Lie in the Dark

MRB has previously reviewed three Fesperman books, and the comments have all been favorable. I didn’t think this one lived up to the others. Talk about dark? Well, the title should have given me a clue. It takes place in war-torn Sarajevo where the Serbs, Croats, and Muslims are all killing each other. Despite all the murders that are war-related, police detective Vlado Petric is assigned to investigate the murder of Esmir Vitas, Chief of the Interior Ministry’s special police. The murder was designed to look like a sniper hit, one like the many that were occurring around the city on a daily basis, but Vlado quickly figured out it was not just a random shooting. Fesperman probably captures how miserable it must have been to live in that city with all the atrocities that were going on. Day-to-day living was very difficult, so most of the characters were just struggling to survive. But, the plot and characters just did not grab me, and despite hanging with the book for more than 200 pages, I gave it up – just was not interested in seeing how it worked out. Amazon gave it a 4 ½ out of 5 rating. I disagree, but I’m willing to take on another Fesperman at some point based on The Prisoner of Guantanamo.