"It is 1942 and the island of Malta is under siege by a triumphant German air force. From the smoke and magnesium glare of bomb blast steps Rocco Raven, native of Brooklyn, New York, apprentice radioman and expert car mechanic. His only contact is an American intelligence officer, Jack Fingerly, whose purpose is known to no-one but himself. Far from finding a role for Rocco, Fingerly leaves him to face the chaos alone.

On only his third day there his billet, on the top floor of a brothel, is blown to pieces. Without contacts or belongings, Rocco is left to wander the devastated streets of Valietta in a bewildered daze until he sees an apparition, Melita, a beautiful, ethereal woman.

It is the beginning of an extraordinary relationship, at once passionate and guarded, which flourishes at the island's fortunes decline. Under the thret of starvation and in a world infused with the eccentriticities of war, Rocco's seems to be the lone voice of sanity, until he too is infected by the madness around him and succumbs to the voluntary thrill of danger..."

The book arrived today. It looks an interesting reading in an exotic setting. Thank you, Piiku!

All the ingredients for an interesting book were there; an exotic place, extraordinary circumstances and in a positive way weird characters. But it just did not do it for me. I was really struggling with reading, but on the other hand the book served as a perfect sleeping pill, a page or two and I was sleeping. It was not a bad story but it was dragging too much. The characters, Rocco and Melita were very sympathetic but a little bit shallow. The most interesting bit was the position of Malta during WWII; I didn't know that the island was under siege and heavily bombed during the war.

Kirja vapautuu vaihtohyllyyn.