Blood Rain

By: Michael Dibdin

Narrated by: Michael Kitchen

Inspector Zen receives the order he has been dreading all his professional life: his next posting is to Sicily. Set against the backdrop of the 3000 year old city of Catania, Blood Rain reveals Aurelio Zen at his most desperate and driven.©2004 Michael Dibdin (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Great narration, great story

Michael Kitchen is simply awesome. Love his voice and his style. Story is full of twists and turns. Very entertaining.

Another excellent Zen novel

The Zen novels narrated by Michael Kitchen are all worthwhile. The ones with other narrators are more of a mixed bag. This is a Michael Kitchen reading, and therefore worthwhile.

A gripping story, excellent characters

I've listened to this book 5 or 6 times over the past decade, and the intricacies of the plot, the variety of characters, and the descriptions of Sicily and Malta fascinate me each time. Michael Kitchen's reading is superb, his voice creating wildly differing personalities with an achingly intimate understanding of each character. Yes, it is a police detective story, but Dibdin and Kitchen transcend the genre. I highly recommend this audiobook.

A great piece of writing

This story seems to leave Zen and follow other characters. You get the feeling that Zen is a support character. Little stories are threaded into this story and are fascinating in themselves. Then everything turns on a dime. Zen is back in the centre of the story, and what is happening can only happen to him with his luck. This story ties up nicely with a great cliff hanger. Not my favourite of his books but close to the top of the list.
Pity the next three books are not on Audible:
1. And Then You Die
2. Medusa
3. Back to Bologna
I'll have to go 'old school' and turn pages to find out what happens to our intrepid hero.
Michael Dibdin has really developed a great story line and his writing has really become a dream to listen to. Michael Kitchen is superb in his narration and I can't wait to get on with the next instalment of an Aurelia Zen Myster 'And Then You Die'.

Deal ! What deal?

Forget the promises and deals made to Zen in 'A long Finish', Zen is in Sicily.

As the old families are being broken up, new groups are emerging. Far from being a promoted member of the elite, Zen finds himself caught up with both the police and Mafia all too ready to want him very dead.
Yet again I found the internet a great resource to pull up maps of Sicily and existing railway tracks and find images of towns and cities. And yet again I had 'itchy feet'.
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Well read by Michael Kitchen, Dibdin's novel has mant a story within a story. A great listen.

Sadly the complete series is not available to Australians on Audible, due no doubt to strangely odd and unusual thinking of publishers and, out of date (19th Century) views on copyright.

Disappointing

Too much detail on minor things like driving down the road in Palermo. And as I have enjoyed this in the series on television I find it disappointing that in this book apparently Zen dies, there may be a subsequent book in which he miraculously reappears but I won’t be reading it. The concept of this particular novel borders on the totally ridiculous.

Be prepared for a rain of blood!

What disappointed you about Blood Rain?

It was too gruesome and gory. There were images which are, sadly, seared into my memory that I would sooner forget.
I've read several others in the series, and have loved Zen. Here he seems flat. Though to be honest, I stopped listening after the description of particularly brutal Mafia hit.

Would you ever listen to anything by Michael Dibdin again?

Maybe.

Which character – as performed by Michael Kitchen – was your favorite?

Aurelio Zen

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

revulsion and anguish