonist) is dispatched to investigate because as we all know, in Brazil, who you know or your connections is what matters. But then another murder surfaces with the same MO. And then another.
As they investigate, they find that the murders have a common thread, they have all been passengers of the same flight into Brazil a few weeks back. As the author always show the criminal's POV (or he is not good with the suspense part of writing), the readers soon figure out what the commonality is. But we follow the rest of the murders anyway. There is indeed a twist at the end, but to be honest, the suspense is spoiled and could be done better.
Overall, I like the books not because of the crime part of the book, I like the cast and the setting. I definitely recommend reading this series in order (even though I didn't like book 1 and would have stopped there). But reading the series in order introduces you to the cast in order. Anyway, I'm off to read the next in the series.
skinnypenguin's review against another edition
4.0
Really a good read. Interesting to see how the various divisions of the police work in Brazil. Not sure if it is a stereotype or not but rampant corruption runs thru everything. Love the main police characters. Each has his own problems and they work well together. Like to see how they were able to work with contacts in the U.S.
Interesting how they worked thru the list of potential killers. Was a bit surprised at the end to find out who the real killer was. Brazil is huge and people are spread out all over and it takes a lot of coordination to track someone down, they can vanish easily.
Interesting how they worked thru the list of potential killers. Was a bit surprised at the end to find out who the real killer was. Brazil is huge and people are spread out all over and it takes a lot of coordination to track someone down, they can vanish easily.
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