Blog Tour! The Extremist by Nadia Dalbuono Blog Tour!

This is the fourth book in Nadia Dalbuono’s Detective Leone Scamarcio thrillers, and I’ve been lucky enough to have read and reviewed them all. This means that I’ve seen Leone Scamarcio grow as a character, and have followed his story arch throughout the series. While this undoubtedly heightens my enjoyment of the series, each book is a self-contained story in its own right, and unlike some series, you don’t have to have read the previous outings to enjoy each book. 

The Extremist begins with coordinated jihadi attacks on the streets of Rome: gunmen storm a McDonalds, a school, a coffee bar near the coliseum, taking hostages at each location.  Leone Scamarcio works in the Rome Flying Squad, nothing to do with terrorism. So it’s a shock to him and his colleagues, all gathered around the television watching the horrific events unfold, when a phone call comes in to say that the hostage takers have demanded to talk to him and him alone.

Scamarcio is whisked to the scene of the coffee shop where he’s hustled inside. There a young terrorist, Ifran, demands he travel to a villa in a town thirty kilometres outside of Rome, go to the end of the back garden and dig up a box. He’s then to bring the contents of the box back to Ifran. Oh, and have a CNN film crew in tow to witness the handover of the contents which can be beamed to the world.

This is an intriguing premise and sets up the rest of the novel. Scamarcio is suspicious of the Italian intelligence agencies for reasons made clear in the previous novels. The reader of The Extremist doesn’t need to know the specific reasons for this, but it is made clear that it’s due to previous cases he’s worked on. The Intelligence agencies are crawling all over the scene and he decides to go it alone.  What follows is a pursuit thriller where Scamarcio tries to find out what’s in the box, why Ifran wanted him in particular to bring it to him, all the while evading the police, the Carabinieri and the intelligence agencies who’ve listed him as wanted.

A criticism of this novel might be that’s it’s unrealistic that Scamarcio would go it alone, that it would have been easier for him to alert his superiors to what Ifran wanted, that they could have collected the box. Perhaps the siege could have been brought to a close, special forces dressing as a CNN film crew and launching  a raid to rescue the hostages. This criticism would be valid and to be sure that’s how things would probably play out in real life. But Nadia Dalbuono writes very Italian thrillers, where conspiracies are around every corner. Her previous books have tackled the infiltration of Italian society by organised crime - the Sicilian Mafia, the Camorra, the ‘Ndrangheta; Operation Gladio, the stay behind armies set up by the CIA in the case of a Soviet invasion which soon morphed into far right terror; VIP child sex rings and more.

Like its predecessors, The Extremist tackles big subjects. There are innumerable thrillers which deal with terror attacks, but without giving away spoilers, this book is more than that, a conspiracy thriller which dares to ask big questions. It’s one of the reasons that I’m such a fan of Dalbuono’s work, her books are head and shoulders above the usual run of the mill police procedurals. They dare to look beyond the headlines and question what we take for granted. While I’m not a conspiracy theorist myself, to be sure the theories she posits in her thrillers all have a kernel of truth. There really was an Operation Gladio ( a central theme in her novel The American), Italian organised crime really is a pernicious influence on Italian politics and society, while VIP child sex rings have been investigated in a number of countries. The conspiracy at the heart of The Extremist has a similar basis in fact, whether or not it really has the influence portrayed here.

So would I recommend The Extremist? Yes, absolutely. While it’s not strictly necessary, I would also recommend readers get hold of copies of the earlier books in the series. They won’t be disappointed.

5 out of 5 stars 

Blood on the Page by Thomas Harding

The murder of Allan Chapellow is arguably one of the strangest and most compelling cases in recent British legal history. An elderly and reclusive man, Chappelow lived in a dilapidated house in Hampstead, on a street where properties sell for millions. A writer, he had penned biographies of George Bernard Shaw, though he hadn’t produced much in his later years. Sadly, he was to meet a violent end, bludgeoned to death in his house, his body dripped in candle wax and buried under a heap of his own manuscripts. The man convicted of the murder, Wang Yam, is a Chinese immigrant who claims to be a descendent of Ren Bishi, a leading member of the Chinese Communist Party at the time of Mao. Indeed, the man Wang Yam claims is his grandfather was Mao’s right hand man. But what really sets this case apart, is that a section of the trial was heard in camera, behind closed doors, on the grounds of national security. Not only is this the first murder trial in UK history to be held partly in secret on the grounds of national security, but a remarkable court order is in place that prevents the media, not just from reporting why this might be, but from speculating as to the reasons behind it.

