Title: SLEEPER
Author: Paul Adam
ISBN: 978 0751 5340 72
Published: January 1, 2005, by Time Warner Paperbacks
Pages: 384
Source: Private Copy
Date Read: 04 December 2016
Who would want to kill Tomaso Rainaldi, an elderly, unassuming violin-maker in the quiet Italian city of Cremona? For his friend and fellow violin-maker Gianni Castiglione, the murder is as mysterious as it is shocking. Rainaldi had few possessions, no enemies and little money. No one – least of all the police – can fathom a motive for murdering him. All he really had was an obsessive love of violins and an encyclopedic knowledge of them.
But what if he knew more than anyone else – not just about famous violins, but about missing violins? Ones of the calibre of the fabled Messiah, Stradivari’s most sublime creation, the Mona Lisa of the music world. A violin now in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford – and worth millions…
Aided by his friend, policeman Antonio Guastafeste, Gianni starts to investigate the dead man’s affairs. Affairs that reveal an appointment in Venice with the eccentric and exceedingly rich violin-collector Enrico Forlani, and a trail that winds back to a mysterious musical past – and a far from harmonious future.
Retracing Rainaldi’s steps, the two men find themselves involved in a sequence of startling events — another murder, a mysterious Englishman, and an unscrupulous violin dealer. A chain of events that careers across Italy and England as they become players in a game where musical instruments change hands for millions, forgery is an art form, and the preferred method of negotiation is murder.
Accompanied by two centuries of myth, music, and mystery, The Rainaldi Quartet provides a fascinating glimpse into a closed world – played at a rhythm that is fast-paced, furious, and unforgettable.
Official Summary
08 September 2023
A copy of Sleeper found its way to my collection while browsing a charity shop and I read this one in December 2016. It was an unusual choice for me, yet it’s a book that has stayed in my mind long after reading it.
Looking back through my old reading journal, I made a note of the following paragraph from the book:
“Disappointment is like a disease, a debilitating fever that saps your energy, drains your willpower and leaves you frail and feeble. If left untreated, it can eat away at the mind, depressing the body’s immune system and eventually producing physical symptoms as painful and genuine as any bacterial or viral illness.”
How beautifully descriptive are these words? This author has a brilliantly descriptive style of writing. This book transports you to Italy and England as you turn the pages. While Sleeper is a murder mystery, there is a lot more to this story as the author digs into the history of instrument manufacture and the value of rare pieces. Until reading this book I never understood the significance of rare instruments.
I loved the detail the author shares about the craft behind producing a violin, the passion behind this trade was beautifully brought to life throughout this book.
Gianni’s drive to discover the truth behind Rainaldi’s death makes this a gripping, entertaining read you will not want to walk away from.
If you a looking for a murder mystery set in a scenic background and full of history and knowledge, I would highly recommend you give this book a try. This book is beautifully written and wonderfully entertaining.
Sadly, even though I promised myself to add more Paul Adam books to my TBR, I have not yet come across any more of his books. This is an author I hope to read more of and I do need to make more of an effort.
About the Author
Author bio from the author’s site
Paul Adam has written thirteen critically-acclaimed novels for adults and the award-winning Max Cassidy Trilogy of thrillers for children, featuring a dare-devil teenage escapologist. His books have sold widely around the world, have been translated into several foreign languages and are available as e-books.
His latest novel is The Hardanger Riddle, the third book in his Cremona Mysteries series, featuring violin-maker Gianni Castiglione and his detective friend Antonio Guastafeste.
Paul has also written for television and film. He lives in Sheffield and is married with two sons.
Since starting the blog, I have promised myself to work through my old reading journal and review some of the older books I have read. Two years later, I am finally making the time to start doing that. I hope to share some of my “archive reviews” regularly going forward. One day, I hope to have all the physical books in my house added to the blog. (There are a lot, but if a do a few each month I am sure I will get there in the end.)
As always, thanking for visiting the blog and reading my review. Are you a Paul Adam fan? Which is your favourite book? Leave a comment below, I look forward to hearing from you.
