A while back, The Overlook Press began making the backlist of thriller author R.J. Ellory available to U.S. readers for the first time. The latest offering is A QUIET VENDETTA, originally published in Great Britain in 2005. Fortunately, the passing years have not diminished its impact in the least.
 
On a hot August night in New Orleans, an abandoned car is found with the body of a dead man in the trunk. Police learn that the man, whose death was both brutal and probably ritualistic, was the bodyguard assigned to Catherine Ducane, daughter of the governor of Louisiana. Investigators conclude she has been kidnapped, and await word from the perpetrator to learn his demands for her release.

When the kidnapper finally contacts the police, his demands catch everybody by surprise. Instead of money or a means of escape, he wants time alone with Ray Hartmann, a minor functionary from an organized crime task force. Arrangements are quickly made to pull Hartmann from his troubled life in New York.
 
The kidnapper introduces himself as Ernesto Perez, and wants to tell Hartmann the details of his life and career as a hit man for the mob since the 1950s. Over the next few days, Hartmann learns about the crime bosses Perez worked for and the many notable and anonymous men Perez killed in a career that carried him from his birth in New Orleans, to Havana, Miami, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and eventually back to New Orleans.

Meanwhile, investigators desperately search for the abducted girl, while Hartmann wonders what connection possibly exists between himself and this prolific murderer.
 
From the moment we meet Perez, we see how Ellory plays against expectations. Instead of a wisecracking, semi-literate thug, Perez is a soft-spoken, dapper and obviously cultured man. His story parallels the history of La Cosa Nostra in America, and Perez insists that he was either directly or distantly involved with the Mafia’s role in the deaths of such luminaries as John F. Kennedy and Jimmy Hoffa, as well as other notable events in America’s contemporary history.

It’s a long, detailed saga, but Ellory breaks it up with alternate chapters focusing on Hartmann and his fellow investigators’ interpretation and verification of Perez’s story, along with their frantic search for the daughter who they fear might already be dead.
 
Yet as fascinating as that is, the most striking feature is Ellory’s prose style. Starting with his first sentence, the author immerses us in images and descriptions that are dense, baroque, yet amazingly illuminating. Similarly, almost every character is presented with revealing personal background and insight. It’s a style that positively defies quick reading. Instead, you’ll find yourself admiring and re-reading passages to better appreciate their dark, disturbing effect before moving on to the next.
 
Once you do, you’ll quickly appreciate the subtle, but sturdy pace of the narrative, and enjoy the many twists and surprises Ellory unveils toward the end of the novel, as the truth of Perez’s intentions and his relationship with Hartmann are explained.
 
A QUIET VENDETTA is a fine introduction to Ellory’s work. New readers will quickly see why he is held in such high esteem with critics and crime-fiction fans. They’ll no doubt add their voice to the chorus thanking Overlook Press for making him easier to find on this side of the globe. —Alan Cranis

Buy it at Amazon.