Solea

April 23, 2007
I
n Izzo’s taut concluding volume to his memorable Marseilles trilogy (after 2006’s Chourmo
), former cop Fabio Montale is still struggling to find a purpose in the wake of his leaving the police force. Despite his pessimism, Montale allows himself to hope again after he falls hard for a woman named Sonia he meets in a bar; noir fans will be less than surprised that the flicker of romantic promise is quickly extinguished—in this case by a Mafia hit man targeting Montale and people he cares for to get him to divulge the location of his journalist friend, Babette, who’s written an exposé detailing mob links with politicians and the police. Babette’s sophisticated analysis of organized crime’s effect on the working classes, plus Izzo’s unsparing treatment of his cynical hero, elevate this far above most Mafia-themed fiction.

August 1, 2007
The concluding volume of the late Izzos Marseilles trilogy remains utterly uncompromising in its allegiance to the classic noir worldview. Fabio Montale, the embittered former cop, sees nothing but misery in his own future and in the future of his beloved city, but he still tries to protect those he loves from similar fates. Ah, but in a noir world, any spot of tenderness is a point of vulnerability, and sure enough, the Italian Mafiosi, desperate to silence Montales former lover, investigative journalist Babette, target Fabios friends as the way to pry from him the information they need. There is a eulogistic tone to this novel, not only because it is Izzos last, but because he seems to be saying farewell to possibility, farewell even to the idea of constructing a separate peace out of harms way from the world. A Jim Thompsonlike endingserved with Izzos no-frills lyricismpretty well seals the deal: Could you draw the curtains on our life? Im tired. The sun shines brightly in Marseilles, but Izzos Mediterranean noir is as dark as noir can get.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)