Review by JJ Marsh
What We Thought:
"A ratking is something that
happens when many rats have to live in too small a space under too much
pressure. Their tails become entwined and the more they strain and stretch to
free themselves the tighter grows the knot binding them, until at last it
becomes a solid mass of embedded tissue. And the creature thus formed, as many
as thirty rats tied together by the tail, is called a ratking."
The first in the Aurelio Zen series,
its title is a fundamental metaphor for the layers of inescapable corruption
within the Italian political, judicial and business systems. Through which,
Commissioner Aurelio Zen threads a complex route, attempting to do his job, but
not rock the boat.
Ruggiero Miletti, head of a powerful
Perugian family business, has been kidnapped. Favours are called in and Zen, a
Venetian attached to Roman Criminal Police, because he’s the only one
available, takes on the case. He encounters resistance and corruption,
allegiances and loyalties, and the weight of social history hangs over the book
like smog.
Alongside the darker underbelly of
Italy, Dibdin shares the nuances of regional rivalry, cultural insights and
geographical descriptions. Perugia has become well known more recently due to
the murder of Meredith Kercher, but Ratking shows us a different side to the
place. The plot is complex and slow to develop, but the author’s depiction of
how difficult it is to solve a crime while battling vested interests results in
an unexpected and exciting end.
There are eight more Zen novels, which
take place in various Italian locations. I will be back for more.
You'll enjoy this if: culturally rooted crime, Donna Leon, Andrea Camilleri, Borgen.
Avoid if you dislike: character-led story, political intrigue, Italy.
Ideal accompaniments: Porchetta (stuffed pork), a frisky Montepulciano, and Puccini, specially Tosca.
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