Awards
Winner of the Hammett Prize
Synopses & Reviews
Winner of the Hammett Prize It is 1946, and Adam Miller has come to Venice to visit his widowed mother and try to forget the horrors he has witnessed as a U.S. Army war crimes investigator in Germany. But when he falls in love with Claudia, a Jewish woman scarred by her devastating experiences during World War II, he is forced to confront another Venice, a city still at war with itself, haunted by atrocities it would rather forget. Everyone, including his mother's suave new Venetian suitor, has been compromised by the occupation, and Adam finds himself at the center of a web of deception, intrigue, and unexpected moral dilemmas. When is murder acceptable? What are the limits of guilt? How much is someone willing to pay for a perfect alibi?
Alibi is at once a murder mystery, a love story, and a superbly crafted novel about the nature of moral responsibility.
Review
"Burrowing deeply into Patricia Highsmith territory, Kanon has crafted an absorbing tale....[Kanon] is frequently compared to the likes of John le Carré and Graham Greene. With Alibi, he shows that he's up to the comparison." San Francisco Chronicle
Review
"Kanon's richest, most full-blooded work to date....[He] has mastered the art of the historical thriller." New York Times Book Review
Review
"If you want to explore life, love, death, beauty, and moral confusion...you won't do much better than this." The Washington Post
Review
"Kanon juxtaposes a powerful love story and a gripping thriller against a palpable historical moment....The novel holds us completely, with its vision of a sadly inadequate hero striking deep at our worst fears about ourselves." Booklist
Synopsis
From the bestselling author of Los Alamos and The Good German comes a riveting tale of love, revenge and murder set in postwar Venice.
Winner of the Hammett Prize
It is 1946, and Adam Miller has come to Venice to visit his widowed mother and try to forget the horrors he has witnessed as a U.S. Army war crimes investigator in Germany. But when he falls in love with Claudia, a Jewish woman scarred by her devastating experiences during World War II, he is forced to confront another Venice, a city still at war with itself, haunted by atrocities it would rather forget. Everyone, including his mother's suave new Venetian suitor, has been compromised by the occupation, and Adam finds himself at the center of a web of deception, intrigue, and unexpected moral dilemmas.
When is murder acceptable? What are the limits of guilt? How much is someone willing to pay for a perfect alibi?
Synopsis
It is 1946, and Adam Miller has come to Venice to visit his widowed mother and try to forget the horrors he has witnessed as a U.S. Army war crimes investigator in Germany. But when he falls in love with Claudia, a Jewish woman scarred by her devastating experiences during World War II, he is forced to confront another Venice, a city still at war with itself, haunted by atrocities it would rather forget. Everyone, including his mother's suave new Venetian suitor, has been compromised by the occupation, and Adam finds himself at the center of a web of deception, intrigue, and unexpected moral dilemmas. When is murder acceptable? What are the limits of guilt? How much is someone willing to pay for a perfect alibi?
Alibi is at once a murder mystery, a love story, and a superbly crafted novel about the nature of moral responsibility.
About the Author
Kanon, ran Houghton Mifflin's Trade and Reference Division from 1988-1995. Previously, he held executive and editorial positions at E.P. Dutton, Grosset & Dunlap, and Little, Brown.