Title: Kill the Father
Author: Sandrone Dazieri
Purchase: Available in the UK and the US.
Overall rating: 4/5 stars
Great for: Lovers of complex crime thrillers
Themes: Crime, thriller, mental illness, abduction
Review: With a slew of crime thrillers on the market, it takes something special to make a book in that genre stand out. But Dazieri has no problem making his 2017 release, ‘Kill the Father’, a unique and compelling read.
Set in past and present sections, the story follows two separate and converging narratives. One of a six-year-old boy abducted and forced to live out his remaining childhood years inside a cement silo. The other of a present day abduction that bears a startling resemblance to the original kidnapping … or at least it does to the former victim. Can the original abductee convince the police force that ‘the Father’ has returned, or will they continue on their manhunt for the missing child’s parent, until it is too late to save anyone?
This tale of monstrosity and horror is sketched in front of an awe-inspiring Italian background that Dazieri skillfully and evocatively weaves into the narrative.
What marks this as different to others in its genre is that, whilst still an action-packed and fast-paced thriller, these sections are interspersed with slower-paced, intense character studies. Police procedures are narrated alongside mental trauma. Brutal scenes of homicide are depicted apace with coping mechanisms of the individual. Mental illness is confronted with a frankness and honesty and yet a grace and deliberateness that makes for poignant but enlightening reading. One-of-a-kind and beautifully penned, this is one book that should top everyone’s reading list, this year.
