Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Collection
Publication
Faber
Description
In this masterpiece of psychological suspense, Italian Police Commissioner Aurelio Zen is dispatched to investigate the kidnapping of Ruggiero Miletti, a powerful Perugian industrialist. But nobody much wants Zen to succeed: not the local authorities, who view him as an interloper, and certainly not Miletti's children, who seem content to let the head of the family languish in the hands of his abductors -- if he's still alive. Was Miletti truly the victim of professionals? Or might his kidnapper be someone closer to home: his preening son Daniele, with his million-lire wardrobe and his profitable drug business? His daughter, Cinzia, whose vapid beauty conceals a devastating secret? The perverse Silvio, or the eldest son Pietro, the unscrupulous fixer who manipulates the plots of others for his own ends? As Zen tries to unravel this rat's nest of family intrigue and official complicity, Michael Dibdin gives us one of his most accomplished thrillers, a chilling masterpiece of police procedure and psychological suspense.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member cbl_tn
When a friend of kidnapped businessman calls in some favors to ramp up the seemingly stalled local investigation, Police Commissioner Aurelio Zen is recalled from his banishment to a dead end desk job. The businessman's family has been uncooperative with the local police, and they aren't likely to
If I hadn't known when I started reading that this is the first book in a series, I wouldn't have detected it from the quality of the writing. This is a strong series debut. It has a wonderful sense of place. I've been lucky enough to travel to Italy a couple of times, and Dibdin's descriptions brought back memories of things I had noticed during my travels that I thought I had forgotten. Although the book was first published more than 20 years ago, it doesn't feel too dated, except for a noticeable absence of cell phones.
Zen has to do more than just identify the guilty; he has to outwit those with wealth and political power who try to use their influence to direct the investigation to their own ends. It might have cross-over appeal for readers who enjoy political thrillers.
Show More
be more cooperative with an outsider. Zen can't expect much help from the Perugian police, either, who will resent his interference in their territory. Zen seems to be in a no-win situation, yet unlike everyone else involved with the case who are willing to do only what needs to be done to preserve their own reputations, Zen keeps digging for the truth.If I hadn't known when I started reading that this is the first book in a series, I wouldn't have detected it from the quality of the writing. This is a strong series debut. It has a wonderful sense of place. I've been lucky enough to travel to Italy a couple of times, and Dibdin's descriptions brought back memories of things I had noticed during my travels that I thought I had forgotten. Although the book was first published more than 20 years ago, it doesn't feel too dated, except for a noticeable absence of cell phones.
Zen has to do more than just identify the guilty; he has to outwit those with wealth and political power who try to use their influence to direct the investigation to their own ends. It might have cross-over appeal for readers who enjoy political thrillers.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Joycepa
Commisioner Aurelio Zen, attached to the Rome offfice of the National Police force, is serving in a meaningless position thanks to his involvement in the Aldo Moro kidnapping case. But the kidnapping of the head of a prominent Perugian family takes place, and Zen, merely because of his
Naturally, Zen's unrequested presence is resented by the local police force. cooperation is nearly non-existent until the Assitant Prosecutor, a Communist with his own agenda, decides to make an ally of Zen.
Zen proceeds with the investigation despite roadblocks thrown in his way by Perugian officiladom and the family itself. He finally solves the case, thanks to the assumptions generated by the endemic corruption. The ending is excellent.
The plot is excellent and the book is very well written. Like Donna Leon's books about Venice, an integral part of the story is the power-brokering and corruption of official Italy. it adds presence to the story.
Characters are very well drawn and except for Zen, pretty much unlikeable. There is a love interest in Zen's life that plays no major role in the story--it almost seems like an afterthought.
The emotional sense of the entire book is one of melancholy, even a sort of despair. Hanging over it all is the uneasy feeling of something sinister--the writing is permeated with it. This is not a light-hearted or even affectionate look at Italy but a very dark one.
An excellent read and a book that leaves the reader wanting to read more of Zen. Highly recommended.
