2008-02-24 Shallow, relative to his others?

I just couldn't warm to this one despite having read 3 of Carofiglio's books and being impressed with them all.

Giorgio, a trainee lawyer, relates his experiences in learning how to cheat at cards and dabbling in drugs and sexual adventures. All of this in association with his friend Francesco. In the meantime, a number of girls are being attacked and the carabinieri sets out to find who has been responsible for the attacks. Giorgio's story is told in the first person and the police investigations are related in the third person.

The novel is meant to be a psychological thriller, and perhaps it is, but I really felt it lacked depth. I would have thought you need richer characterisations in a novel which is psychological in nature, but I found most of the characters to be lifeless and I couldn't warm to the aimless Giorgio.

I also missed the insights and humour Carofiglio's other books contain.

As I say, I enjoyed all of his other books, which are all short at around 250 pages, but this one just didn't do it for me.