A Season for the Dead (Nic Costa thriller Book 1)

Perhaps we are talking about Byzantine rites here. This could be described as a roller coaster of a thriller with a few unfortunate stops. This is a story about a serial killer with almost supra-human abilities to avoid detection. An encapsulated version of this thriller is that the killer, a Caravaggio aficionado, is pursued by a young detective who is also (surprise) a Caravaggio expert. If Mr. Hewson had stayed with this theme it would have been rated higher. OK, we know he is really writing about Archbishop Marcinkus and the scandals of the Vatican Bank, but to be realistic, there is just to much baggage in this story. It could certainly have used an editor, a problem that many other reviewers have mentioned about not only this work but others . Let me bring up the few areas where I feel the writer has fallen down on the job. The love scenes between Nic Costa and the enigmatic Sara Farnese, heroine, tart, psychotic daughter (looneytoon?) are boring, clinical, cliché-ridden seem to be purely pro forma and only break the rhythm of the book.The dialogue between Vic, his Communist, politico, dying father, Vic, Sara and Bea the pining would be paramour of Vic's father are puerile and totally unbelievable. They simply do not resonate with any realism. In fact, all these scenes and dialogue could have been condensed in one or two pages and still be effective.The entire premise of the corrupt archbishop and his motives, his Machiavellian aide de camp, Hanrahan is too fantastic. It gets in the way of the ride. OK, this is a few steps above the usual thriller, but the reader should be warned that he should expect to be disappointed at several key points of the story.The use of Caravaggio and the theme of Tertullian influence does give the story color, but unfortunately not enough to give this book a hearty endorsement or future ones.

Excellent murder mystery. We know who did it fairly early on, but the complexities of how and why maintain interest in the plot. Meanwhile, the characters reflect on the meaning of death--and life--from a variety of theological and philosophical perspectives. Their reflections lead to character evolution over the course of the novel. Their ideas are sophisticated, but the characters express those ideas in direct, understandable language. Each character has a unique voice and point of view, with a mix of human strengths and weaknesses. The action keeps building, too, and the setting in Rome adds to the fascination of this book. The struggle between good and evil in "A Season For The Dead" is not just a struggle between good people and bad people; but rather a struggle between forces that we recognize as a human struggle within ourselves. The world brings good and evil events into our lives, and we respond with our own blend of good and evil traits. David Hewson allows us to identify with heroes and villains alike while they confront extraordinary pressures we rarely experience. He gets the dynamic interaction of good and evil just right.

I enjoyed this book. It wasn't how I thought it would be which is why I liked it. I'm not going to write a plot summary since so many on Amazon have already did that. I enjoyed that you never knew where the twists and turns were going to be in this book. I loved all the detail about Italy and the paintings. It's not a Dan Brown want to be book. If you are looking for codes then you will be disappointed. I enjoyed the interplay between all the characters. Wasn't sure how to take some of them or how they were going to fit into the plot. I enjoyed this first book of the series. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a religious thriller or a mystery.

A Season for the Dead is an excellent book, well written and located in Rome (for Rome fans, it is delightful and very accurate). The characters are very interesting and quite well rounded and Nic Costa is the type of complex character that immediately makes us like him. The other characters Falcone (the boss), Rossi (the partner) and Teresa (the coroner) all complement the protagonist. The action is thrilling and I hope to see many more books with the same group.

A serial killer is wandering the sweltering streets of Rome when Nic Costa and Luca Rosta begin their investigation into a series of murders depicting scenes of martydom from various painting - which all seem connected to Professor Sara Faranese; Nic has to discover this connection while being increasily drawn to Sara.I found the Italian police both frustrating and intriguing along with the inner workings of the Vatacian and Cardinal Denney's relationship with Sara (which confuses Nic even more for Sara is a very complex and sexually active women.)You'll find yourself asking 'why' around every corner as you attempt to figure out this more than interesting, more than run of the mill, more than the same of crime drama - mystery - and it'll be worth every page you turn!

If you like taut, pacy detective stories set in the most stylish city in the world, then buy all the series and follow the adventures of Detective Costa and his Roman colleagues as they attempt to solve intricate and dastardly crimes in the Eternal City.The plots are good, the settings accurately drawn and the best thing about the central character is his fascination with the artist Caravaggio. I had to google all the paintings and in the process learned lots about Italian art, which is no bad thing!

This is the second book I've read by David Hewson and whilst I really enjoyed it, it didn't quite have the twists and turns that Lucifer's Shadow did. Loved the historic Roman setting and looking forward to reading the next in the series.

The book is missing pages between 140 and 189. Because I didn’t read the book upon receipt I missed the deadline for returning it. Buyer beware!

