Reviews

• Don't often review books I've read but this was a really excellent read. First time I have read Robert Wilson but certainly will try another. A broad brush novel spanning two eras with a criminal investigation in between all linking up in the end. So much intriguing contant , thought I'd nearly finished and discovered I was still only half way through! Well recommended if you like WW11 and crime novels a wonderful mixture.

• Great story with interesting (not always nice) characters. Switched from war years to the 1990s but did not lose pace in the process. I learnt a lot about Portuguese history along the way. It was a bit brutal in places but it was not gratuitous violence-it merely reflected the times. Well written and loads of surprises along the way. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

• Trama avvincente ben scritto . Una vicenda storica poco nota che ha avuto luogo durante la 2a guerra mondiale sta alla base del delitto oggetto delle indagini e che si è consumato al crepuscolo sul XIX secolo. Consigliato

• This is the novel I always wanted to write: Portugal in World War II, German-English intrigue, and gold. But even if I had the time, I could not have assembled as well-executed a thriller as "A Small Death in Lisbon." Several things stand out in Robert Wilson's novel of crime and suspense. One is the richness of the contrasting portrayals of warring Germany, opportunistic Lisbon, and impoverished, backward rural Portugal during World War II, all of them ably juxtaposed in turn against the technocratic, Europe-oriented Lisbon of 1998. I was in the Portuguese capital in 1997 and 1998, and Wilson's portrayal of it rings true. Another is the quality of the writing. Wilson has a vast vocabulary and uses language expertly, but he's able to fend off any risk of pretentiousness with the robust, Raymond-Chandleresque imagery and sardonic turns of phrase that mark many good mystery novels. Like Philip Marlowe visiting General Sternwood's mansion in "The Big Sleep," Inspector José Afonso (Zé) Coelho goes to the manor of a prominent Lisbon lawyer and observes: "The art on the walls was the sort that demanded comment unless you happened to be a police inspector from Lisbon in which case your opinion didn't matter." (P. 74.) Wilson marks a pregnant pause during an interview in that house this way: "The ormolu clock nearly missed a tick." (P. 66.) My favorite line in the whole book appears earlier: "An SS mess waiter in a white monkey jacket and black trousers put a tea tray down in front of the civilian, who didn't look up from the newspaper he wasn't reading." (P. 20.) Brilliant. Better yet, Wilson generally reserves his Chandleresque tone for modern Lisbon, deftly switching to a suitably more serious tone in the novel's anterior plot as he depicts various horrors in Nazi Germany and in Portugal under the oppressive regime of António de Oliveira Salazar. There is a noteworthy typographical error on page 237 of the American paperback edition. The date should be April 15, 1955, not 1995. If you think it's 1995 you'll become confused, wondering if Wilson has suddenly embarked on a parallel history in which Generalísimo Francisco Franco and the aforementioned Salazar continue to rule Spain and Portugal as right-wing centenarians, and in which Mozambique apparently does not become independent and its capital, Lourenço Marques, is not renamed Maputo in 1976. "A Small Death in Lisbon" is carefully researched and Wilson had its Portuguese phraseology checked. Unfortunately (perhaps because of typesetting errors), in the American paperback edition some words are missing diacritical marks that should have them, others are adorned with them that shouldn't, and still others are misspelled. Thus, instances of what should be Direcção, simpático, Voluntários, and Notícias appear as Direcçõ, simpatico, Voluntarios, and Notíçias. That's a minor flaw in the production of a novel that is substantively excellent in all respects.

• I am now hooked on Robert Wilson. This book goes way beyond the norm of mystery/crime thrillers like Michael Connelly etc. (who I also really enjoy). Wilson is a really fine writer with a wonderful turn of phrase and some magical passages that surprise, considering the genre.

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