The Girl In The Fog by Donato Carrisi

Author : Donato Carrisi
Title : The Girl In The Fog
Published : 02/11/17
Pages : 320
Genre : Mystery Thriller
Publisher : Abacus







     Sixty-two days after the disappearance . . . A man is arrested in the small town of Avechot. His shirt is covered in blood. Could this have anything to do with a missing girl called Anna Lou? What really happened to the girl? Detective Vogel will do anything to solve the mystery surrounding Anna Lou's disappearance. When a media storm hits the quiet town, Vogel is sure that the suspect will be flushed out. Yet the clues are confusing, perhaps false, and following them may be a far cry from discovering the truth at the heart of a dark town.

     More than once I delved into the world of Donato Carrisi, The other books of his that I have read have been part of his series. So when my birthday came around and I received this as a present I knew that in all probability I was going to enjoy the time I spent with this one. Whereas most of his other novel are set in big cities in Italy this time he chooses to move it to a small sleepy village. Would he be able to transfer his style across and bring the same level of complexity to this book that I have come to enjoy from his other works?

     Within this story, we get to switch not only between different perspectives but also across different times. The book moves around the day of Anna Lou, not actually giving us a final answer till the end.  With each character, we come into contact with we get to slowly build up an idea of the events that took place on that day from both sides of the law. Vogel is given to us as the big city detective who has been sent home under a cloud. Many times we get to witness his frustrations first hand and his need to solve the cases will push him forward to the point of breaking. This is one of those detectives who's past just won't quite leave him along. When you pit him against a local school teacher and prime suspect It can only lead to fireworks. It is through this battle of wits that we witness a small village get torn apart.

     For me, this book takes the author in a new direction, Whereas his previous works felt to me a lot more procedural, this time around it is more of a psychological battle that plays out.  At times the book had me feeling a little confused as I tried to keep up with the constant shifting. And I think for many books this would have been its downfall. But with Carrisi he manages to make it work at least within the confines of the story. This is in part down to the way it makes the whole story feel a great deal more claustrophobic. It is a way of keeping you on your toes from the first pages to the last. He also manages to give us a murderous past to the area and allowed me to have a much bigger story in what is for this author a relatively short book. It was a book of much contrasts to his others and he does deliver an intriguing and tense book. By the time I got to the end, I was hoping I would get a conclusion that would answer the many questions I had built up along the way. Those last few pages gave me such a whiplash of a twist I had to take a moment to put all the pieces into place. I get the feeling I may have to wait a few months and reread it just to sort it all out.

     So overall did I find it an enjoyable book to read, For me, I think the answer is yes, but it wasn't my first time with this author and I get the feeling if it was you might decide to not go back. This I feel would be a great shame as he has done such great works elsewhere. So maybe start with another of his book first and work your way around to this one.