Reviews

The Dogs of Rome by Conor Fitzgerald

duvallmel's review

2.0

This novel depicts Italian law enforcement as deeply corrupted by Italian criminals. I don't know if I got that sense while I was trundling around amidst a complex bureaucracy of Vatican guards and officials behind the scenes while I was recovering my backpack. In any case it certainly seems to fit a stereotype.

There was some subtle humor (p. 213):

"You choose," said Sveva.

"She"ll have the panino con la coltellata," said Blume.

"Scusi?" said the barman.

Blume repeated himself. "Panino con la cotoletta..."

..."That's not what–I just thought you said–never mind."

jobustitch's review

3.0

Won this book through Goodread's Firstread program.

Had a hard time initially getting into the book. One I got used to the pace and the details of Rome, I really started to like the book. A good solid, mystery!

I like the mob characters more than the law enforcment characters. More time was spent developing the villians in this book than the police or the law or even the main character. I am intrigued enough to read more about Alec Blume, however. There seems to be much more to him than what was revealed in this first novel. I am looking forward to the next installment.

teon22's review

2.0

Interesting premise, absolutely dull delivery. It is rare to read a detective novel in which the detective is such a complete bore. Yawn. So, there is this American expatriate, originally from Seattle, whose art historian parents passed away when he was a teen and left him to grow up and spend the rest of his life in Rome. He becomes a police detective. My gripe with this author is that he did not create anything distinctive about this protagonist. Yes, he likes peanut butter and yes, he shows up to an initial police investigation in running shorts, but other than that nothing really stands out about his behavior. Sure these small indicators of "American-ness" are highlighted but, as the kids say, whatever. As to the police procedural part of this novel, it is rather boring. The investigation is drawn out, and the few interesting secondary characters never get any depth. It is all too prolonged. Hopefully, if this series continues, the author will spice it up a bit. If you like novels set in Italy featuring sloppy police work, albeit fascinating characters, try Andrea Camilleri or Donna Leon.

tessisreading2's review

2.0

This was very meh, one of those crime novels starring a world-weary police detective who I think we're supposed to find much more interesting than I actually do; he's American for some bizarre reason, necessitating endless explanation about same, and in hot pursuit of a hot American lady who works for the FBI, and everyone else is corrupt and disappoints him (or gets murdered, in some cases because he's in pursuit of the hot American lady), and also he has a traumatic backstory which the hot American lady at least has the good sense to be bored by. I mean it's all very "oh so these are the ingredients of a crime novel," if you know what I mean. Towards the end - and at the very beginning - there are vast swathes of text from the perspective of The Killer, who is equally cardboard (a socially stunted computer nerd who thinks he is smarter than he is, but the computer genius part is conveyed through buzzwords about "hacking" and playing World of Warcraft which doesn't strike me as particularly plausible and lends to a generally obnoxious feel to these sections). The ending is existential, by which I mean that people die and quit and accidents happen and the hot American lady does not quite give in to our hero's charms except for the part where she sleeps with him and then yells at him in an argument that makes no sense, but you're not going to get that moment where the bad guys get arrested and everyone says "hurray." Meh. I didn't find it offensive but I'm certainly not going to be bothering with the sequels.

lemeilleurs's review against another edition

2.0

I did NOT like this book. I honestly just want to burn this book and never look back. It was so slow and hard to get into, and I couldn't keep any of the characters straight. On the surface, The Dogs of Rome looked like something I would love. Part mystery, part crime, part corruption, and - hellooo - Rome. American ex-pat turned Roman cop is trying to solve a straight-forward murder. What I really didn't like was that he just KNEW who it was and is trying to find the evidence and pieces he needs to convict the killer. The ending was super anti-climactic and it took me far too long to get through this one because I had no motivation or hook to keep me reading.

kellieb71's review

1.0

I can't really count this one as a 'read' book for the year - because I didn't finish it. I couldn't. I tried - but when I'm reading a book, and fall asleep reading it three times over - I hang it up. I'm not sure what it was that couldn't hold my attention, but I just could not stick with it. (And I HATE not finishing books I start!)

danchrist's review

emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

Promising start. Meandered. Wanted to really root for the main character but found myself slogging to just get to the end. No more in this series for me. 

david_r_grigg's review

4.0

I enjoyed this a lot more than I at first expected to (it was a gift, and I hadn’t heard of the author before this). Entertaining police-procedural thriller set in Rome and featuring Alex Blume, an ex-patriot American who was orphaned in Rome as a teenager and is now a senior detective in the Polizia. Despite continuing conflicts with his superiors and colleagues, Blume investigates the murder of an animal-rights activist and encounters a psychopathic killer.

The author himself has lived in Rome for some years, and he brings the modern city to life in this novel. I enjoyed this so much that I bought the next in the series as an ebook and I’m looking forward to reading it.

awin82's review

3.0

I would read another book by this author; which is high praise despite my 3 star rating.

tamisriram's review

3.0

The plot is serviceable, but the writing so stilted I can't believe I actually finished the book. (And it really needed to a better copy editor / proofreader. ) The main character is just barely likable, the murder victim isn't much better and the rest somehow unbelievable. There's not even enough description of Rome to give this book interest.