Finally I could read the third and last book in the series about commissario Michele
Balistreri.
In the two
previous books we saw how he grew up in Tripoli, when Libia was still an
Italian colony, but also how the death of his mother that was never solved
crippled his life. Anger, frustration and violence were the main ingredients of
his life and his job as a policeinspector never mattered to him.
Until the case
in 1982 that went horribly wrong. After that we saw a Michele Balistreri that
changed his life and wanted to do better.
The events
of the last book, the case of the Invisible man took their toll and Michele is
tired of life. He does not want to do anything anymore. He goes into the office
everyday but does as little as possible and works hard to make clear to
everyone they do not need to come to him for help.
When a
young woman and her daughter are killed on a cruiseship, he is definitely not
interested, but then it becomes clear the case is linked to previous cases and
even the death of his mother. Michele does not want anybody to stop him now and
he will find out the truth this time.
The memory of evil is put together very well, it jumps
around in the time between 1967, 1970 and 2011. The previous cases from the
first books are told again, so for us readers it is no problem in following the
different storylines. And this time you get more information and from other
perspectives.
The
character of Michele Balistreri is now rounded, he finally gets the answers he
has been looking for his entire life and he must find a new way. He also most
try to reconcile the angry young man he was and the things he did. He is not a
good man, but definitely not an evil man and hopefully he now finally has
something to give new meaning to life.
Very well
done is the way how the history of Libia and the current events are tied into
the story, giving more depth to the characters.
That the
final solution of who was who (not in Libia but in the US) was a bit
far-fetched I gladly forgive Roberto
Costantini.
The memory of evil is a perfect last book in and excellent and
special trilogy. Well done!
The other two books in the series:
Original Italian title:
Il male non dimentica
Published
in 2014
An English translation
will be available in September 2015
I haven't read this series, but it does sound good.
ReplyDeleteIf you like a good thriller, I definately recommend this series, it is very good!
DeleteKind regards,