Just Finished Reading: Alibi by Joseph Kanon

Venice. 1946. Ex-Army Intelligence officer Adam Miller is visiting his mother who has announced she’s to re-marry. At one of the first parties of the new season Adam meets Claudia, an Italian Jew who survived the camps by any means necessary. Somewhere during their torrid affair Adam falls in love. When she is presented to Adam’s future step-father she explodes in a violent attack accusing him of being a collaborator. Later in the privacy of her apartment she tells Adam how this man had betrayed her father and herself to the Germans. Deciding to get to the bottom of her accusations Adam begins his own investigation and uncovers disturbing evidence of complicity with the occupying power. It’s not long before accusations turn to threats and threats develop into murderous intent.

I was very impressed by the first third or so of this book. The characters were well drawn and rounded with deep personal histories and even deeper motivations. The rendition of Venice, shaking itself off from years of occupation, was evocative of both the time and the city I briefly visited some years ago. But at about the half way point either I or the author lost the plot and I really struggled to get through the middle of the book which seemed to be scene after scene of the main characters wondering what to do – and failing to agree on a course of action. Only in the last quarter did the plot pick up pace again and move to an interesting – if somewhat unsatisfactory – ending. The failures of the book, or my wandering mind, have not put me off this author completely however. He certainly showed a lot of promise early on but, at least in my opinion, failed to maintain a very high standard throughout. I will certainly be reading more of his works and hope that one of us can keep things together long enough to enjoy a really good read. No doubt I shall let you know if that turns out to be the case.