Garcia-Ruiz, Luiz Alfredo - THE SILENCE OF THE RAIN

[LJ Roberts]

THE SILENCE OF THE RAIN (Police Proc-Brazil-Cont) - G+
Garcia-Ruiz, Luiz Alfredo - 1st in series
Picador, 2003 - Trade Paperback

Inspector Espinosa has a strange case on his hands. An executive, found dead in his car, is the victim of an apparent murder and possibly a robbery since victim's briefcase and wallet are missing. The other possibility is an insurance scam. Three women are involved and Espinosa takes a personal interest in two of them; the wealthy widow and the victim's girlfriend. As more people die, Espinosa is determined to unravel the threads of this complicated case.

I'll admit having had a problem getting into this. It was interesting, but I just didn't feel that involved in the story. Then, about a third of the way through, the author changes POV from third to first person and I was captivated. Because I read for character, it took that change for me to see the appeal of Espinosa and really care what happened to the characters and the case. When the author switches back to third person toward the end, I was so involved in the story, it didn't matter. I understood why Garcia-Ruiz wrote the book as he did, and I am very glad I stayed with it. For me, the strength of the book was that the book was set somewhere unfamiliar to me. But the weakness was that, in spite of the author's best efforts, I did identify the killer fairly early and I really disliked the ending.