IN the fifth Aurelio Zen novel by Michael Dibdin, Cosi Fan Tutte (crudely translated: Everyone is at it) (Faber, £14.99 in UK), we find the policeman not in his beloved Rome but stagnating in Naples. And in disgrace. And mightily pissed off. As a consequence, he is more interested in the amorous affairs of his landlady's daughters than in the fact that corrupt politicians, shady businessmen and eminent mafiosi are disappearing off the streets at an alarming rate. The subplot of the daughters and their loves allows Dibdin to work in an elegant exercise on Mozart's comic opera of the same name, while the main narrative remains with urban terrorists who are, literally, carrying out Italy's present-day campaign of a political and social clean-up - they even pose as dustbin men and tip the baddies into their disposal truck.
The book, like the opera, is all preposterous posing and interchanging of identities; the tone, in spite of the odd grisly episode, remains light; and Zen himself undergoes a sea-change from his normally morose mien to one of insouciance and a certain mannered charm. As always, Dibdin's work is a delight, containing as it does stylish writing, urbane dialogue and a delicious harping on matters not usually considered in thriller fiction. One to be savoured.
Len Deighton is into trilogies - his new book, Charity (Harper Collins, £16.99 in UK), is the third to feature laconic British spy Bernard Samson. Aficionados of the series will be familiar with Samson, a stubborn if deeply flawed character, and the people who surround him, and in this final drawing together of places, events and conspiracies, it is just about necessary to have read the other nine books - nine because there was a scene-setting one called Winter which was a single work to itself.
I have read all the others, but I must confess to an amount of bewilderment as this last one unfolded. Striving to draw all the strands together, Deighton appears to lose hold of some in the process, but then, maybe he intends to resurrect his protagonist at in the future. Whatever; the series represents a magnificent achievement in the field of espionage writing and Samson remains one of the great spies.
Michael Ridpath's Free to Trade was one of the most hyped thrillers ever and one of the most disappointing. I found it turgid, boring and sleep-inducing, and I'm afraid his follow-up, Trading Reality (Heinemann, £15.99 in UK), takes up where the other left off. This is writing by numbers, a slick commercial enterprise that never achieves lift-off, with one-dimensional characters, stereotyped set-pieces and prose as stultifying as a Dail speech. For what it's worth - the plot is concerned with the unfamiliar (and it remains so) world of virtual reality and with the efforts of young Mark Fairfax to discover and bring to justice the killers of his brother, Richard, a genius who had built up a highly successful company dealing in said VR. I drifted off while reading it, but others may be able to keep their eyes open.
While once I used to cheer at the advent of a new Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker, now I merely groan. I think the series played itself out quite a few volumes back, and it appears now that our macho author - what about that photograph of him on the dust jacket? - is merely going through the motions. Chance (Viking, £16 in UK) sees Spenser, Boston private eye, on the trail of the missing husband of the daughter of a big-time hoodlum called Julius Ventura. His investigation leads him to the glitter of Las Vegas, various bouts of violence ensue - his superman black buddy Hawk is there as Spenser's usual back-up - and bodies fall thick and fast. However, I found a tired, have-I-read-something-like-this-before?
aura about it that failed to excite, and the insufferable girlfriend Susan is ever-present to infuse her particular brand of saccaharine into the tale. Groan, groan.
So to the medical thriller Vaxxine (Smith Gryphon, £14.99 in UK) by doctor and psychotherapist Andrew Stanway. He is the author of over forty books on health, medicine and sexuality, but this is his first venture into fiction, and he makes a reasonable enough fist of it. The story deals with the theft of a contraceptive vaccine for men that is safe, lifelong and reversible - but which also has terrible side-effects. In the wrong hands it could lead to a world of sterile men and consequent social breakdown, but never fear, our clean-cut hero Brad and his equally righteous companion, Jill, will surely set things to right. Perhaps Stanway shows his inexperience by throwing a few too many ingredients into the pot, but his book does maintain the interest right to the final page.
Peter Straud's The Hellfire Club (Harper Collins, £15.99 in UK) is a big read, both in size and in intent. It would take too long even to synopsise the plot, but the themes dealt include the raking over of an old mystery, the grisly secrets that lie behind a bestselling fantasy novel, and the relationship between a brutal killer and the woman whom he kidnaps. Straud is a witty and intelligent writer, always completely in charge of his material, and this novel never fails to grip. Best read over a long and lazy weekend.
If you've ever had the fear of being buried alive, then Michael Kiball's Undone (Headline, £16.99 in UK) is not for you. It is set in Gravity, Maine, a small, sleepy town, where a series of events is put in motion by one Bobby Swift and his beautiful wife, Noel, that is guaranteed to wake the inhabitants like a clap of thunder. This is Stephen King territory: a seemingly peaceful situation erupting into mayhem at the wave of a witch's wand. A fairytale, with overt sex and violence. Be warned, be careful and don't read it when the moon is full.
Finally, and by no means least, to The Oxford Book of American Detective Stories, edited by Tony Hillerman and Rosemary Herbert (OUP, £17.50). This is one to drool over. Containing a nice mix of the old and the new - Poe, Davisson Post, Eberhart, Boucher, Chandler and Pronzini, Grafton, Marcia Muller - it also provides lengthy biographical notes and is obviously a labour of love by the two editors. If you're thinking of buying an early Christmas present, then look no further.