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The Villa of Mysteries

The Rome Series: Book 2

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The Villa of Mysteries

By: David Hewson
Narrated by: Christopher Kay
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In Rome's crowded Campo dei Fiori, a woman rushes up to two carabinieri lounging in their sunglasses and uniforms, insisting that her 16-year-old daughter has just been abducted. Detective Nic Costa sees the scene unfold and intervenes. Because Costa knows what the two officers don't: that in the morgue at Rome's police headquarters, a forensic pathologist is examining the strange, mummified corpse of another girl, whose disappearance and death bear haunting similarities.

Police pathologist Teresa Lupo is Nic's colleague, friend, and his only equal when it comes to breaking the rules to get results, whatever the cost. Now, after years of living with the dead, Teresa insists that her superiors move quickly to save a life. Poring over the body of the girl in the morgue, she has found too many similarities between the girls, including a unique, leering tattoo. Lupo is sure that the vanished girl is headed for a bizarre ancient Bacchanalia involving virgins and sacrificial murder: a ritual that is only days away.

As Nic and Teresa claw at the case from two sides, and as Nic finds himself at once puzzled and beguiled by the missing girl's seductive mother, a chilling picture is beginning to emerge of secret relationships and sexual depravity, organized crime and unimaginable corruption. With the clock ticking down on a young girl's life, Nic and Teresa are about to make the most horrifying discovery of all: in a pit of human darkness, where an age-old malevolence still endures, evil has consumed innocence. And a very modern vengeance has begun.

©2004 David Hewson; (P)2004 W F Howes Ltd Crime Thrillers Mystery Police Procedural Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction Crime Disappearance Thriller Rome
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I really enjoy David Hewson’s writing and was really looking forward to getting into the Nic Costa series. I wish it had been read without the fake Italian accents as at times I was distracted by how rather than what was being said.

Story spoiled by naratator.

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Unlike your other reviewers I thought the book was excellent in plot and telling. I fail to see how people that only stick 30 or 40 minutes with a book can make any comment at all. The story line was good and we all despise violence, especially against women, but it happens. The Italian accents of the reader were a bit off the cuff but it's the story, not the accent that's under review.

Distracted by an accent

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The narrator of this second book is awful at an Italian accent. If I were Italian I‘d probably be really offended. He should have stuck to reading in plain English and let the rest to our imaginations. After listening for about an hour, I had already begun to wonder if I was going to be able to stick it out for another 15 hours. But it was when he pronounced cadaver as cay-daver that I gave up. Weren’t there any studio editors paying attention while this was being recorded??? I can only hope that he isn‘t narrating the rest of the series, as otherwise I‘ve wasted a lot of credits for nothing.

The terrible narration

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Hewson’s Rome series has been cursed with different narrators. I find this gets in the way of establishing a clear mental image of the characters, especially when listening as a boxed set. With this, the 2nd in the series, it was nearly ruined for me by awful cod Italian accents – somewhere between a cartoon-style pizza or icecream advert and the Mario Brothers. Thankfully, the narration was otherwise okay. Tricky when most characters are Italian of course. Overall, the story line and quality of Hewson’s writing made it worth hanging in there, but it could have been so much better.

Good story, spoiled by some dreadful narration

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I enjoyed this book. Well written and contrary to reviews I read prior to my listening, well read.

Few surprises on the way through.

Enjoyed Beginning to End

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