Aurelio Zen: Blood Rain cover art

Aurelio Zen: Blood Rain

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Aurelio Zen: Blood Rain

By: Michael Dibdin
Narrated by: Michael Kitchen
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About this listen

 Inspector Zen receives the order he has been dreading all his professional life: his next posting is to Sicily. Set against the backdrop of the 3000 year old city of Catania, Blood Rain reveals Aurelio Zen at his most desperate and driven.©2004 Michael Dibdin (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Mystery Suspense Thriller & Suspense Italy Fiction

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The Zen story continues with reappearances from some familiar characters. Michael Kitchen’s pronunciation of Italian is improving with the series but it still grates when he gets it horribly wrong.

Zen never fails to throw light on the mysteries of Italy

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Feeling out of place in Sicily, Aurelio Zen, the Venetian detective is drawn into the internecine workings of the Mafia, while having to contend with the equally opaque State security. Michael Dibdin is brilliant at evoking a strong sense of place without drawing on the usual clichès. Social and cultural norms are threaded throughout the book as what is seen and heard may not always be what is intended. His sardonic approach to life underpins his disillusion with how things are done, and has to confront things which threaten his own moral code. A slightly different side to his character is drawn here to one we have seen in earlier books of the series. There are twists and turns in the plot to keep you intrigued. Having read the Aurelio Zen books many years ago - listening to them again has been equally enjoyable and a reinforcement of the author’s skills. He is sadly missed.

The dark heart of Italy.

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I have enjoyed all the Aurelio Zen books, although I'm not sure about Michael Kitchen as a reader - may be because of the tv series.
Interesting to hear something about the way the Mafia has been changing in Sicily

Excellent series

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Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I had to miss out whole chunks of the recording as they were intolerably badly read. Kitchen's voice may be good for television acting, but is annoying as a narrator since its tendentious pauses are so ridiculously placed as to make one feel as though he has no understanding what he is reading.

Would you be willing to try another book from Michael Dibdin? Why or why not?

Dibdin's writing is trying to give more than a thriller, but its grasp of Italian history is cursory and punctuates the story rather than illuminates it. The irrelevant passages of plot filler do not add to the depth of the story, only to the length of the book.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Kitchen ought not to narrate books. He is a reasonable television actor but listening to his idiosyncratic pacing for more than ten minutes make my toes curl.

Was Aurelio Zen: Blood Rain worth the listening time?

Not really. And I would not read anything else narrated by Kitchen. He's nearly as bad as Scott Brick.

A reasonably good tale spoiled by uneven reading.

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As usual expertly read, great story twisting and turning every which way. Roll on next story

The reading

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