The Light in the Ruins

What this book could have been....

This book had so much going on. Historical fiction. Jumping between two time periods (1940s and 1950), murder mystery. A detective with a mysterious past.

To put it simply, there was WAY too much going on.

1940s follows Christina and her family at their home, Villa Chimera. Recently they unearthed an Etruscan Tomb on their property and the Nazis are are interested in the content inside. There is also a handsome, Nazi who expresses interest in the young 18 year old Christina.

1950s follows what is left of Christina's family as they are being murdered by a Serial Killer. It also follows a detective named Serafina who has burns across her body and a mysterious past from the war.

There are a lot of good ideas in this book that could make for a spellbinding story. The issue is that there are so many storylines and plots that it is hard to become fully invested in them. Often the plot jumps from shocking moment to shocking moment, which is designed to keep the reader flipping the pages. I admit I became engrossed towards the end when I wondered how all of these plotlines would tie up and come together.

This is where my rating when from 4.5 to 3 stars. The ending was rushed and went for 100% shock value. At the start of the book you knew which characters would die, and that is what kept me interested. To see how it happened and why. The issue was, their deaths were just a short sentence or two. If you weren't paying close enough attention, you'd have missed it. Very sloppy. There was more focus on the death of an animal than there was on the human characters you'd been following for a few hundred pages.

The ending had me wishing I didn't waste my time on the book, or that I could have someone re-write the ending to make it even mildly satisfying. As it sits, I give it the “Dexter” treatment, where the ending was so stupid that I pretend the ending that was given doesn't even exist.

This book has many qualities, but enough faults to get 3*...

I really enjoyed the setting: Italy during and after WWII. The Germans are trying to resist the advance of the Allies, and to do this, all means necessary are taken, even pillaging and killing those that are supposed to be their allies, the Italians. In the middle of all this, the Rosati family tries to survive and will pay the ultimate price, first during the war, and then ten years later when a killer stars attacking the survivors.