• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Contact
  • About Us
    • Published Works
  • Privacy Policy
Food • Arts • Fashion

Food • Arts • Fashion

  • Home
  • FOOD
  • ARTS
    • BOOKS
      • Beltin: Stejjer Minn Nies Minsija
    • THEATRE
    • MUSIC
  • FASHION
  • NEWS
You are here: Home / BOOKS / Inspector Gallo: Alias Book Review

Inspector Gallo: Alias Book Review

July 12, 2021 by Ramona Depares Leave a Comment

Inspector Gallo Alias

Alias, the new Inspector Gallo has landed, and I couldn’t have been more excited to receive it. I will say this upfront. I’m a sucker for genre books – specifically urban fantasy, whodunnits, and detective series. And thanks to Mark Camilleri finally dropping this fourth installment of the Gallo series, June is definitely the month of the polizjesk, as I like to refer to Maltese and Italian detective series.

I’ve been a fan of Gallo since the very first book, Prima Facie, which introduced us to the complex world of the charismatic Inspector. Fifty shades of grey is a phrase that springs to mind, but don’t get your panties in a twist – the phrase has nothing to do with the vanilla soft porn it has become sadly associated with, in the collective imagination, and everything to do with the conflicting principles, ideologies and characteristics of the infamous Gallo.

Perhaps Camilleri’s biggest triumph with the Gallo series has been that of creating such an intriguing, torn and multi-faceted main character. Gallo is not your classical black and white hero. There is nothing straightforward about his character and, while the trope of the detective torn by inner conflict, skirting the edge of the law to catch his villian, may be a well-worn one, Camilleri uses it to splendid effect, creating a Gallo that easily seduces with his only too-human flaws that we all relate to.

Gangland murders, serial killings and sexual violence

This fourth installment is no different, as we are introduced to a strong plotline that tests Gallo’s loyalty, friendships and personal relationships to the core. A string of gangland-like executions (somewhat reminiscent of real-life events) and serial killings provide the setting for what is essentially quite the shocking main murder.

Camilleri’s prose does not spare the imagination, providing just enough disturbing detail to acquaint us with the precise brutality of what has unfolded, while leaving us with enough questions to provoke our minds into filling in the blanks.

The cast of regulars from Gallo’s turbulent past pitch in, in some form or fashion, and I have to say that Camilleri masterfully weaves in subplots and valuable flashbacks that tie into the previous books, making us readers feel like we are part of Gallo’s journey, as eager to uncover more of his private life as we are to uncover the identity of the killer.

I do have some trigger warnings for the more sensitive readers. If I had to pick a bone, it would be the depiction of a scene involving sexual violence, where I felt certain details to be extra and that allusion might have served the purpose just as well. But this is, of course, more of a personal preference.

Gallo’s fourth adventure is a superbly addictive story that does honour to the genre and will undoubtedly delight fans of the giallo, keeping them guessing till the end while providing endless scope for theories and discussion. I am sure we will see Gallo continue thriving in the tradition of Andrea Camilleri’s Montalbano and the like.

For more book reviews, check out Trevor Zahra’s Sempreviva, Il-Manifest tal-Killer or winner of the EU prize for literature Kissirtu Kullimkien.

Filed Under: BOOKS Tagged With: inspector Gallo, Malta authors, Mark Camilleri Alias, Mark Camilleri Gallo, Victor Gallo

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Theatre Highlights

ġiraffa-ħarbet-minn-kastilja

A cutting spoof of the inner workings of government

madc-wait-until-dark

Excellent pacing and direction by director Tyrone Grima

Food Highlights

bettas-culinary-flavours

A gorgeous foodie levent at a truly unique location

Nduja Osteria Valletta

Close your eyes, enjoy & pretend you’re dining in Italy

Fashion Highlights

Mark Mallia

A re-interpretation of the white crow

Mon Eclat

New Love – Mon Eclat Jewellery to help you shine

Books Highlights

marta-marta-loranne-vella

Oppression in a patriarchal society

Francesco Grech kollox jeħel magħna

Looking forward to seeing this writer’s work mature

Arts Highlights

le-iva-austin-camilleri

A solo collection of works that keep you questioning

darren-tanti

A study in bold strokes and fiery reds that made me dream

News Highlights

A mesmerizing interpretation of Dante’s Hell

hell-and-exile-three-palaces

An immersive and multi-faceted journey

Footer

  • Home
  • FOOD
  • ARTS
    • BOOKS
      • Beltin: Stejjer Minn Nies Minsija
    • THEATRE
    • MUSIC
  • FASHION
  • NEWS

Copyright Ramona Depares © 2022

Manage Cookie Consent
We use cookies to optimize our website and our service.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}