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281st out of 2,513 books
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A Small Death in Lisbon
Winner of the prestigious Gold Dagger Award in the U.K. for the best mystery of 1999, this complex literary thriller may be one of the most satisfying suspense novels to come along in some time. Robert Wilson has written several political thrillers, most of which are set in West Africa, but they are, alas, largely unavailable in the U.S.
In A Small Death in Lisb...more
In A Small Death in Lisb...more
Paperback, 464 pages
Published
March 5th 2002
by Berkley
(first published January 1st 2000)
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I had a hard time pushing through to the end of this book, but I just could not give up on it because I had to see how the two story lines tied together in the end. How were the lives of 2 Nazi Germans going to tie into the murder of a young girl in Lisbon in the 1990's? One of the highlights of the book was the modern day detective character. I struggled somewhat with the political activities that were referred to since I have a very limited knowledge of Portugal's history. This book definite...more
[my comments are taken from a mailing list discussion and may contain spoliers!]
I'm not going to manage to finish the book before going off on my holidays on Friday so I'm going to wade in with what I think so far and catch up when I get back. (By which time I'll have to catch up on the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency discussion too)
I started reading this book and after a couple of chapters had to check the cover to check that the title was indeed "Small Death in _Lisbon_" as I was in 194
...more
The story begins in the 1990's in Portugal when the body of a teenaged girl is found on a beach brutally murdered. Inspector Ze Coelho and his colleague are first on the scene and begin the investigation by tracking the final days of Catalina's life where they discover her innocence was destroyed by sex, drugs and emotional abuse.
The story then backtracks to 1941 when Klaus Felsen is forced out of his Berlin factory and into the ranks of the SS. He is sent to Lisbon where his mandate...more
The story then backtracks to 1941 when Klaus Felsen is forced out of his Berlin factory and into the ranks of the SS. He is sent to Lisbon where his mandate...more
Portugal, 1940s and 1990s. Wilson is a UK-born author of which I don't think I've seen many books here in US (in fact also the copy I read was bought in Ireland).
Nice amount of details in the descriptions in the story, and it keeps you wondering what happened. The history parts of the story, from 1940s to 1990s, only bind to the story in the end, when it seems to be resolved. Enough action and enough interesting characters too. I'd say 8 to 8 1/2 stars out of 10, but the location being in P...more
Nice amount of details in the descriptions in the story, and it keeps you wondering what happened. The history parts of the story, from 1940s to 1990s, only bind to the story in the end, when it seems to be resolved. Enough action and enough interesting characters too. I'd say 8 to 8 1/2 stars out of 10, but the location being in P...more
I liked the book, but I found some "buts" while reading it - after checking Hirondelle's notes on the book, I have to say that I agree with some of them (the sex scenes, the blue eyes things - it is a scientifically possibility that parents with brown eyes have a blue-eyed kid, even though it'd be more likely for the kid to be brown-eyed). About the story, in the beginning it was a bit hard to read as I was much more interested in one of the stories, but not so much in the other one, b...more
Quando se começa a ler o Último Acto em Lisboa, a primeira impressão ás primeiras páginas é de fechar o livro… mas após a leitura de mais algumas linhas a opinião deixa de ser a mesma, mas reside a pergunta, o que é que 2 histórias tão diferentes passadas em épocas tão diferentes têm a ver uma com a outra?… Tudo. A acção começa com um assassinio no final dos anos 90. e regressa logo a seguir para trás até 1941, onde Klaus é enviado pelo Reich até ao nosso país. 6 decadas de história, desde o in...more
This book tells the story of a Portuguese police detective investigating the murder of a promiscuous teenage girl in Lisbon. The investigation is interrupted by frequent flashbacks to World War II, when a Nazi SS officer named Felsen comes to Portugal to acquire wolfram for Germany and hide Nazi gold via a banking venture.
I found the history of Portugal in World War II to be very interesting. Beyond that, I didn't love this book. The police detective, Coehlo, is a likable protagonis...more
I found the history of Portugal in World War II to be very interesting. Beyond that, I didn't love this book. The police detective, Coehlo, is a likable protagonis...more
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Well, this is one of the few I haven't finished. Goodness knows I tried. I just couldn't get through it. I was forcing myself to read it the way one forces one's self to eat a few bites of a food one doesn't like.
