Murder, mystery, love, power, antiquity, Italy, and World War II. These elements woven togther by Chris Bohjalian make for a suspenseful, and interesting tale. Casandra Campbell, a favorite narrator from my Jodi Picoult reads, narrates the audio version. It's got more than a fair share of brutality and violence, hence why not a five star. ( )

I am a little disappointed in this book overall, as I had high expectations after seeing some very good reviews. Also disappointing that I didn’t like this more because my library has several more audios of this author’s books on Overdrive. It started out well, at least, with a brutal murder occurring from the anonymous murderer’s POV, and it kept me interested enough to keep pulling me along with the story and trying to guess at the murderer. But… I felt myself growing more distanced from all the characters as the story progressed, which really should not happen. By the end, I really didn’t care much about any of them, but was only curious to see how the story resolved and if any of my guesses at the murderer were right. I’m fine with a book peopled by unlikeable characters, because it’s absolutely possible for them still to be drawn in a way that the reader can still connect with them. I don’t feel the author accomplished that here. The mystery reveal was a disappointment, too, as it turned out that the murderer is a minor character whom we aren’t even introduced to in the war storyline until close to the end. I will still try other books by this author, though. Maybe I’ll like another better.

Audiobook from my public library via Overdrive. I read this for The 16 Tasks of the Festive Season, for my first Light Joker: Read a book that has the words “light”, “candle”, “lamp”, “sun” or “fire” in its title or features any of these five things on its cover. This book fits, obviously, because it has “Light” in the title. I’ll use this for square 4: Book themes for Thanksgiving Day: Books with a theme of coming together to help a community or family in need. –OR– Books with a turkey or pumpkin on the cover.
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The LIGHT IN THE RUINS by Chris Bohjalian
This a mesmerizing story of love, war, murder, betrayal, politics, desire, despair, forgiveness and revenge. A noble Italian family is devastated by events during World War II. Their beloved villa, surrounded by centuries old olive and grape orchards, and a depository of Etruscan artifacts, becomes a meeting place for treasure seeking Germans. At the same time a partisan group seeks refuge in the Etruscan burial vaults. Ten years later someone begins murdering the remaining Rosatis one by one.
Bahjalian is a master of character, place and plot. They come together in this thrilling detective tale to surround the reader with Italy in the waning days of the war, a family trying without success to maintain their traditions and young people coming of age in a time of great turmoil.
Book Groups will find a wealth of material for discussion.
5 of 5 stars ( )

Someone is killing members of the Rosati family. The killer is splitting them open and cutting out their hearts. Detective Serafina Bettini believes it is tied to something that happened during WWII, even though the conflict has been over for a decade, and we are transported back to those days and the involvement of the family with the Germans who were running Italy at the time. Clearly, with Italy aligned with the Germans, cooperation or opposition was not an easy choice to make.

I love Bohjalian and this is another good novel from him, although it does not live up to some of his other novels for me. Even though it is not my favorite of his works, it still kept my attention without ever boring me, and for a fan of mystery/detective genres it would probably play very well. I changed my mind several times about what I thought was going on before I got to the conclusion and the ends were tied.

I have begun to grow weary of WWII stories, and that might be one of the reasons this did not rate higher for me. To please me with a WWII story lately, an author must take me somewhere I have never been before (and few do that). However, Chris Bohjalian does not write by formula and no two Bohjalian's are alike, which is one of the things that keeps bringing me back to him again and again.

One of the weaknesses of this story is that I never could key in on a particular character that I truly liked or was rooting for. One of the strengths is that all of the major characters have something that interests you or recommends them for your sympathy and understanding. Not sorry to have finally had the opportunity to read this one, which leaves me several Bohjalian's still waiting in the wings. ( )

Set during WWII and ten years later in Tuscany, Light in the Ruins tells the story of the Rosati family whose villa is overrun by Nazis during the war. Ten years later an anti-fascist fighter seeks revenge on the family who hid him in their Etruscan tomb, but exposed his hiding place when confronted by the Nazis. There is a bit of love story and suspense but overall disappointing. The Light in the Runds was not nearly as good as The Hour of the Witch, the first book I read by Bohjalian which was excellent. ( )