RaveThe Washington PostThe Light in the Ruins, Chris Bohjalian’s brilliantly crafted historical novel, begins 'on the first Tuesday of June in 1955,' in the voice of an anonymous killer who describes his lurid executions with a morbid insouciance... Setting his story in the glorious Italian hills south of Florence, the author switches back and forth from the mid-1940s, while the war is raging, to the mid-’50s, when the murders take place ... alternating time frame keeps the reader suspicious of everyone, but whether likable or loathsome, Bohjalian’s characters are utterly compelling ... Bohjalian repeatedly confronts us with the moral dilemmas of wartime ... In this novel, Bohjalian contemplates painful choices while offering a tour-de-force murder mystery, heartbreaking romance and a dazzling denouement that will tear your heart out.