Show More
availability, is sent to Perugia, ostensibly to head up the stalled investigation thanks to his expertise; in reality, he is only window dressing to appease powerful friends of the Maletti family.Naturally, Zen's unrequested presence is resented by the local police force. cooperation is nearly non-existent until the Assitant Prosecutor, a Communist with his own agenda, decides to make an ally of Zen.
Zen proceeds with the investigation despite roadblocks thrown in his way by Perugian officiladom and the family itself. He finally solves the case, thanks to the assumptions generated by the endemic corruption. The ending is excellent.
The plot is excellent and the book is very well written. Like Donna Leon's books about Venice, an integral part of the story is the power-brokering and corruption of official Italy. it adds presence to the story.
Characters are very well drawn and except for Zen, pretty much unlikeable. There is a love interest in Zen's life that plays no major role in the story--it almost seems like an afterthought.
The emotional sense of the entire book is one of melancholy, even a sort of despair. Hanging over it all is the uneasy feeling of something sinister--the writing is permeated with it. This is not a light-hearted or even affectionate look at Italy but a very dark one.
An excellent read and a book that leaves the reader wanting to read more of Zen. Highly recommended.
Show Less
LibraryThing member dougwood57
Michael Dibdin introduced Italian police detective Aurelio Zen in the Ratking and carried off the 1988 Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award. An industrialist has been kidnapped in Perugia and the powers-that-be want a high-powered detective sent up from Rome to solve the crime. In mad rush
Dibdin develops a complex crime scenario. Is the entire kidnapping a fake, a put up job? Is the industrialist's messed up family behind the kidnapping? Why does the family not cooperate with the police? Can Zen arrange for his safe return? If not, will Zen end up back in his duties in Rome?
Zen likens the family to a 'ratking' and whether you believe that ratkings actually exist in nature, these folks are the real thing (look it up - I won't spoil the surprise).
Dibdin, however, does not stop with a mere police mystery, but develops a multi-layered story. He presents a largely dysfunctional Italian society where few people work much or very hard, certainly no more than absolutely necessary. Every individual is subject to power exercised often arbitrarily by nearly everyone else - and that's the trade-off; everyone gets at least a little power to lord over anyone wandering into their bailiwick. And Dibdin also begins to develop Zen as a complex character whose American expat girlfriend resents his sudden involvement in real police work, who lives with his mother, and who mourns the loss of a father he never really knew. In Dibdin's obit (he died in 2007), the Guardian observed that the Ratking's plot existed mainly for the presentation of "mordant dialogue and world-weary observation".
The story did drag at times; perhaps it suffered a bit from setting up Zen's back story, which took the reader away from the main story. One assumes the reader's patience will be rewarded in the remaining ten Zen novels. I look forward to reading Vendetta (Zen), the second book in the series. Highly recommended.
Show More
of bureaucratic CYA, the police in Rome dispatch Auerlio Zen. The joke is that Zen is a has-been, blamed for the bungled end of the Aldo Moro kidnapping some four years earlier. Dibdin develops a complex crime scenario. Is the entire kidnapping a fake, a put up job? Is the industrialist's messed up family behind the kidnapping? Why does the family not cooperate with the police? Can Zen arrange for his safe return? If not, will Zen end up back in his duties in Rome?
Zen likens the family to a 'ratking' and whether you believe that ratkings actually exist in nature, these folks are the real thing (look it up - I won't spoil the surprise).
Dibdin, however, does not stop with a mere police mystery, but develops a multi-layered story. He presents a largely dysfunctional Italian society where few people work much or very hard, certainly no more than absolutely necessary. Every individual is subject to power exercised often arbitrarily by nearly everyone else - and that's the trade-off; everyone gets at least a little power to lord over anyone wandering into their bailiwick. And Dibdin also begins to develop Zen as a complex character whose American expat girlfriend resents his sudden involvement in real police work, who lives with his mother, and who mourns the loss of a father he never really knew. In Dibdin's obit (he died in 2007), the Guardian observed that the Ratking's plot existed mainly for the presentation of "mordant dialogue and world-weary observation".
