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Book Summary and Reviews of Dimiter by William Peter Blatty

Dimiter by William Peter Blatty

Dimiter

by William Peter Blatty

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  • Mar 2010, 304 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

A riveting story of murder, revenge, and suspense. Laced with themes of faith and love, sin and forgiveness, vengeance and compassion. A novel in the grand tradition of Morris West’s The Devil’s Advocate and the Catholic novels of Graham Greene.

Dimiter opens in the world’s most oppressive and isolated totalitarian state: Albania in the 1970s. A prisoner suspected of being an enemy agent is held by state security. An unsettling presence, though subjected to unimaginable torture he maintains an eerie silence. He escapes---and on the way to freedom, completes a mysterious mission. The prisoner is Dimiter, the American “agent from Hell.”

The scene shifts to Jerusalem, focusing on Hadassah Hospital and a cast of engaging, colorful characters: the brooding Christian Arab police detective, Peter Meral; Dr. Moses Mayo, a troubled but humorous neurologist; Samia, an attractive, sharp-tongued nurse; and assorted American and Israeli functionaries and hospital staff. All become enmeshed in a series of baffling, inexplicable deaths, until events explode in a surprising climax.

Told with unrelenting pace, Dimiter’s compelling, page-turning narrative is haunted by the search for faith and the truths of the human condition.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. A beautifully written, haunting tale of vengeance, spiritual searching, loss and love." - Publishers Weekly

"Unfortunately, this thriller lacks enough thrills to get readers through the convoluted and confusing plot.." - Booklist

This information about Dimiter was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Write your own reviewwrite your own review

Chris

Very Good
Many can't understand it and some are afraid to admit they liked it. I understood it and loved it.

A Serious Reader

Dimiter
I loved this book. It is beautifully-written and challenges you to think deeply about some very serious matters. It is not the kind of book you can read in a hurry, though. In fact, you will quickly loose your way if you do that. I know that I did more than once when I became anxious to know who the "mysterious stranger" was and what exactly he was up to. I had to turn back and reread slowly and found that when I did I noticed things that I hadn't before. At the end I still had some questions, in fact, and am now rereading the book to answer them - and it is even better the second time around. I do not think this is a book for everyone, though. Definitely not your pick-it-up and put-it-down and pick-it-up summer read. But if you love good writing and like to think deeply about serious things (like why people must suffer and why God is so often silent) then this is a book that you will probably enjoy. Different from anything I have ever read before, even by the same author. I highly recommend it.

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Author Information

William Peter Blatty

William Peter Blatty, the writer of numerous novels and screenplays, is best known for his mega-bestselling novel The Exorcist. An Academy Award winner for his screenplay for The Exorcist, Blatty is not only the author of one of the most terrifying novels ever written, but, paradoxically, also cowrote the screenplay for the hilarious Inspector Clouseau film, A Shot in the Dark. Dimiter is Blatty's first full novel since the 1983 publication of Legion. He lives with his wife and a son in Maryland.

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