The story wasn't bad. I didn't like any of the characters. I found them all crass and frankly I got tired of the sex. Tedious or disturbing is how it came off. I was uncomfortable with the amount of rape and treating women as objects in this book, not people. Come to ...more
The story wasn't bad. I didn't like any of the characters. I found them all crass and frankly I got tired of the sex. Tedious or disturbing is how it came off. I was uncomfortable with the amount of rape and treating women as objects in this book, not people. Come to ...more
This crime thriller is primarily set in Portugal and features two separate stories that eventually intertwine. The first starts in 1940's Nazi Germany, whilst the second is set in 1990's Portugal and involves the police investigation of the brutal murder of a teenager. The two tales are kept separate for much of the novel and part of the joy as the tale went back and forth from one to the other was trying to work out how they would mesh. Both stories are engrossing and I thought that the author ...more
Interesting but a slow pace for much of the book . It ties up events that occurred during WWII when the Germans traded confiscated gold with Portugal for war supplies with the murder of a young woman in Lisbon in the late 1990s. I like historical fiction and much of the background of the story occurred in allegedly neutral countries like Portugal and Spain.....but mostly in Portugal. Once you hit the 3/4 mark, the pace quickens as the pieces of the puzzle come together. The last third of the boo...more
While none of the characters are likeable, interest in how the two divergent stories, separated by 50 years, will intersect is what kept me reading. The theft and transport of Nazi SS gold to Portugal leads to the brutal murder of a wanton and reckless teenage girl. Revenge is the theme and everyone has something to hide. On the home front, Inspector - Ze Coelho - is concerned with the welfare of his own daughter as he sees how easily a girl can slip into trouble. She does not welcome his over p...more
Jennifer
rated it
Recommends it for:
anyone fond of international thrillers
Recommended to Jennifer by:
Sara
Shelves:
read-2009
A Small Death in Lisbon is a complex mystery/thriller that explores how the past is always inextricably tangled in the present. The novel begins by telling two stories. One starts in the early 1940's and concerns a German businessman, Klaus Felson, who is drafted into the SS and sent to a remote area of Portugal to facilitate the export of a valuable metal. The other takes place in the 1990's in Lisbon. Jose or Ze Coelho, a recently widowed police detective with a teenage daughter, is assign...more
I feel this book started off a little slowly, but I ended up really enjoying the ride. The fact that it stitched together two periods in time is what first called my attention to it (mostly the WWII-era story), and I have to say that I think the challenge was well-handled by the author. There was a lot more character depth and backstory than I expected from a "crime novel" (a genre largely out of my area of interest), but then, maybe that's not really what it was.
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Muito bom. O enredo muito bem construído, personagens fortes, suspense e reviravoltas, momentos de violência para a catarse. Dois planos narrativos distintos, até na voz do narrador. Gostei mais do plano histórico, onde o livro faz de certa maneira uma homenagem ao século XX português, que é o verdadeiro protagonista deste plano narrativo. O plano da actualidade, da investigação policial, não é tão forte, mas é suficientemente intrigante para manter o interesse.
this is a hard book to read, but i am glad i stuck with it. the plot is complex, alternating between ww2 and present day, but the mystery is tied together in the end in a satisfying way. i read it because i want to go to portugal and thought it would be fun to read a mystery set in that area. interesting to learn about food and customs, etc.
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An excellent thriller that reminded me of reading the first Robert Goddard I picked up, Into the Blue. A plot that spanned decades, complex characters who inhabited a world in change and tried to change it, and who remained likeable despite their darker sides. I'll return to Wilson. I just hope he doesn't let me down like Goddard did.
The finest crime novel that I've read since James Ellroy's American Tabloid. Wilson's prose is better than most award nominees for mainstream literature, the dialogue sizzles, and he deals with adult subject matter in an adult manner. This mystery is one of the finest examples the genre has to offer.
An excellent thriller/mystery that doesn't include a shamelessly welded on romance like so many these days. Murder is the topic and the book largely stays on topic, with an added dash of little-known Portuguese history to give context and flavor. Strongly recommended for fans of Furst and LeCarre.
Wow! Great book! Two distinct exciting storylines. Historical fiction merges w/ modern day in a suspenseful surprise ending. I didn't know how the author would bring the two together and worried that I wouldn't understand it when he did. It's written very intelligently. It was absolutely great!
A detective story set in Portugal that starts with a dead girl and reaches back into the dark history of the Salazar dictatorship and the Nazis. Jumping back and forth in time until the disparate chronologies finally merge, it's a taut and sometimes brutal read.
A book has to be really bad and boring before I leave it unfinished. A Small Death in Lisbon came close, but a few people (mostly at Goodreads, I think) encouraged me to believe that the two disparate stories would at last come together (which they did) so I persevered.
The characters were not sufficiently defined, although I admit that could be due to my occasional inattention. I did however develop a certain liking for the policeman Coelho. The plot was twisted and complicated, for ...more
The characters were not sufficiently defined, although I admit that could be due to my occasional inattention. I did however develop a certain liking for the policeman Coelho. The plot was twisted and complicated, for ...more
I love this guy's writing. The story is strained at times. Lots about Lisbon. Women characters were done well, both of them, No, there were more. I think the Nazis drank too much. Could've been a contributing factor in the outcome of WW II.
Robert Wilson hates women? And Nazis, I gather, but who doesn't. It gets four stars for suspense and intrigue, but zero stars for representation of women and minorities. In fact, it gets a big, fat YIKES. Where's Lisbeth Salander when you need her?
The murder of a young woman in Lisbon in the 90s is tied to Nazi efforts to export Wolfram during the war and the history of a Portugese bank. The detective character was well drawn, but the book was too long and drawn-out for me.
This book by Robert Wilson was a good, but very intolved story to read in order to get to the end. Enjoyed it, but as I said, it took a little effort to finish.
J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the 'Isms'"
J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the 'Isms'"
My friend bought a book online and this was the one sent to her. She was told to keep the book but hates reading mysteries and so asked if I wanted to read it. Why not? I can't pass up a free book. It's a different read so far, we'll see if the book is worth finishing.
Incredibly fluid, believable, gripping novel about spying in Europe in WW2. This inspired me to go back and re-read two other books by Robert Wilson, one of which - The Company of Strangers - was even better the second time around.
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