Staff Pick - The Lost Girls of Rome by Donato Carrisi

Want to feel the rain that scores the streets of Rome? Want to smell the dampness as the Tiber overflows? Donato Carrisi created multiple strong characters, random chronological and time sequences, and a plot shrouded amongst the churches of Rome, to take you on a journey that will leave you putting pieces together long after you've finished.

The Lost Girls of Rome (M) opens up with a time and the words, 'The corpse opened his eyes'. It is just the beginning of the story, no biggie. When another chapter opens the same way, again, and again, I started to realize something was up with one of the main characters, Marcus, both current and past. Then there is Sandra, with her eye for detail and puzzles. She spins you in circles, offering new characters and information, all the while merging her story with Marcus’.

When I started this book I was excited, after all I had not read a good mystery in a long time, and well, Ken Follett had praised Carrisi's last book. I thought, this is going to be good! Despite the plot detailing more about religion than I would have liked, the connection to the characters kept me reading well into the night. Carrisi pushed me to the end of my chair, and made me continuously re-read previous parts of the book to connect the dots. He is a brilliantly sneaky writer!

What made the book deem worthy of a blog for me was the ending. As many know, I read the last page of nearly every book I put in my hands, and sometimes before I read a single word. Now, I'm sure I heard gasps, however, that doesn't mean that I am not going to finish the book, it just gets me more excited to figure out how the ending will transpire. For this book I did not peek, and boy was I ever shocked and surprised when I finished!

It was as if from the beginning, I was given a huge tangled mess of yarn and had to roll it into a nice and tidy ball. I read the last pages, pulled the yarn and it was as if all the questions were answered. I started blurting them out loud; this and this and that.... needless to say, my husband asked if he should read the book as the revelations were so exciting to me!

Anyone who loves a mystery that will keep the secrets hidden until the very end will love this book. I am eager to read Carrisi's other novel written in English, The Whisperer, are you?

~Doreen