Harding’s interest in the story stems from the fact that he grew up on the street and knew the victim as the odd character who lived a few doors from him. An author and journalist, Harding has written for national newspapers and has published a number of titles on recent German history. I haven’t read any of his previous work myself, but they were well received. This is important because Blood on the Page has come in for some criticism.

In Blood on the Page, Harding details the murder, delves into Allan Chappelow’s life and that of Wang Yam, and follows the investigation to trial and eventual conviction. He details the various appeals that Wang Yam and his lawyers have mounted and tells us how he has acclimatised to prison life. In all of this he does a good job and he’s certainly talented as both a writer and biographer.  Where this book falls down somewhat is in the injection of his own voice into the narrative, for throughout, Harding’s views and opinions come off the page to an unusual degree.

Wang Yam was convicted of Allan Chapellow’s murder on the strength of purely circumstantial evidence. There was no forensic evidence linking him to the crime scene. There was however compelling evidence – CCTV images for example – of him using Allan’s credit cards and accessing his bank accounts in the days after his death. Wang Yam claims that this was because he had fallen in with Chinese gangsters who had provided these to him and that he did not murder Allan. The problem with this however is that Wang Yam quickly proved himself to be a fantasist, at least he seems to have a difficult relationship with the truth. When questioned by the police, and later in court, he couldn’t identify the gangsters he was supposedly in hoc to. In fact, his whole life’s history appears to be uncertain, it’s not even clear that he’s telling the truth about being related to Ren Bishi.

That said, there is some evidence that he might be telling the truth about the murder of Allan Chapellow, or at least that we ought to pause before declaring him guilty. Apart from the fact that there was no forensics to tie him to the scene, cigarette butts littered the room that Allan’s body was found, the DNA from which matched neither Allen nor Wang Yam. A neighbour came forward to say that weeks after Wang Yam was jailed, he was threatened with a knife by a man on his doorstep rifling through his mail. While a witness gave evidence at his appeal that he had met a man matching Allan’s description, using the same name, cruising Hampstead Heath for sex. Might Allen have been murdered by someone else, perhaps someone he brought back from the Heath? If so, Wang Yam is only guilty of theft and fraud.

There are certainly questions to answer in this case and looming over it all is the national security concerns, whatever they might be, which led the trial to be heard, in part, in secrecy. We are likely never to know what these were, what they relate to, or how this knowledge might alter our understanding of the case. Some reviews have said this absence makes the author’s task impossible and that Blood on the Page suffers as a result. I think that’s unfair and that Harding has produced a compelling and readable account of the case regardless.

More problematic to my mind is his seeming determination to believe Wang Yam’s account. Again, other reviewers have accused Harding of naiveté, even gullibility. While this might be a little harsh, he does seem to be blind to Wang Yam’s deeply flawed character. To Harding’s great credit he recounts Wang Yam’s erraticism faithfully. For example, he tells us Wang Yam’s lawyers don’t believe much of what he said, while when he contacted his supposed cousin, she told him that Wang Yam was not related to her.  But despite this, he presses on with his faith in his subject regardless. This is most apparent in these odd sections of the book at the end of each chapter, which he titles “case notes” where he outlines his thoughts as his investigations unfold. These are totally superfluous to the text as a whole and serve nothing more than to give the impression Harding’s a bit of a naïf.

In conclusion, this is a well written book and a good account of a very strange case indeed. It’s a complicated case and this review can’t possibly do justice to all the evidence that Harding has marshalled, and to be fair to him, presented to the reader in a thoroughly readable and accessible manner.  Wang Yam might or might not be innocent of Allen Chapellow’s murder and after reading this book I certainly have been left with some doubts. But equally, Harding’s is not a sympathetic portrayal. Wang Yam appears dishonest and a compulsive liar. While this in itself does not mean he’s guilty of murder, equally I did not reach the end of this title as sure as the author of his innocence.

3 out of 5 stars

Wolves in the Dark by Gunnar Staalesen

This is the first title by Gunnar Staalesen that I’ve read and apparently part of an ongoing series, featuring his PI hero Varg Veum. You don’t have to read previous titles to enjoy this, but it would undoubtedly help. The love of his life, Karin, was killed when investigating a previous case (presumably in a previous title) and he has sunk into a fog of alcohol abuse and drink-fuelled blackouts. While enough of this back story is given and explained in this title, I feel I would have appreciated the character’s pain more had I been more familiar with the events described.

