The American is a detective novel that is intriguing.
Detective Scamarcio is called to a suicide, close to the Vatican, where an American man has hung himself off a bridge. Soon a Cardinal who works at the Vatican is also killed, and the suicide doesn't seem like a suicide anymore. There are things that Scamarcia is troubled by. Things that don't make sense. But the more he pries into the circumstances, the more he is threatened by American men who appear to be CIA? FBI? He isn't sure, but they definitely want him off the case. But he can't give up, and that gets him in trouble.
Scamarcio has his own personal issues, involving a romance the gets even more complicated because of this case. It makes him human and personal issues are helpful to become attached to characters in a series of books. The American is the second in the series and not having read the first did not seem to impact my enjoyment of this one, although things like his relationships carry over from the first novel.
There are a lot of characters, and it would have helped if I had read this book more quickly (which never seems to happen anymore.) The American is a bit more complex than some who-done-its that I read, and I don't mean that as a negative. The ending had a surprise that I didn't see coming which added even more to my positive opinion.
If you enjoy police procedurals with a lot of intrigue and guessing, I think you will like The American. I may go back and read the first book, The Few. There are currently a total of five books in the series.
eARC obtained from Edelweiss
368 pages
Rating: 4/5
Not seeing the ending coming is a good thing as long as it isn't out of the blue, which this one sounds like it isn't. The setting sounds good as well.
ReplyDeleteA new police procedure book for me. Thank you for highlighting this one.
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