The story did drag at times; perhaps it suffered a bit from setting up Zen's back story, which took the reader away from the main story. One assumes the reader's patience will be rewarded in the remaining ten Zen novels. I look forward to reading Vendetta (Zen), the second book in the series. Highly recommended.
Show Less
LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
Ratking by Michael Dibdin is the first book in his Aurelio Zen series which was originally published in 1988. This book serves as an introduction to both the series set in Italy and the main character. Aurelio Zen is an Italian police commissario who has been relegated to a mundane desk job after
Kidnapping seems to be rather commonplace in Italy and often has political connections. The author appears to be very knowledgeable on all aspects of Italy, including the geopolitical divisions of the country. The victim here is from one of Italy’s most powerful families and it isn’t long before Zen realizes that not everyone in this secretive family wishes their father to be returned.
Ratking has a definite noir feeling about it. The tone is dark and morose with corruption on all sides. Zen appears to stumble along, working as an outsider, but slowly it becomes obvious that his apparent indifference and aloofness is a shield that he uses to hide the clear moral code that he follows. Even though it seems that everyone else in the story is working toward his downfall, he stubbornly carries on. This book totally immerses it’s reader in Italy with the food, the scenery and traditions vividly outlined. With such an interesting setting along with it’s strong stoyline and interesting cast of characters, this will be a series that I will be continuing on with.
Show More
failing to please the right people in an earlier high-profile kidnapping case. When political pressure is brought to bear upon the Roman officials regarding a kidnapping case in Perugia that has stalled, Zen is dusted off and sent north to Umbria as the expert on this type of case.Kidnapping seems to be rather commonplace in Italy and often has political connections. The author appears to be very knowledgeable on all aspects of Italy, including the geopolitical divisions of the country. The victim here is from one of Italy’s most powerful families and it isn’t long before Zen realizes that not everyone in this secretive family wishes their father to be returned.
Ratking has a definite noir feeling about it. The tone is dark and morose with corruption on all sides. Zen appears to stumble along, working as an outsider, but slowly it becomes obvious that his apparent indifference and aloofness is a shield that he uses to hide the clear moral code that he follows. Even though it seems that everyone else in the story is working toward his downfall, he stubbornly carries on. This book totally immerses it’s reader in Italy with the food, the scenery and traditions vividly outlined. With such an interesting setting along with it’s strong stoyline and interesting cast of characters, this will be a series that I will be continuing on with.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Condorena
Very labyrinthine.
LibraryThing member sfeggers
This mystery was slow to get going and really didn't take off until about 150 pages but very good after that.
LibraryThing member Darrol
The law seems to work in different ways in Italy. It was interesting how the conventions of say Michael Connelly's Bosch series do not quite work here. "[F]iendishly crooked novel of psychological suspense" seems to be as a blurb a bit overdone.
LibraryThing member BruderBane
This novel took me quite awhile to finish. I have a feeling this was due to my recent plunging head-first into "The Brothers Karamazov" and I was carrying over from that novel the passion I devout to every paragraph, tale and nuance. In any case "Ratking" by Michael Dibdin is a solid noir detective
Show More
story capturing the much of the essence and many of the flavors present in Italy circa the late 1980's. Mr. Dibdin has an excellent grasp of the various regions of Italy and is able to portray them all with lifelike quality and 3-dimensional flair while telling us a fairly good murder mystery. Show Less
LibraryThing member kerns222
Your basic rich corrupt family murder: strange personalities abusing power and each other. This time set in Perugia. A little pop psych and a pop gun (small automatic) and a tricky finish (you wait a long time for Zen to get going but he closes well). Feels like you could move the plot to any
Show More
country with big rich families and corruption rampant. The book is not as Italian (family style) as Donna Leon. More noir, more Ross MacDonald. Nice read. Show Less
LibraryThing member tulikangaroo
I loved the BBC (PBS in the US) Zen series, and I loved the book. As others have mentioned, I was reminded of Andrea Camilleri's novels, but Zen is calmer, quieter. He absorbs what he sees, processes it somewhere deep within, and craftily employs the information to his best advantage. Inspector
Show More
Montalbano operates similarly, but somehow his process is more transparent and the revelations more sensational. Zen calmly, quietly gets results (to everyone's surprise, including his own) and calmly, quietly moves on to the next case. Show Less
LibraryThing member thiscatsabroad
Gave up with less than a hundred pages to go. Found it pedantic and plodding.
