Suffer the Little Children

Book was as described except for edge yellowing. Fast shipping. Would give five stars except for flimsy packaging which allows the books to become damaged in transit.

Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti of the Venice Questure becomes entangled with the underground world of child adoption in this engaging tale of deception and distress. In the end there seems to be no happy ending possible for the innocent victims of this form of illegal trafficking, the children themselves.

"Suffer the Little Children" by Donna Leon in her very aptly titled book has the good-hearted, gentle Commissario Guido Brunetti of the Venice police back in what is unquestionably the best book in the series that I've read. It ends with revelations, on a note of fatalism and inevitability worthy of a Greek or Shakespearean tragedy. It starts and ends with an act of violence. I was startled by several of the plot twists, particularly a cruelly ironic turn at the end in this superbly plotted novel. Brunetti has a keen intelligence, is insightful, kindly, a good man devoted to his wife and children. He is also devoted to good Venetian eating and tasty wine. The book is replete with many details about meals and wines. Leon's stories are unhurried because she is as interested in exploring Brunetti's life and mental processes as she develops her story. The narrative feeds off the policeman's character and is processed through his sensibilities. Harry Bosch is on speed compared to the leisurely pace of Brunetti. Venice is not only the backdrop to Leon's stories; it is an essential character in the narratives, and readers will get to know the city and its denizens better as each new book appears. Leon pays homage to the city she knows so well by her keen descriptions. Her characters, usually Venetian come to life, live and breathe. Leon's are police procedurals but not gritty or hard-boiled ones. In this one Guido doesn't have trouble with his superiors the way he usually does; this time it's the heavy-handed methods of the Carabinieri, Italy's national police force, he's up against. The book is about desperate parents who cannot conceive and who pay illegal operators to adopt babies sometimes from foreign immigrant workers. In one plot strand the sanctimonious pharmacist Franchi uses privileged information to malign people. We see complex interwoven plots come together at the end with ghastly results. A great reading experience!

Leon is an excellent writer who presents a mystery while describing the life styles of the characters in fascinating detail. An outstanding read!

In this 16th of the Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery series, the reader is led through a convoluted plot in which there are more questions than answers. In the middle of the night, Brunetti is summoned from a deep sleep to the hospital bed of a doctor who has been assaulted when his home was invaded and he was struck by a rifle [...] leaving him seriously hurt and unable to speak. The doctor's 18-month-old son was removed from the home. In a separate plot line, Brunetti ands his staff are investigating the possibility of fraud on the part of pharmacists and doctors bilking the state of insurance money (see, it's not limited only to Medicare and Medicaid fraud in the United States). The question arises whether or not the two separate crimes are related. In the casual style of a Brunetti investigation, the facts begin to unfold. And the story is told with the author's accustomed vivid portrayals of Venice, characterization, mystery and social views. Once again, Donna Leon has given us a novel to treasure. [It should also perhaps be noted that Ms. Leon's newest book, The Girl of His Dreams, has just been released in hardcover.] Highly recommended.

Been a Donna Leon fan for years and thought this was especially well-crafted. Loved the way she intertwined the baby trafficking and the issue of access to health records. Enough said - don't want to give too much away!