The Lost Concerto

May 25, 2015
At the start of this suspenseful, heartrending novel from Mario (Firebird), Sofia Orsini and her young son, Thomas, are in flight from Sofia’s husband, Victor, the target of U.S. Justice Department special agent Simon Sugarman, who suspects Victor of funding an impending terrorist attack on American soil. Sofia and Thomas take refuge in a church on an island off Brittany, where a killer strikes Sofia down. Thomas disappears. Ten months later in Boston, Simon uses some devious arguments to persuade recently widowed music shop owner and concert pianist Maggie O’Shea, Sofia’s closest friend and Thomas’s godmother, to help him locate Victor and the missing boy. Maggie becomes ensnared in a perilous game of cat and mouse that moves between France and America and brings her into contact with murderers, terrorists, and CIA agents. Musical artifacts and stolen art also figure in the action, which builds to a highly satisfying resolution. Mario’s overheated style won’t be to every taste, but fans of romantic thrillers will be enthralled.

June 15, 2015

Taking the form of a concerto, this second novel from Mario (Firebird) is divided into three action-packed emotional movements. Consumed by grief, recently widowed Madgalena O'Shea is disengaged from her life as a concert pianist. When her best friend Sofia is murdered and her godson disappears, Maggie becomes embroiled in a conflict that is at once global and deeply personal. The agent investigating Sofia's death shares with Maggie a photograph recently taken in Paris and a recording of an unpublished concerto. She recognizes the piece as a composition by her first love, lost in war-torn Beirut 30 years ago yet impossibly alive in the Paris photo. Vowing to find her godson and the truth, Maggie hastens to France, unaware that the trail she follows will lead to stolen art, musical artifacts, criminals, and terrorists. VERDICT Music is not just backdrop here but also a character that permeates Maggie's life. With the help of a vigilant retired colonel and bolstered by the transformative power of classical music, Maggie finds what has been lost, including herself. Brava!--Laura Cifelli, Fort Myers Regional Lib., FL

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