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Oct 11, 2012mhmele rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
The subject here: loyalty. There's an interesting parallel between the Mafia Boss, his loyal team and the response to a lack of loyalty, and the Inspector's loyal team and his response to disloyalty. Montelbano's response is to grieve, and then to arrange for the disloyal one's lies to be unmasked in such a way that he is not distroyed but reconciled. His response parallels Christ's. It's a religious novel, dare I say. In what ways is sexual betrayal - the same or different? Is sex just sex? or, imbedded in relationships, is it a parallel betrayal? Montelbano recognizes his own betrayal but doesn't seem to take it quite as seriously as Mimi's. A shower afterwards seems to help somewhat. Are relationships between men more important than those between a man and a woman?