Wolves in the Dark starts with Varg Veum being arrested in an international round up of online paedophiles. It quickly transpires that someone has planted child pornography on his computer and is framing him for this heinous crime. The question is, why? Veum escapes from custody and goes on the run to get answers. He wracks his mind for people who might have a grudge against him and the computer skills necessary to tamper with his computer and send him to prison. This is a task made difficult by the fact that he has no shortage of enemies, and that much of the past few months were spent in a boozy haze.

There’s much to like about this book, it deals with issues that are incredibly current: computer hacking, the dark underbelly of the internet, online child pornography. In that sense it’s a gritty, nourish tale, the kind of thing I naturally like. That said, the author is clearly influenced by the classics of American gumshoe like Chandler. Indeed, on the front cover is a quote from Jo Nesbo calling him “A Norwegian Chandler”. Unfortunately, I found this influence to be a little dated and not a little at variance with the dark subject matter of the plot. Veum travels around, tracking down those who hold a grudge against him and interrogating them. Despite the fact that they are under no obligation to do so, that he has no legal authority whatsoever, they answer his questions. Even those who know he’s wanted by the police talk with him. While this might have worked in Chandler’s day, this struck me as incredibly unrealistic. Equally, the Chandleresque snappy dialogue just grated a little.

That all said, this is all very much a personal opinion. Chandler is still popular; his books still sell, and if the golden age of noir is your thing then this book is definitely for you. It’s well written and despite my misgivings it kept me turning the page and wanting to know what happened next. It ends on something of a cliff hanger, so be prepared for feeling compelled to buy the next title in the series.

3 out of 5 stars.

Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi

Frankenstein in Baghdad is a retelling and modern update of the original Frankenstein story, but it’s oh so much more than that. It’s not a mere simple and faithful retelling, it doesn’t just transplant the Frankenstein monster from the streets of 18th Century Europe to those of Baghdad, post the US invasion of 2003. Rather like the original tale, this novel uses the story of Frankenstein as an analogy of the fears and preoccupations of the society that it is based.

Hadi is a scavenger living on the margins of society in the Baghdad neighbourhood of Bataween. He is a notorious teller of tall tales, regularly regaling people with fanciful stories. He also collects human body parts left over from the horrific violence of the American invasion, and the civil and sectarian strife that follows, which he stitches together to make a hideous humanoid figure. Why he does this is not clear and when people learn of this he says that he hopes it will force the government to recognise the parts as real people and thus give them a proper funeral. 

One night Hadi is caught up in a suicide bombing in which the security guard of a hotel is killed. The guard’s spirit finds Hadi’s corpse and floats inside bringing it to life. While Had is collapsed on his bed recovering from the effects of the explosion, the creature he has made, which he refers to as the Whatsitsname, gets up and disappears. Soon reports fill the city of a horrendous looking criminal who commits murder and yet is impervious to gunfire and cannot be killed.

As with the original story by Mary Shelley, Frankenstein in Baghdad can be enjoyed on many different levels. Superficially it is a modern Iraqi take on a classic tale of gothic horror, but scratch the surface and this is so much more. Hadi’s creation and the dark rumours that swirl about in it’s wake must be understood in the context that they are set. Iraq was beset by the most vicious of sectarian civil wars in the aftermath of the  US invasion of 2003. Sunni extremists led by the notorious Abu Musab al-Zarqawi led a swath of deadly and indiscriminate suicide bombings, which targeted Shiite districts, markets and mosques. Meanwhile Shiite extremists, often in the guise of Ministry of Interior forces, abducted Sunni’s from the streets, tortured and beheaded them and left their bodies strength in the streets. Amongst this maelstrom of violence it is only natural that rumour, paranoia and urban myth proliferated. The Whatsitsname and the authorities attempts to understand it - the novel features a mysterious Iraqi Tracking and Pursuit Department, who consult with psychics in an attempt to understand the violence and terrorism that engulf the country - can be seen as an analogy of a country on the brink of collapse.  

This is a brilliant novel and Ahmed Saadawi is a huge talent. The translation by Jonathan Wright is first rate too and can’t be faulted. This is both an entertaining read and an important contribution to the growing body of post-invasion Iraqi literature and I would recommend it to anyone.

5 out of 5 stars