Better than most detective novels, well written, the Sarajevo backdrop grittily described and well used, characterization a bit thin but plot adequate. ( )

Dan Fesperman's police procedural, LIE IN THE DARK, was first published in 1999. It is a powerful story about a Bosnian homicide detective, Investigator Petric, who tries to solve crimes while staying honest among corrupt colleagues, gangsters and drop-in newspaper correspondents in wartime Sarajevo.

The copy of the book I read says that Fesperman is a reporter for the Baltimore Sun. He has a way of incorporating relevant information, (about the roots and realities of the conflict between Bosnians, Serbians and Croatians and the sometimes malign influence of the United Nations) into his plot that adds immensely to the story, but doesn't slow it down. However, you will need to have patience with the first fifty pages, as Fesperman puts in place the context.

I totally agree with Ian Rankin, who ranked LIE IN THE DARK as "A quite astonishing first novel which injects the reader into the heart of the darkness which was Sarajevo at the height of the Yugoslav conflict." ( )

This book is highly instructive about a war that occurred in recent years, it features some finely constructed characters and is written in competent style. I'm finding it hard to explain, even to myself, why I didn't like it much, and was counting the pages to the end. The only reason I can come up with is the basis of the plot. Without wanting to include spoilers, I'd have to say the object of the crime just didn't grab me. Possibly prophetic that the main character, upon first hearing what the fuss was all about, sounded a little bit disappointed himself. ( )

Lie in the Dark is an interesting tale about life in war-torn Sarajevo and one police inspector's fight to win his own private war. In the beginning of the conflict Vlado Petrics's wife and infant daughter were allowed to escape to Germany. Vlado, as with all men of military serving age, stayed behind. He escaped being drafted into the military because of his employment as a policeman.
While investigating a murder Vlado is confronted with a much bigger scandal than he bargained for. Not knowing who to trust he works alone, unraveling the mystery while the civil war continues all around him. Woven into the plot are the harsh realities of what war can do to economics, politics, families, the landscape and the human spirit.

Right away I knew I would like this book. Fesperman does a great job describing the absurdity of investigating a murder in the middle of a war. As Fesperman says (p 2) "Vlado's task was that of a plumber fixing leaky toilets in the middle of a flood." It makes you realize that people will grasp and struggle for normalcy even if it doesn't make sense. ( )

Lie in the Dark is Fesperman's first mystery novel and it is a good one. Vlado Petric is a homicide investigator in war-torn Sarajevo. His wife and young daughter left Sarajevo two years earlier for the safety of Berlin but, although he was exempt from immediate military service by virtue of being a policeman, Vlado himself was not allowed to leave. Sarajevo is a site of random, multiple and frequent death from shelling and sniper fire, but business is slow for homicide detectives, until Vlado the Chief of the Interior Ministry Police is murdered one night. The plot thickens with just about everyone trying to throw Vlado off the track, while the track becomes increasingly dangerous as Vlado starts to figure out exactly what is happening and why so many powerful people are involved and want to protect themselves, and their lucrative scheme.

Vlado is a good character, the plot twists and turns but moves well, and Fesperman evokes very well the atmosphere of Sarajevo under siege and the ethnic tensions, rivalries and hatreds that fuel the conflicts.