review of The Safety Net by Andrea Camilleri

Really sad to see this great series coming to an end…

I have very much enjoyed Andrea Camilleri’s Inspector Montalbano series, starting back in the early 2010s when I first discovered it and binge read all of the titles that were already available.   After that, of course, I had to wait (not very patiently) as each new book was written and translated into English.   So I am sad now that there are only a couple more titles left to translate after Camilleri passed away in 2019.  

In spite of knowing it’s one of the last few books in the series, I still enjoyed The Safety Net.    There’s the usual cast of characters, reassuring in their consistency, so that I felt almost a part of the group.   There’s also Montalbano’s particular way of dealing with moral ambiguity, which doesn’t always follow the rules, but tries to do what’s right.  There’s a lot of the Sicilian countryside – which, someday, post-Covid-19, I’d love to visit.   And as often happens, Camilleri also has Montalbano deal with some topics of the day – in this case smartphones and the internet.  And, of course, there’s the food!   And the food!  The Safety Net is more than its background though, wonderful though that is, and I also enjoyed the two rather different plot threads (one derived from events long past, and the other from a very current school invasion) that wove through the book, and finally got resolved at the end.     

I’m giving The Safety Net one of my rare-ish five star ratings, which I try not to give too often, to fight “star-flation” a little bit.   But The Safety Net earned its five stars.   And, finally I’d like to thank Edelweiss and Penguin Books for the advance review copy.  

Buy: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | Kobo US | Kobo UK | Kobo Canada

18 thoughts on “review of The Safety Net by Andrea Camilleri”

  1. The Sicilian Method is the next-to-next-to last in Andrea Camilleri’s Inspector Montalbano series. It has dropped to $1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US. A bit odd for it to drop in price in the US before briefly going to £0.99 in the UK, but maybe eReaderIQ (and I) just missed it. Anyway, here it is, on sale, shortly before the last title, Riccardino, comes out in English in September.

    Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085N3SZH3/
    Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-sicilian-method

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