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Italian Mysteries
Feb. 17th, 2020 10:23 pmJun 2019
The Book of Hidden Things - Francesco Dimitri – Titan Books, 2018
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Like Amberlough, this is a book that promises more wonder in its title than it manages to deliver in its prose, but I quite enjoyed it because of its setting. In a nowhere town in the heel of Italy, four childhood friends arrive for their annual get-together, a compact they formed in their heady teenage years and have stuck with even though none of them are really close any more. But one of the four, Art, fails to show up. His friends - Fabio the fashion photographer, Tony the gay surgeon and Mauro the uptight lawyer - investigate his empty house and uncover a crop of marijuana. This is bad enough - the local mafia family, the Corona, do not take kindly to others cutting in on their monopoly - but there are other, more disturbing, things which suggest that Art was getting into something mystical. Could it be related to the time in his youth when he disappeared for a week? And where is he now?
The mystical elements are weak, so to enjoy this book it is best to ignore them and focus on its evocative descriptions of the sun-drenched landscape of southern Italy and the lively interactions between the characters. The dialogue is good and the four protagonists are interesting, particularly Tony who for me is the beating heart of the book with his combination of toughness and concern for family. Fabio, the main viewpoint character, I found dislikeable for his sleazy attitude to women, which is evidence of the book's major flaw. Southern Italy may be a macho society but the total absence of women with any role other than being a spouse and mother is annoying.
