Read this immediately after reading Martin's "Property", which was fabulous. Really disappointed with this novel; didn't enjoy plot, writing style or any of the truly awful characters. Got absolutely nothing from this book at all.

Lucy works for a popular but untalented writer and travels to Italy to wind up his affairs when he dies. This book was good in parts, I particularly liked Lucy's views on her employer's books, and the wooing of Lucy by Massimo whos job is to look after her in Italy. But there was too much of the plot where I was completely lost or did not enjoy.

"You are so suspicious, Lucia. What is it you are suspicious of? Do you think something happened here in our little corner of the world, something out of the ordinary?""Maybe," she confessed. "Maybe I do."Valerie Martin, Italian Fever"Beauty is a cruel mother, Lucy thought sleepily. She draws us in and then rejects us. Irresistible, unobtainable."

Actually I enjoyed this book just for what it is...a kind of dolce for the woman who loves anything Italian...as I do! The plot was interesting, and took a few turns that kept me reading. It was fun to try to figure out who were the good guys and who were the bad guys. The ending was satisfying. But Lucy's completely unexplained illness and the multiple chapters describing her vomiting, fever dreams, hallucinations, night sweats, and other miserable symptoms were way too long and detailed. Why d...

This is intelligent and well-written, but not nearly as compelling as the other Martin novels I've read. I did enjoy an a-ha moment when I realized the main character and her story is somewhat a reworking of Forster's Lucy and his "A Room with a View." (The front of the book carries an epigraph from "Where Angels Fear to Tread," so it wasn't that surprising.) I'm tempted to say there's also a nod to Austen's "Northanger Abbey" with its parody of Gothic fiction in that this novel seems to be in s...

After I finished this book, I thought "Why did I read the whole thing?" I don't have an answer. What a ridiculous story.

When Lucy Stark's employer DV the famous author dies mysteriously in Italy she has to go and sort out his effects and take care of all his unfinished business, along the way she meets and has an affair with a local but very unsuitable man Massimo and then has suspicions as to DV's death and his way of life in Italy, this is not helped by the sinister villagers and also the hasty disappearance of DV's mistress, the artist Catherine Bultman.Can Lucy who is thrown in at the deep end unravel all the...

This story opens with an American writer ensconced in a farmhouse in the middle of Italy, chasing (what we presume is) a ghost in the middle of the night, and then his subsequent fall into death. His assistant, the main character Lucy, flies to Italy to take care of the funeral and paperwork. She is quickly embroiled in a love affair with a married man who helped her through a trippy three-day fever where she presumably sees the same ghost as the dead writer and then the ghost of the writer hims...

If you believe in ghosts then mostly this novel makes sense but it is not totally satisfying. The ghost that begins the novel is never resolved in a way that is organic to the main character. Still I mostly enjoyed this novel with its discussion about art and its setting in Tuscany and Rome.

Terrible doesn't even begin to describe this book. Sleep-inducing, maybe. After a promising few pages, I kept reading until I got to the point that I felt I had to finish it even though I was hating it. I suppose I just kept waiting for it to improve and sadly, it did not. The last 30 or so pages were skimmed just to try and make sense of the plot.The characters were unlikeable and the plot was thin. I was hoping that at least the description of the book's Italian setting would make this a worth...

Italian Fever is an interesting adventure in arts, Tuscany, history and love. Based close to Rome our heroine does the best she can to clean up after her deceased employer, a popular American writer who has made millions with his mediocre talent. In the course of preparing the dead man's papers and personal belongings for a return to the USA, many questions arise for which there seems to be scant interest and fewer answers.

Real potboiler, with language leaning heavily toward cliches (especially when dealing with the heroine's love affair) and a number of different plot strings which don't intermesh very well.

The MacGuffin of this novel is that it seems to be a Gothic ghost story. Some readers will fixate on that (read the 1-2 star reviews) and be very disappointed. And I really can't argue with that. Put a ghost in the beginning of the book and it can't help but stay in your imagination.Martin specifically alludes to Henry James in several instances. This should make the astute reader think there is something more than a ghost story going on. Because with James' ghost stories, there is always someth...

Loved the book, could not put it downItalian through and through, mystery, food, customs, of course the beautiful sprinkling of the language throughout was fascinating as well. Loved Lucy and of course other characters in book, kept me wondering what happened until surprise ending.

I don't remember many details of this book, except that I enjoyed it and it left me with a favorable impression of Valerie Martin. Wish I could tell you more.

I read this book for a bit of armchair travel and in that regard, it didn’t disappoint. The descriptions of Tuscany were gorgeous and I could see the house and Italian countryside setting clearly in my mind. The promise of a thriller was largely unfulfilled, but it had the makings of one. Would have loved to see more developed characters or more twists and turns. It wasn’t really a satisfying ending, but it was in line with my expectations.

The author drags out several feminine stereotypes and implants them into the unfortunate Italy, proving how pitiful Americans are. Despite having a dense brain and not much intuition, our sprightly heroin manages to leave without making a complete, total fool of herself. Good for improving your Italian.

I ended up really getting into this book. The writing is so strong and evocative! It made me curious about the author, so I looked her up on Wikipedia and saw that she was friends with Joyce Carol Oates and lived in the US South. That kind of style influences the descriptions and emotional underpinnings, and I really enjoyed it.

Begins promisingly, with the death of a bestselling author, by misadventure it would seem, one night n Italy. His employee, disdainful of his writing, goes to Italy to clear up his affairs and falls into an adventure. Early on, there is a certain Northanger Abbey, Castle Otranto thing going on. The civilised woman plunged into a Latin gothic scenario, fueling ever more febrile imaginings. Or perhaps there are good reasons to harbour misgivings. Perhaps, but just as quickly the pot goes off the b...

This book is such a fun read. The characters are interesting and quirky and it's full of plot twists. I loved it.