Alibi Book

Even these days, walking round the Cannaregio at night, and especially when the mist lies low off the Lagoon, Venice takes on that strange, dreamlike quality, as if nothing is real... as if you're in a movie. Thus it is with the opening pages of "Alibi". I almost hear the voiceover in "The Third Man", almost rushed in order to throw us into the story more quickly. And once Adam and Claudia meet, walk the canals and become lovers, the mist of dreams descends.
And then the dream reaches that disturbing stage, no longer romantic misty. Reality starts to impose itself; the war, the concentration camps, anti-Semitism... but also age and decay. A leery old man like a praying Mantis over the ageing wealthy widow, the arrogant woman with a critical eye. And then the dream darkens, no longer a dream but that half-awake disfunction as things take on a more uncomfortable level...
...and the stage is set.
I found this book totally absorbing, like a Hitchcock thriller. It is a tale of misconceptions and uncertainty, a seeking after truth. It is a tale of collaboration and betrayal, death and survival. It raises questions about the value of life in a world at war and immediately afterwards... and where the boundary between revenge, a search for justice, and murder actually lies.
"The Germans had got away with murder, the whole world. Even in Venice, as beautiful as the music, everyone had an alibi, somewhere else when the air-raid sirens covered the sounds of people being dragged off. I didn't know. I didn't realise. I had my own life to consider. And of course everyone did."