A Refiner's Fire

The Commissario Guido Brunetti Mysteries, Book 33

De: Donna Leon

Narrado por: David Colacci

Duración: 9 h y 28 m

Resumen del Editor

In the thirty-third installment of Donna Leon’s magnificent series, Commissario Guido Brunetti confronts a present-day Venetian menace and the ghosts of a heroism that never was....

Around 1 AM on an early spring morning, two teenage gangs are arrested after clashing violently in one of Venice’s squares. Commissario Claudia Griffoni, on duty that night, perhaps ill-advisedly walks the last of the boys home because his father, Dario Monforte, failed to pick him up at the Questura.

Coincidentally, Guido Brunetti is asked by a wealthy friend of Vice-Questore Patta to vet Monforte for a job, triggering Brunetti’s memory that twenty years earlier, Monforte had been publicly celebrated as the hero of a devastating bombing of the Italian military compound in Iraq. Yet Monforte had never been awarded a medal either by the Carabinieri, his service branch, or by the Italian government.

That seeming contradiction, and the brutal attack on one of Brunetti’s colleagues, Enzo Bocchese, by a possible gang member, concentrate Brunetti’s attentions. Surprisingly empowered by Patta, supported by Signorina Elettra’s extraordinary research abilities and by his wife, Paola’s, empathy, Brunetti, with Griffoni, gradually discovers the sordid hypocrisy surrounding Monforte’s past, culminating in a fiery meeting of two gangs and a final opportunity for redemption.

A Refiner’s Fire is Donna Leon at her very best: an elegant, sophisticated storyteller whose indelible characters become richer with each book, and who constantly explores the ambiguity between moral and legal justice.

©2024 Donna Leon and Diogenes Verlag AG Zurich (P)2024 Recorded Books

Not her best.

After reading/listening to whole series; was very disappointed in this installment. Lacked any actual decent storyline, and seemed more like a “gotta stick with it” attempt. Sad. Narrator as always saved it from total fiasco.

Scenes of Venice

Loved the book - very contemporary subject matter and it felt well researched
I recommend it highly

Even the 33rd book is a winner

I always enjoy being back in Venice with Guido and his team and his family. Venice is such a major character in these books. The team of Donna Leon with her amazing writing and story and David Colacci and his narration made this a great summer read/listen.

Disappointing -

Not up to her usual standard. Weak and uninteresting plot, missing much of the usual and enjoyable descriptions of Venice as a background character. Guido, always a delight, seemed less engaged and not as strongly drawn in this one. Maybe Ms. Leon is tiring of the series, seemed like not much effort went into this one. David Colacci’s narration always great.

The Author Just “Going Through the Motions” (or worse?)

The first really poor effort in a treasured series.
I’m questioning if Donna Leon actually wrote this book, at least in total.
An editor not familiar with the series run amok? AI?
Key characters (Vianello and Paula) virtually invisible, sub-plots making little sense and ending without resolve and a running joke throughout the series (the baggage handlers) totally ignored.
If Donna Leon’s disenchantment with Venice is affecting her work it is sad, but all good things must end.
Books like this however show little respect for a body of work that is held dear by so many lovers of the series and it’s characters who due to her craft had become members of many a reader’s family.

So boring

There was no action or interplay between the main characters. This book was a throwaway😒

Disappointing book!

Very thin story and little of the local color usually found in Ms Leon’s books.