| This book reads like two books until the end. The first part is about finding a sixteen year old girl's body on a beach in Portugal. This takes place in the late nineties and the POV is first person, the detective who is investigating the crime.
The other story starts in 1941 in Germany and a business man who is inducted into the SS, and his main duty is to arrange for the purchase of wolfram, we call it tungsten. This story goes on until the time frame of the murder. In both stories we get plenty of description into the two main characters lives. In the case of the German, the book describes all his vices, depravities, over indulgences and his ploddings along to protect himself. It's a long read, you find yourself skipping some of the description, when you reach the final chapters you are glad to see these two completely different kinds of stories merge. The sixty year career of the German business man, his dealings with an illiterate hill country crook and his sons, and the moving of stolen loot to their own coffers as well as South America are described. | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of story - Dry-cynical How difficult to spot villain? - Difficult, but some clues given Misc. Murder Plotlets - solving long-past murder Kind of investigator Any non-mystery subplot? descript. of violence and chases - 20 % Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30 % Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20 % How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 30 % Crime Thriller Yes Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes Main Character Gender - Male Age: - 40's-50's Main Adversary Identity: - Male Age: - 40's-50's Motive of antagonist - revenge The antagonists are: - lawyer creatures How sensitive is this character? Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor Intelligence - Average intelligence Setting Europe Yes City? Yes Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
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