Review: Don't judge by the cover - because the cover has nothing to do with this book
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 12, 2014
As with  Cruise and Bon Bini Beach, Suzanne Vermeer tells a story of bad things happening to good people while they are on vacation.In this case, it's a family visit to a campground in Italy. Hans, Petra and eleven-year-old son Niels want to experience camping with amenities, so they head to a resort that has campers, pools, an arcade, and electricity.All goes well the first few nights, until Niels doesn't show up by his curfew. When Hans finds him, Niels is hiding in shock, having witnessed a murder. Hans thinks he knows who did it, but the Italian police aren't so sure.This time, Vermeer reveals the killer early on in the book, so that is not the mystery. Rather, the suspense here is triggered by whether or not the bad guy will get caught, and whether or not Niels' scars will heal. He's a boy who saw someone get killed. He's frightened - too frightened to tell anyone what he witnessed.And that is the emotional focus of Bella Italia: what it means to be frightened.Niels is scared to say what he knows, Petra is scared by her reaction to Niels' fears, and Hans is scared that he's losing his son and his family. Then there is the Italian investigator, a young man with a new family of his own. He's scared that evil won't get caught, and he's scared of what that means for his baby son. How the four of them find their way through this is interesting and will make you think.This is a quick read, and as such, it feels at times as if it's missing something. Maybe it's that we know the identity of the bad guy so early on, or maybe it's that the suspense of whether or not he will get caught is not written as tautly as in Vermeer's other books. But something feels off with this one, as if it isn't quite complete.That isn't to say that this is not a good book. It is. It just isn't as good as Cruise or Bon Bini Beach.Now, a word about that cover.I have no idea what that cover is supposed to reflect. Petra? But why? The cover is a poor choice, and I wish it would be changed out for something more fitting of the book.Published on VoxLibris.net@voxlibris