Book Review: Dimiter by William Peter Blatty

Hello, Fellow Book Worms!

  This my second book read from William Peter Blatty. Entitled Dimiter, the novel plays upon much of Blatty's strengths when delivering this twisting detective tale. There are many religious elements in this book, however the soul of this book lies within the mystery genre.

  In 1970s Albania an attempted assassination of a local politician sparks a manhunt that leads to a mysterious stranger in a cabin in the woods belonging to an old blind man. Many believe the stranger to be a local food vendor, while others identify him as another man altogether. He is silent. When asked if he had anything to do with the assassination, he remains silent. Officials begin to believe him to be guilty. But even through hours of brutal torture and interrogation he never says a word. With all other means failing the authorities decide to take more drastic measures. This leads to the stranger escaping, leaving dead bodies his wake. The stranger is soon identified as Paul Dimiter, a notorious spy. Some call him Agent of Hell.

  Flash forward a year later to Jerusalem where we meet Doctor Moses Mayo. He has definitely seen a lot working at Hadassah Hospital. And he has heard a lot from his often scattered nurse Samia, who manages to see unexplained phenomenon in the halls daily. He is a self-proclaimed "unsubscriber" of religion, often referring to God as "Maurice". We go on rounds with him visiting patients, some of which are very intriguing. In the same area of Jerusalem his boyhood friend, Detective Peter Meral, works on several cases that seemingly have ties to one another. The biggest mystery is the identity of a man found in the Tomb of Christ at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Old Jerusalem City. This series of events ultimately leads to the resurgence of Dimiter and his encounter with Mayo and Meral.

  The entire story twists and turns, with several letters interjecting between chapters that seem to not hold any place in the book at first. But in the last few chapters we are made aware of their significance. The writing is classic Blatty, with often poetic descriptions of scenes. His characters are very likable especially Samia, who often adds comic relief. And the scene building is very well done, using actual locations as the center of events.

  Dimiter was often confusing to read. I felt that it was started as a supernatural thriller, but was later changed to a mystery-espionage novel. There was somewhat of a disjointed flow to the narrative that had me putting this down several times. It was not until the introduction of Detective Meral that I became more invested in the book. Meral is a great character that I would love to see more mysteries with. But the narrative is often choppy, with the end of the book explained rather hastily through interviews.

  I read this book in part with the audiobook narrated by William Peter Blatty. His narration was excellent as usual, with the love for his characters apparent as he read their stories. I found that the book flowed smoothly with the audio edition, with Blatty often adlibbing sections to further extrapolate some scenes. I enjoyed the presentation very much.

  I give this book three out of five stars. Regardless of my feelings about its choppy structure, I ended up enjoying how all the plots came together. There is also an opening for a sequel at the end that had me intrigued.  

Because there is always time to read,
Xepherus3

Reading Challenge: http://xepherusreads.blogspot.com/2016/01/my-reading-challenge-update.html

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All written content (c) Copyright 2016 by Thomas Bahr II

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