This book may be an eye opener for those who know little about the country of Malta. The picture offered in these pages is not pretty, laden as it is with pervasive corruption and lurking menace, all the more startling because it involves a European Union member ... A journalist in Britain, Paul Caruana Galizia leans toward short sentences and a staccato style ... This is not, to be sure, a warts-and-all narrative. If Daphne had flaws as a journalist — some eyebrows might reasonably be raised by her polemical writing style — her son is not their chronicler. Then again, why should he be? The inescapable fact is that the murder struck a powerful chord that resonated across Malta, with thousands taking part in protests and vigils.
Paul Caruana Galizia is a superb storyteller. His book reads at times like a thriller, at times like a detective story, and at times like the work of an investigative journalist uncovering webs of corruption, with levels of detail that will be most interesting to those who understand Malta, its systems and flaws. His mother emerges as no saint either. She was clearly not the easiest of women to live with. Highly determined people rarely are ... This is Daphne Caruana Galizia’s legacy. Her son’s book is a moving testament to the life and work of an extraordinary woman and the country-changing power of journalism.
Paul has written a superbly honest and very painful account of all this. Like her, he didn’t start out as a journalist, but, also like her and his brother Matthew, he became a highly effective reporter. His fine, natural, relaxed style shows Daphne as a living woman – delightful, quirky, far from perfect, increasingly affected by the things she wrote about and the danger she faced, and utterly magnificent ... Paul Caruana Galizia has given his mother a new and even more lasting monument: a book that is unforgettable, beautifully written, and deeply honest.
