End Games, By Michael Dibdin
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Published posthumously, End Games sees Michael Dibdin's Venetian detective, Aurelio Zen, investigating the kidnapping of an American lawyer in Calabria. Zen is as world-weary as ever, although somehow hardwired to the task of seeing that justice is eventually done. A plot involving the production of a film version of St John's Apocalypse ("Saint John of Patmos has variously been described as an inspired visionary, a deranged drug addict and a delusional psychotic") on location in Calabria, funded by Rapture Works, a murky Californian computer games company with Evangelical Christian links, offers ample opportunity for expressions of his dry wit. There's also some fairly preposterous intrigue involving buried treasure; and plenty of violence, if you like that kind of thing (and with Dibdin it never feels as if you're being mugged as a reader). There's even some sly cultural commentary about the status of tomatoes in Italian cooking.
Readers who may have felt that the Zen series had begun to flag will be pleased to note that the final entry is a very good one indeed.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments