Killing Ground

March 31, 1997
Seymour's popularity with critics and readers doesn't depend on his ability as a stylist; he writes serviceably, but usually not with elegance. It's tremendous narrative drive that has made most of his previous thrillers (The Heart of Danger) so exciting. But there's a heavy, thumping quality to the writing of his latest that all but derails a well-researched story. The premise promises suspense: Charlotte (Charley) Parsons, a 23-year-old English schoolteacher, is recruited by an American DEA agent for a very dangerous game. She is to go to Palermo to look after the children of Giuseppe "Peppino" Ruggerio, the brother of--and chief money launderer for--reclusive Sicilian drug lord Mario Ruggerio. Most of the dialogue (and there's a lot of dialogue) is stiff and clotted, especially in the many exchanges among American DEA agents, Italian anti-Mafia police and British Fraud Squad investigators intent on finally bringing down Mario Ruggerio. Without believable dialogue, ferocious DEA zealot Axel Moen, who recruited Charley, rarely comes off as much more than an animated cause. Charley fares better, because we see through her eyes that the world she's risking isn't worth very much to her. The sad decline of Peppino's wife, Angela, moreover, demonstrates vividly how crime destroys lives indirectly as well as by the blast of a bomb or a shotgun. The velocity of much of Seymour's previous work just isn't here, however, and this lack detracts from the interest readers might have in his insights into the Mafia's role in the world drug trade.

This is an intricate thriller about drug-running and double cross, which includes the Mafia and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. Caught in the cat-and-mouse game is Charlotte Parsons, an English schoolteacher and sometime nanny to the Mafioso. Seymour's elliptical plotting and opaque style demand concentration from the listener. Narrator Jonathan Oliver competently keeps us involved and oriented within the complex plot, though the author's abrupt scene changes can confuse even a good listener. American listeners may find the English version of American accents unconvincing, and all the Sicilians tend to sound alike. Otherwise, this is an able delivery of a complicated tale. A.C.S. (c) AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine

Starred review from April 15, 1997
%% This is a multi-book review. SEE the title "The Gun Seller" for next imprint and review text. %%Twenty-three-year-old Charlotte "Charlie" Parsons is suffocating. Living at home with her parents in a small village in Cornwall, she sees no future except teaching snotty first-formers in the village primary. But excitement enters her life twice in one day. First, she receives a letter from Giuseppe and Angela Ruggerio, the Italian family Charlie worked for one wonderful summer. Will she come back to Italy and take care of the three Ruggerio children? To Charlie, it's a heaven-sent opportunity to escape. Later that day, she's visited by a coldly sinister American DEA agent named Axel Moen, who plans to use Charlie to reel in Mario Ruggerio, brother of Giuseppe and capo of the Sicilian Mafia. Naive Charlie offers the perfect foil--a watcher who can contact Axel and his crew the minute she spots Mario on one of his clandestine visits to his brother's house. But, of course, nothing is that simple, and Axel's fine plan erupts into a horrifying chain of events that changes Charlie's life forever. Seymour's latest is possibly his best yet--a gripping thriller that leads to a shattering climax. Superb reading. ((Reviewed April 15, 1997))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1997, American Library Association.)