THE TREASURE HUNT is
the latest in the Inspector Montalbano series and opens with a
dramatic set piece which sees Salvo shinning up a fireman's ladder to
break into a apartment to prevent an elderly pair of devout siblings
from shooting people. The apartment is quite disturbing with a
roomful of crucifixes and a much repaired blow-up doll in the
brother's room.
Matters then calm down
in Vigata, - with the exception of a mysterious second blow-up doll
being found - there is very little crime, a reason for which is
suggested by Catarella and reported to Montalbano by Fazio:
“He says that the
robbers, the local ones, who rob the homes of working poor or snatch
women's purses, are ashamed.”
“Of what?”
“Of their big-time
colleagues. The CEOs who drive their companies to bankruptcy after
making off with people's savings, the banks who are always finding a
way to screw their customers, the big companies that steal public
funds. Whereas they, the petty thieves who have to do with ten euros
or a broken TV or a computer that doesn't work...they feel ashamed
and don't feel like stealing anymore.”
But then Salvo receives
an anonymous note pushed under his door, a riddle, a “treasure
hunt”. More notes follow and Salvo solves them and visits nearby
places. In addition Salvo's long-time friend Ingrid sends a student
Salvo's way as the boy wants to see how Salvo's mind works when he
solves a case, so Salvo gives him the notes. The treasure hunt keeps
Salvo busy until a proper crime occurs: a young woman is kidnapped.
Karen - I'm not much on those kinds of endings either, especially in a context such as a Camilleri novel. Still, I'm glad you enjoyed a lot of it - I'm such a Camilleri fan! Thanks for the excellent review.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comment about this book's ending. I, too, was laughing at the banter, but then I got upset at the terrible ending. Unnecessary, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI thought there was a turn in the book before this The Dance of the Seagull, in which there was too much blood and gore.
And then this one went even further.
I hope that Camilleri isn't running out of clever ideas on how to wrap up a story, and turning to violence to do it. Or that his publisher is asking that of him.
This book has left me feeling sick and I keep having images of the girl. It is the type of thing that from other, darker literature has led to poor sleep.
ReplyDeleteUsually I cherish Camilleri's Montalbano mysteries for their light nature and wit, along with subtleties of plot and intriguing cases.
This is a very morbid scene, one I doubt would be likely to play out in reality, and it is highly disturbing. When I read scenes like that that played out in this novel, I wonder - what state of mind must the author have to even dream of such a scenario in the first instance?
There is one particular moment in the book after which I should have stopped reading, as it did perplex me. How could no-one in a public police station have reacted negatively to being mailed a severed lamb's head? To think that is the work of a prankster is absurd.