Good, But Not Her Best - Rated 
Once again we visit the wonders of Venice alongside Commissario Guido Brunetti. The theme this time around is the racket in illegal adoptions of children, usually from abroad or foreign mothers in Italy.
All of the Brunetti books are excellent, but I had one problem with this one. Every single sensible person in the story thinks it was completely wrong to take a toddler away from the family who has brought him up for 18 months after an illegal adoption and to turn him over to social services (and presumably an orphanage). The implication is that breaking the law should be ignored, and the possibility that social services might find a loving family to legally adopt the child is not even considered. But considering the point made about the demand for children, one would think that there should be no problem finding suitable parents.
Moreover, there seems to be an immediate leap from bad news at fertility clinics to buying a baby from an illegal immigrant. Perhaps in Catholic Italy there are no surrogate mothers, but if that is so, it would have been nice for someone to comment that such an alternative didn't exist.
Sometimes the conversation seems a bit forced as well, as if Donna Leon was in hurry to get the book written. On the other hand, the depiction of a very unsavory right wing extremist anti-immigrant political party is very good, and somewhat frightening.
There are some surprises at the end, and the book is a fine read. Just not as good as some of the previous stories in the series. There could have been more as well about the baby buying racket. We really only get an insight in one particular, and apparently untypical, case.
Adults Behave Badly Where Children Are Concerned - Rated 
Suffer the Little Children looks at the harsh side of how adults take a cavalier attitude toward the best interests of children, especially babies. In that sense, it's like an expose of the evils of modern society where adults are more concerned about their convenience than about the young.
If you would like to read such an expose, Suffer the Little Children will go down well.
But if you want a murder mystery, you'll look in vain for one in this story. In fact, the main mystery relates to how the carabiniere caught wind of an illegal adoption. Even that mystery is answered without much effort when Commissario Guido Brunetti finally focuses on the question.
The book starts off promisingly enough. A pediatrician and his wife in Venice fall asleep after making love. Their slumber is interrupted as a carabiniere team invades their home, smash the husband in the head, and take their adopted son away. At the hospital, Brunetti tries to find out what's going on and gets a few clues from the carabiniere captain who led the assault.
The whole issue soon begins to fade as the pediatrician's wounds heal and the guilt of his illegal adoption becomes more apparent. Curiously, no one seems to be very upset about the child being taken away to an orphanage but the pediatrician.
Separately, Vianello uncovers some illegal payments being taken by physicians and pharmacists. In the process, Vianello finds more than he expects.
Brunetti also finds out more than he wanted to know about the political influences that the police kow-tow to in Venice.
I found the book to be slow, tedious, and lacking enough focus to be interesting. The continual emphasis on the irony of adults treating babies like merchandise soon wears thin.
Unless you feel like you need to read all of the books in this series, you could definitely skip this one and not miss anything.
A different style of book for this author - Rated 
I've read many Donna Leon books and enjoyed them all. This book is different from the author's usual murder investigation-based story-lines, but is none the worse for that. I gather some other reviewers have been disappointed by the book, but I must say I thought it one of her best. It had a lot of the usual mouth-watering descriptions of the delicious food that Brunetti's wife prepares and he anticipates with relish; the realistic domestic details of family life; and the backdrop of Venice. However, the story does not involve the detection of murder by Brunetti et al, as is usually the case with this series of novels, but is more an investigation of illegal adoption of babies and the desperate measures people will go to to get a child.
Not up to Donna Leon's usual standard - Rated 
I suppose it was inevitable that,at some point, Donna Leon would not be able to maintain the extraordinarily high standard of her many previous books. The first 80 or so pages consist of little more than tediously laboured dialogue reiterating much of what has already been explained.There is little plot and too much polemic. I never expected to be borded by a Donna Leon novel. A huge disappointment
Too Short! - Rated
Although I quite enjoyed this book, I found it rather short - Not really value for money. The plot cried out for a hundred or so extra pages and the characters could have been a lot deeper (more well rounded). My advice is to wait for the Paperback version (not so expensive) if you want to give this one a whirl.
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