I'd never read David Hewson before, but I really enjoyed this novel. Set in the hustle and bustle of a sweltering Rome at the height of summer, a serial killer is on the loose. In the holy environment of the Vatican's fabled Reading Room, scholar Sarah Farnese is engrossed in ancient scripts. Not far away, a murder is taking place and as Sarah works, a man bursts into the Reading Room carrying a bloodied bag. As he looms over her, apparently intent on revealing the contents of the bag to her, he dies.Inextricably involved in a dark and murderous investigation, Sarah's path crosses with young, up-and-coming Roman detective Nic Costa - a man far removed from the normal eligible men she meets. Costa loves the art of Carvaggio, has an undeniable appreciation of Roman architecture and a passion for his work.Soon the pair are on a collision course with an enemy more dangerous than they could ever imagine.This is the first in a series of books featuring Costa as the central character and whilst I admit that the whole trend for writing a character series is starting to grate on me - everyone, it seems, is doing it and, if you know that this is the first in a series of books about one character then you pretty much know that at least one of the story's central players will survive the carnage - Hewson manages to avoid making me constantly aware of his long term goal with some powerful plotting and neat characterisation.Some of it, it has to be said, is a bit thin, though, which is why it gets four stars only. Nic's relationship with his father seems to be a device of convenience which, I assume, is intended to humanise him for the reader and give him some sort of back story as a counterpoint ot his professional life as a policeman. The romantic elements of the story, also, are somewhat ham-fisted, as though Hewson feels they ought really to be there to add texture to the characters but can't quite bring himself to abandon his inhibitions and write it for real (or maybe can't quite work out exactly how his characters might behave in those circumstances).In and of themselves, these are not major flaws - but they do have the rather unfortunate consequence of sucking the pace out of an otherwise rollicking good read.There's just a hint of Angels and Demons about it - but only insofar as the setting and ecclesiastical elements of both are very similar. Certainly, though, the storyline is original (at least as far as any serial-killer-on-the-loose novel can be). The pace is tight, the detail sufficient to let you know how and why each character gets to where they are at any given point, but not enough to bog you down and the dialogue perfectly natural.All in all, a good read.

I discovered David Hewson through Twitter, initially taking an interest in his tweets on technology and how he used it to optimise his writing experience. But, forever on the lookout for new crime fiction authors, I quickly delved into his website and discovered a treasure of books.I downloaded a sample chapter onto my Kindle of the first in the series about Italian detective, Nic Costa - A Season For The Dead - but it wasn't long before I was buying the complete book. I later discovered that I already owned this book in paperback - it was sitting on a shelf, hidden within a crime fiction collection box and I was sorry I hadn't discovered it earlier.I like David Hewson's style of writing - it's very detailed and descriptive and flows easily from the page. His knowledge and interest in religious art and history is used cleverly to draw the characters in and move the plot along, blending well with the narration. I didn't feel as though I was being given a factual lecture on the era when I was reading it and the way he describes places in Italy makes me want to visit there again.Suffice to say, since reading a couple of Dan Brown books, including The Da Vinci Code, I'm not a keen fan of religious crime thrillers and if it hadn't have been for David Hewson's decriptive style of writing, I probably wouldn't have been drawn to this book. I did find the plotline a bit complex at first, but once I'd got to grips with the Italian names and places, I was absorbed into the story and characters and had to keep reading to find out what happened to them.A Season For The Dead introduces young Italian detective, Nic Costa. The setting is present day Rome and the opening scene begins with a death in the library of the Vatican. In this book, there is murder and intrigue, romance and sex, history, art and religion; but best of all there is depth to the characters and I felt as though I knew these people by the time I finished reading.This is not a `whodunnit' as the serial killer is revealed during the first half of the book. What is not revealed though is why and this becomes the mystery that drives the book to the surprise finale. Nic Costa comes across as a naive detective at the beginning of his career but the case impacts him and his family in more ways than one and by the time the book has finished, Nic had changed both as a man and a detective.I'm looking forward to reading the other books in the series.

I agree with Pentimenta's review. Poor. To my mind, this book would benefit from being half its length - it started out OK, then I found that I was skimming most of the text after the first couple of hundred pages. Even shorter, it would not be that good - two dimensional characters, every cliché available, oodles of cod psychology, a wooden style - why did he bother. Come to that, why did they publish it?

I had already read a Nic Costa mystery which came with a few books that I randomly bought. I was so impressed that I have now started to read them all beginning with this first one. It was not disappointing. The themes are dark and sometimes gruesome, exposing physical and psychological crime, and the at times deeply flawed legal system. This is the side Rome the tourist do not want to see. David Hewson brings it all into sharp focus with imaginative and well written plots, and some very interesting and engaging characters.On the cover it says that if you like Donna Leon you will like David Hewson, but for my money David Hewson wins the top prize.

The tale is set in the Eternal City, that in itself is good enough for me, but there is much more to this book than that. The characters and the storyline are totally engaging. Hewson writes my mind of story