Blood
of the Wicked
A Chief Inspector
Mario Silva Investigation
Leighton Gage
Soho Crime (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-56947-470-2 (1569474702)
ISBN-13: 978-1-56947-470-9 (9781569474709)
Publication Date: January 2008
List Price: $24.00
Synopsis (from
the publisher): In the remote Brazilian town of Cascatas do Pontal,
where landless peasants are confronting the owners of vast estates, the
the bishop arrives by helicopter to consecrate a new church and is
assassinated.
Mario Silva, Chief Inspector for Criminal Matters of the Federal Police
of Brazil, is dispatched to the interior to find the killer. The Pope
himself has called Brazil’s president; the pressure is on
Silva
to perform. Assisted by his nephew, Hector Costa, also a federal
policeman, Silva must battle the state police and a corrupt judiciary
as well as criminals who prey on street kids, the warring factions of
the Landless League, the big landowners and the Church itself, in order
to solve the initial murder and several brutal killings that follow.
Justice is hard to come by. An old priest, a secret liberation
theologist, finally metes it out.
Review:
Leighton Gage's debut novel, Blood
of the Wicked, is a compelling mystery set in modern
Brazil amid the conflict between the few large land owners and the many
landless in the country.
Mario Silva, the Chief Inspector for Criminal Matters of the Federal
Police, is sent to a remote village in Brazil to investigate the murder
of a prominent bishop who was there to bless the opening of a new
church. The murder may have political overtones: the bishop had taken a
hard line against liberation theologians, members of the Catholic
Church who were involved in the struggle for economic and political
justice - which in Brazil meant the ongoing, and often violent, dispute
over redistribution of idle land from the wealthy land owners to the
landless poor. Upon arrival, Silva finds himself at odds with almost
everyone, from the police department to the parish priests to the local
residents, both rich and poor, who consider him an outsider. But Silva,
together with his nephew Hector Costa, is determined to discover what
secrets lie beneath the surface of this volatile region.
There are many reasons to recommend Blood of the Wicked.
The principal characters, Mario Silva and Hector Costa, are fully
developed with conflicted backgrounds that serve them well in their
current positions as Federal officials. The writing is first rate,
descriptive and atmospheric. The primary plot is multi-dimensional,
complex and intricate, yet surprisingly easy to follow, no small
accomplishment for a book with a strong and varied cast of secondary
characters, each participating in intersecting subplots.
Yet there are a few disturbing aspects as well. The body count numbers
well into the double digits which seems excessive, even for the brutal
environment Silva finds himself in. Some of
the deaths seem unnecessary, almost gratuitous, and do not advance the plot in any meaningful way. More troublesome is the
motive for the bishop's murder. The author could have taken any
one of several different and credible directions to account for the
killing, possibly opting for something daring and different, yet
in the end chose the safest approach which in this case was also the
most predictable and most disappointing (and least interesting).
On balance, however, Blood
of the Wicked is a terrific mystery, a strongly written
and powerful novel that will be remembered long after the final pages
are read.
Special thanks to Soho Crime for providing a copy of Blood of the Wicked for this review.
Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
Mysteries in this series ...
Blood of the
Wicked
Soho Crime (Hardcover), January 2008
ISBN-10: 1-56947-470-2 (1569474702)
ISBN-13: 978-1-56947-470-9 (9781569474709)
Omnimystery keywords for Blood of the Wicked
...
Location(s) referenced: Brazil.