Books: Garden Of Evil By David Hewson

 

(Drivebycuriosity) - I am visiting Rome. Therefore I bought a crime novel which is set in the eternal city: The Garden of Evil by David Hewson (amazon). Cops are hunting a very evil & enormous wealthy man, part of Rome`s aricstocracy  (This is a spoiler free blog).

I didn´t care much about the plot. The story is way too constructed for my taste and not really plausible. There are also many clichés, including a very smart, literate & beautiful nun (in Rome!). But the book has some strengths. The author names a lot of places, buildings & streets in the city, which interests me as a Rome visitor. 

The central part of the novel is Caravaggio, who had once lived in Rome. The connections to the artist´s life and the descriptions of his paintings are fascinating and fanned my interest in this master´s work (many of his paintings are still in Rome) and comforted me for the book´s weaknesses. 

I seems that the author is a better art critique than a crime writer.