Paradise city

I was mightily impressed by Paradise City by Joe Thomas, which takes us deep into the throbbing heart of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and the violent favela known as Paraisopolis. Low ranking detective Mario Leme drives through this favela everyday, as this is where his wife, Renata, a lawyer, was gunned down Leggi tutto

2.5 non di più

There’s a specific kind of fevered, conspiracy-addled, crime fiction that only works in the right hands. Told in a postmodern, often repetitious style that many find grating (including, often, me). And the endings are often ambiguous, incomplete, or complete in a way that you cannot possibly accept Leggi tutto

I was interested to read this book , having visited Brazil a number of times. It evokes the ambience of Sao Paulo very well, particularly the heat and clamour, the juxtaposition of wealth and extreme poverty and the undercurrent of menace and corruption. However, I found it hard to engage with the s Leggi tutto

The atmosphere of São Paulo is described evocatively, I felt I could be sitting at any number of bars watching Leme, the detective trying to find some understanding about the murder of his wife, Renata. She had acted as an advocate for people who found themselves squeezed when the political system w Leggi tutto

Officer Mario Lemme has lost his wife in a shootout as she leaves work one evening. Wrong place, wrong time they say but Lemme doesn't believe this. A short time later a young , rich male is killed in a car accident at the same intersection. Mario is there when they remove the body from the car, he

I really enjoyed this book. It took a while to get used to the names of people and places having never been to Brazil but once i got used to it, the story flowed really well. The way in which Joe Thomas has written these characters made me really want to invest in what happens to them and I'll certai Leggi tutto

Although I enjoyed the story, the questionable grammar (which may have been like that on purpose for style, I'm not sure) and lack of a few much needed commas made the book difficult to read at times and some of the plot points barely made sense.

I really enjoy reading books based in locations that are new and exciting. This was definitely one of those times. A good detective story and a great main character. The city of Sao Paolo really comes alive in this one.