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A review by joecam79
Il giocatore occulto by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, Roberta Bovaia
3.0
Perez-Reverte is well known as a writer of swashbuckling adventures and crime stories, but his novels are rarely mere plot-driven yarns. "The Siege" or, in its Italian translation, "Il Giocatore Occulto" is a case in point. It is ostensibly a historical crime novel about a serial killer on the loose in the Spanish port of Cadiz, during the French siege of 1810-12. The mysterious murderer tortures young women near sites where the French bombs fall, and at times seems to have the uncanny ability to actually predict which part of the city will be attacked.
To tell his story, Perez-Reverte assembles a cast worthy of grand opera. We get to meet a wealthy heiress of an importation firm and her circle of friends, servants and relatives; a corsair captain and his more aristocratic rival; a pro-French embalmer and spy; an inspector of dubious morals who is confronting his demons; a French army captain and his artillerymen ... and these are just the more important characters.
Similarly, the "crime story" is just one of the many narrative strands. Along the way we witness sea battles and skirmishes, we learn about the contemporary political situation in Europe and America and about military tactics, we get atmospheric evocations of Cadiz and its surroundings and spy on an unlikely romance between two of the protagonists. Perez-Reverte takes a 19th-century novelist's pleasure in leisurely descriptions of characters and settings.
This therefore, is a novel in which there is much to enjoy and which I was determined to like. The problem is that it becomes too much of a good thing. As the murders (and chapters) pile up, one starts to wish Perez-Reverte would wrap up the novel and reveal the identity of the murderer. When he does, the resolution seems unconvincing and contrived. Ultimately this is a cruel novel - cruel in the events it depicts, cruel with its protagonists, cruel with its readers' expectations. It is a pity as, despite my reservations, I feel that many of the characters and scenes will remain with me for a long time.
To tell his story, Perez-Reverte assembles a cast worthy of grand opera. We get to meet a wealthy heiress of an importation firm and her circle of friends, servants and relatives; a corsair captain and his more aristocratic rival; a pro-French embalmer and spy; an inspector of dubious morals who is confronting his demons; a French army captain and his artillerymen ... and these are just the more important characters.
Similarly, the "crime story" is just one of the many narrative strands. Along the way we witness sea battles and skirmishes, we learn about the contemporary political situation in Europe and America and about military tactics, we get atmospheric evocations of Cadiz and its surroundings and spy on an unlikely romance between two of the protagonists. Perez-Reverte takes a 19th-century novelist's pleasure in leisurely descriptions of characters and settings.
This therefore, is a novel in which there is much to enjoy and which I was determined to like. The problem is that it becomes too much of a good thing. As the murders (and chapters) pile up, one starts to wish Perez-Reverte would wrap up the novel and reveal the identity of the murderer. When he does, the resolution seems unconvincing and contrived. Ultimately this is a cruel novel - cruel in the events it depicts, cruel with its protagonists, cruel with its readers' expectations. It is a pity as, despite my reservations, I feel that many of the characters and scenes will remain with me for a long time.