In the first chapter the main character Olav (a liquidator for his boss Hoffman), who's just killed someone, lists his weakness. They often derive from his mother - weak-willed, submissive, short tempered, bad with numbers, dyslexic. He reads many library books, remembers many assorted facts and quotes. He doesn't like dealing with drugs or prostitutes. He doesn't like hold-ups or getaway driving. He likes Maria, a deaf-mute cripple he helped save from a drug-pusher. He gave a lot of money to the widow of one of his victims.
He worries that when he knows too much about his boss he'll be liquidated. At the end of the chapter, Hoffman tells him that his next job is to kill Hoffman's wife, Corina, for 5 times his usual fee. As soon as he starts casing the joint, he falls in love with her.
He kills her young lover who visits daily, finds out that he was Hoffman's son by his first marriage, escapes with Corina, arranges a deal with his ex-boss, il Pescatore, to kill Hoffman. Olav's killed 3 of il Pescatore's men when he found that il Pescatore had planned to get him killed.
We discover that Olav's father physically abused his mother, that Olav killed his father (who'd just come out of jail), and that Olav had planned to go to University.
Corina and Olav get on very well. They get tickets to escape to Paris. After Hoffman's killed, one of il Pescatore's men shoots Olav. Corina knew about it. Olav hobbles on to meet Maria, then dies.
I liked the book when we were learning about Olav. It became linear and more predictable towards the end.
No comments:
Post a Comment