secrets and lies
Author : Zygmunt Miłoszewski
Title : Entanglement
Published : 13/05/2010
Pages : 320
Format : Paperback
Publisher : Bitter Lemon Press
The morning after a gruelling group therapy session, Henry Talek is found dead, a roasting spit stuck in his eye. The case lands on the desk of Warsaw prosecutor Teodor Szacki. World-weary and suffering from bureaucratic exhaustion and marital ennui, Szacki feels that life has passed him by. But things are about to change, as his search for the killer unearths another murder that took place 20 years ago - before the fall of Communism. And why is the Secret Police taking such an intense interest in this particular case?
This was the first book to ignite my passion with authors from Poland. Suggested by a friends who thought I would really enjoy it was she loved the author. Its been sat on my shelf ever since and I felt it was time to go back. With the discovery of a grisly murder in the midst of a group of people going through therapy you would think the pool of suspects would be fairly small but this cases will spread its poison across a city and back into the past.
The story is told from the point of view of Teodor Szacki a prosecutor who is starting to question where his life is going. Throughout the story his quest for justice pushes him to place he doesn't feel entirely comfortable going. He tries his best to solve the murder that he has been given. At the same time he comes to realise there are limits to the justice system and his place in it. We get to learn a lot about who Szacki is as a person his hopes his fears and his family life. It was done in what felt like an organic way as most of the questions he asks of him self are tied into him trying to solve the case and the dangers that brings to those he hold dear. I like the fact that the hero Miłoszewski has chosen to give us is deeply flawed. I would not say he's a bad person just some one who feels very real to me. From his deep attraction to a female journalist to question how much he could actually be bought for. On this point he's a realist every one can be bought but for how much is the bigger question. You have to give our prosecutor his due even with all the pressures from outside forces he does try his best to get to the bottom of the events that take place. Aw we delve deeper into the murder case we get introduced each in turn to those who our victim was in therapy with. For the most part they each in turn try to stone wall the investigation. That each come with enough back story for me to get to know them enough to learn of what there potential motives might entail. This allows them in my mind to become more three dimensional. On top of this we have Cesary Rudzki's a therapist who's use of questionable forms of therapy and a need to deflect any questions about him self. Collectively the author managed to maintain my interest in each of the people for the duration of the book. This in of itself for me was a great feet. Usually there are one or two side characters that frankly I lose interest in.
Miłoszewski has a light style he never gave me to much information to handle at once. Having said that entanglement is not a simplistic novel. This is a well thought out novel with every point having its place within the story. There are many strands to this story and at times I was desperately trying to pull on them to get to the truth. The core group of people would have been enough to hold my interest in this book but the author also brings to the table Poland's secret police. I suppose if I were to fit them into a box within the story they are the big bad of this plot. As he points out most people think of Poland's time under communism as this slightly wacky place where things may not have always made sense to those looking in. When in fact as he points out this was a time of much fear and terror with the secret police doing as they wished. When kidnaping,torture and murder where not outside of there ability's. The case he gives us is as complex as those involved in it. I spent much time devoted to trying to break the case before the final pages rolled up on me. While this was a reread for me I had forgotten how the book ended. I feel this would be book to keep the most die hard crime reader guessing as to the facts of the case. At the start of each chapter we get a small section on the days events that took place in the real world. I felt this was an interesting touch add to this his use of real places helped to ground his story very much in the physical plane. It also sparked my mind to look them up on goggle to get a better understanding of them. This is a story about how we may turn our backs on the past but it will forever be breathing down our necks. And how a chance for revenge my come to us in the most unlikely of circumstances. It all come down to weather we should take it and face to coincidences or let sleeping dogs lie. I would also like to mention the translator Antonia Lloyd-Jones who seems to have done a superb job at converting the subtleties of the text puns and humour included. I cant but help feel this was not the easiest of tasks.
Miłoszewski has a light style he never gave me to much information to handle at once. Having said that entanglement is not a simplistic novel. This is a well thought out novel with every point having its place within the story. There are many strands to this story and at times I was desperately trying to pull on them to get to the truth. The core group of people would have been enough to hold my interest in this book but the author also brings to the table Poland's secret police. I suppose if I were to fit them into a box within the story they are the big bad of this plot. As he points out most people think of Poland's time under communism as this slightly wacky place where things may not have always made sense to those looking in. When in fact as he points out this was a time of much fear and terror with the secret police doing as they wished. When kidnaping,torture and murder where not outside of there ability's. The case he gives us is as complex as those involved in it. I spent much time devoted to trying to break the case before the final pages rolled up on me. While this was a reread for me I had forgotten how the book ended. I feel this would be book to keep the most die hard crime reader guessing as to the facts of the case. At the start of each chapter we get a small section on the days events that took place in the real world. I felt this was an interesting touch add to this his use of real places helped to ground his story very much in the physical plane. It also sparked my mind to look them up on goggle to get a better understanding of them. This is a story about how we may turn our backs on the past but it will forever be breathing down our necks. And how a chance for revenge my come to us in the most unlikely of circumstances. It all come down to weather we should take it and face to coincidences or let sleeping dogs lie. I would also like to mention the translator Antonia Lloyd-Jones who seems to have done a superb job at converting the subtleties of the text puns and humour included. I cant but help feel this was not the easiest of tasks.
Some time when I go back to a book I haven't read in a long while I don't find that I have the same experience of joy I did the first time. In this case I think it was every bit as it was the first time around. It was a book the complete encased me as I passed through the pages. It embodies that dark sense of humour and realism that I have found from other polish authors and part of the reason I fell in love with the books of more than one author from this country. I would say this is up there with the best of Europe's other great crime story's and worthy of your time. For me rereading this book was like visiting with an old friend you haven't seen in a long while. Always a pleasure and never completely forgotten.
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