Book #18 The Girl From Venice

The Girl from Venice by Martin Cruz Smith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ever since reading Gorky Park so many years ago I have been a fan of Martin Cruz Smith. So many thrillers; so much enjoyment. Smith is a master of his craft with a supreme gift for characterisation. The Girl From Venice rather took me by surprise. That same element of suspense but wrapped up in a love story set in Venice as World War II reaches a cataclysmic end for Italy. This is a powerful story encompassing the final days of the Wehrmacht SS, the Blackshirt fascists, the partisans - all jostling for position in the face of the final advance made by American military forces through northern Italy. The war is waning but Venice is still occupied.

Cenzo is a fisherman; whilst out on his boat Fatima he comes across a young woman's body floating in Venice lagoon. She is still alive. Giulia is a beautiful Jewish girl on the run from the Nazis. What will Cenzo do? Hand her over or try and protect her from certain execution from the dregs of the Wehrmacht SS who haunt the lagoon in their gunboats, hell bent on continuing their extermination of Jews. Cenzo's spontaneous act of kindness leads him and Giulia into a world of partisans, random executions, the mad Mussolini and broken promises, not the least from his own brother, Giorgio.

For me, this is a literary masterpiece; full of suspense against the backdrop of the final days of the war, set in the beauty and mystery of occupied Venice and the dark nature of the lagoon. Pitch perfect prose and great characterisation. An authentic story, full of atmosphere and persons I felt genuinely concerned about.

I loved it.



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