- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: Picador; First Edition, Media Tie-In edition (Aug 17 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0312430019
- ISBN-13: 978-0312430016
- Product Dimensions: 20.9 x 16.5 x 2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 272 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #144,273 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Booth's brilliantly creepy psychological suspense novel follows a so-called "shadow-dweller" (a technical weapons expert who creates and supplies the tools for high-level assassins) to a rural village in southern Italy where he poses as "Signor Farfalla," a quiet artist who paints miniatures of butterflies and has traveled to the area to capture a unique native specimen. As the artist, whose real name is Clark, settles into the local scene, most of his new acquaintances accept his enigmatic alias, with the notable exception of Father Benedetto, the priest who pushes him to reveal himself in a series of confessional conversations over glasses of Armagnac. Between painting the minutely detailed butterfly studies and preparing for his next job, Clark carouses with a pair of local prostitutes, Dindina and Clara, eventually slipping into a serious affair with the latter. As he gets weapons specs and begins constructing a new gun, he learns that his latest customer is a woman whose next target may be Yasser Arafat. Suddenly he senses another "shadow-dweller" on his trail; this anonymous figure remains a mystery to Clark until their climactic showdown. The lazy, languid setting is an eerily effective backdrop for the fresh and beguiling murder intrigue, and the flashbacks into Clark's cold, brutal past are cleverly juxtaposed against his budding romance with young, naive Clara. With first-rate characters and a gradual buildup of suspense, Booth constructs his most focused, tightly written novel to date, reminiscent of William Trevor's classic Felicia's Journey and the late Patricia Highsmith's Ripley novels.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Those in the Italian village where he currently lives call him Sr. Farfalle--Mr. Butterfly--but he never reveals his real name. He has few friends, only business contacts. He is constantly on the move and always watching his back. He considers himself an artisan, not for the butterflies he paints as his cover but for the guns he creates for cunning assassins. He sees nothing wrong with what he does and feels he has helped shape history. But he is getting older and promises himself that his current job will be his last. Then, perhaps, he can settle down comfortably in the Italian village he has grown to love and enjoy the remainder of his life without constantly looking over his shoulder for the "shadow-dwellers" who are always there, waiting for him to slip up. Haunting, shocking, and tense, Booth's story is a charismatic blend of psychological thriller, vivid drama, searing morality tale, and profound psychological study. His writing is crisp yet lyrical, simple yet intelligent. Readers looking for thought-provoking literary fiction can't do any better than this. Emily Melton
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
HIGH IN THESE MOUNTAINS, THE APENNINES, THE SPINAL CORD of Italy, with its vertebrae of infant stone to which the tendons and the flesh of the old world are attached, there is a small cave high up a precipice. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
HIGH IN THESE MOUNTAINS, THE APENNINES, THE SPINAL CORD of Italy, with its vertebrae of infant stone to which the tendons and the flesh of the old world are attached, there is a small cave high up a precipice. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
a very good thriller,
By
This review is from: A Very Private Gentleman: A Novel (Hardcover)
Come into Signor Farfalla's world as his past comes back to haunt him.Where beauty & death cohabit quite comfortably. Where anonymity is tantamount. Where subterfuge & almost-truths are the language of the day. Where contacts are made via convoluted means, goods are contracted for large sums of cash, projects are accomplished under cover...& a tranquil bright summer in a charming Italian river valley town is suddenly darkened by the arrival of the shadow-walkers...whose intentions he must fathom. Rebeccasreads highly recommends A VERY PRIVATE GENTLEMAN as a very good read! Martin Booth's writing is tasty, smooth & piquant, like ripe peaches plucked from the tree; chilled with frissons of suspense, like perfect Italian icecream. Could not put it down!
4.0 out of 5 stars
Calming Violence,
By A Customer
This review is from: A Very Private Gentleman: A Novel (Hardcover)
I found this book intriguing which is a word I believe I read in another review. As someone else said - unlike the raver who said it wasn't an autobiography and shouldn't be written as if it were - it really is the internal state of a man's mind. I disagree about the term "elderly" in yet another review - aging yes but elderly no. I found him very human despite his occupation and felt badly when he couldn't have what he ultimately wanted. I found the writing very gentle and lovely considering Signor Fafalla's job. As a parallel I was reading Sarah Dunant's Mapping the Edge at the same time. As both main characters are trying to get away from someone else, albeit in different ways, sometimes I would expect to find Edmund in the other book as well. It was becoming a surreal experience. I actually recommend it.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Effective juxtaposition of evil and beauty,
By
This review is from: A Very Private Gentleman: A Novel (Hardcover)
This is a strangely compelling yarn in that it appeals to the reader's senses while perhaps offending his morality. The protagonist, an elderly man whose career consists of creating highly sophisticated firearms for assassins, is currently living in a small Italian village among the mountains. His warm relationships with the locals and his highly developed appreciation for his surroundings are detailed so well that the reader may experience sensory overload reading descriptions of the wine, the food, the rain, the mountain scenery, the attractions of prostitutes, etc. Reconciling this appreciation of the simple pleasures of life with the cold-bloodedness of a murderer is the trick in appreciating this man. As it turns out, it is his awareness of his surroundings that has enabled our man to slip from one part of the world to another many times, eluding the shadowy people whom he spots trying to tail him and, he assumes, do him in. The ending of the story may be a mild surprise, but there is no socko conclusion.
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