LibraryThing member BillPilgrim
Aurelio Zen story. He is temporarily assigned from his purgatory of a desk job, to investigate an extended kidnapping of the wealthy owner of a large corporation. His four children are not cooperating with the police and have been dealing directly with the kidnappers. Shortly after Zen arrives, the
I haven't read any of the other Zen books, although several years ago I did watch the videos of the books, including one that is based on this book. I enjoyed those videos. This book was a good read. Its well written and humorous.
Show More
lawyer who was acting as an intermediary between the family and the kidnappers is killed.I haven't read any of the other Zen books, although several years ago I did watch the videos of the books, including one that is based on this book. I enjoyed those videos. This book was a good read. Its well written and humorous.
Show Less
LibraryThing member leslie.98
Even better than the PBS series dramatization Zen! One thing in particular I don't remember from the show is the definition of the term 'ratking' -- in the book, this occurs in Chapter 3:
'Bartocci shook his head. " ... A ratking is something that happens when too many rats have to live in too small
Ewww! But this definition colored my reading of what followed in Zen's investigation into the kidnapping of Ruggerio Miletti. I also love how Dibdin brought this definition back into play when discussing how Zen planned to crack the case at the end.
'Bartocci shook his head. " ... A ratking is something that happens when too many rats have to live in too small
Show More
a space under too much pressure. Their tails become entwined and the more they strain and stretch to free themselves the tighter grows the knot binding them, until at last it becomes a solid mass of embedded tissue. And the creature thus formed, as many as thirty rats tied together by the tail, is called a ratking. You wouldn't expect such a living contradiction to survive, would you? That's the most amazing thing of all. Most of the ratkings that are discovered, in the plaster of old houses or beneath the floorboards of a barn, are heathy and flourishing. ..."'Ewww! But this definition colored my reading of what followed in Zen's investigation into the kidnapping of Ruggerio Miletti. I also love how Dibdin brought this definition back into play when discussing how Zen planned to crack the case at the end.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Eyejaybee
It is often a mistake to return to reread a book one remembers having enjoyed. There is a risk that former illusions can be shattered, and one’s judgement from earlier, more innocent days, cast sharply into doubt.
It must be almost thirty years ago that I first read Michael Dibdin’s novels
Coming back to it now, I found Ratking (the novel in which Zen made his debut) very irritating. The characters are all totally implausible (and, without exception, utterly objectionable) and the plot is wafer thin.
My principal response now ids to think how hardy and committed my younger self must have been to persevere not only through this rather weak and disappointing book, but also through several of its successors. But now I am left wondering whether it was a case of having more literary staying power, or simply less critical judgement then than now.
It must be almost thirty years ago that I first read Michael Dibdin’s novels
Show More
featuring the cynical and jaded detective Aurelio Zen, who seemed to be despatched from Rome to a different part of Italy in each book. I suppose that I was in part won over by the unusual setting being (both then and now) woefully ignorant of Italy, and at the time Zen himself seemed an exotic character.Coming back to it now, I found Ratking (the novel in which Zen made his debut) very irritating. The characters are all totally implausible (and, without exception, utterly objectionable) and the plot is wafer thin.
My principal response now ids to think how hardy and committed my younger self must have been to persevere not only through this rather weak and disappointing book, but also through several of its successors. But now I am left wondering whether it was a case of having more literary staying power, or simply less critical judgement then than now.
Show Less
LibraryThing member malcrf
Simply excellent. Richly evocative prose, strong characterization. I don't know if the Italy paints is the real one, but he really brings it to life.
Awards
Crime Writers' Association Awards (Winner — 1988)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1988
Physical description
266 p.; 24 cm