Dhanraj Mane

    In his book The Vienna Connection, Dick Rosano presents us with a story filled with mystery and covert operations. The protagonist Armando Listrani is an ex-U.S. military officer who chooses to assume a new identity as a food and wine critic under the alias, Darren Priest. He realized he would never be able to escape his past when the President of the United States called upon him to go on a special mission to Vienna, which involved investigating an individual who was trying to blackmail the President. He gave him executive orders to recover the compromising file which could potentially jeopardize his political position. Darren henceforth becomes entangled in an intricate web that puts him on the radar of the Austrian police, the American Ambassador and the U.S. Senator. What were the contents of this file that made it so important for the President himself to get it recovered? Surrounded by influential people with perfidious nature, will Darren be able to achieve his objective and recover those discreditable records without exposing his identity? I found the author’s writing style to be remarkably engaging. The use of dialogues has also played an important role in making it fast-paced meanwhile creating some vivid scenarios which bring the characters to life. This results in the reader’s experience becoming dynamic as well as relatable. I could easily visualize their interactions as I went through the pages which further gave me the chance to form my own opinion regarding their personalities. Rosano did catch my attention by infusing the whole piece with a certain degree of mystery which further stirred up my curiosity. The storyline takes us through a variety of Austrian and Italian dishes and different types of wines which I found to be rather intriguing. Rosano's experience as a food, wine, and travel columnist is evident by the finer details about them given in the book. The precise description of the dishes and his portrayal explaining about the architectural designs of the restaurants brought refinement to the book while also blending with the story. The protagonist, Darren Priest, is portrayed as an experienced officer with an uncanny ability to continuously observe and evaluate people around him. This trait makes him appear like an idealist who is always trying to read the other characters' intentions. At certain points, this becomes a bit monotonous and uneventful. Perhaps, another combination of human attributes would have made this character more interesting while also resulting in an invaluable addition to the existing storyline. Similar observations can be made as for the other characters as well, like Chinh who although clearly states that he doesn't either likes or trusts Americans, yet he can be seen helping Priest with his investigation. This contradicts with his personality trait of being biased against Americans. We can consider it as a loophole in the plot. I liked the first part of the book where the author got me into the puzzle, and I read through some intense passages. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but I felt that the second part did contain certain predictable events which therefore took a terrible toll on the element of surprise. In addition to that, a lack of some vital pieces of information left me with enough questions to draw upon an incomplete conclusion.  I would certainly recommend this book to those who love a good mystery and who would like to have a glimpse of the Austrian and Italian culture. Readers who enjoy stories that involve several twists and turns may not end up appreciating this work of Rosano. Several expletives are used, and the book contains references to rape and other intimate scenes. I found enough grammar errors which were worth dropping a star from my rating. I would have given this book at least three stars, but the disconnected elements of the story forced me to further drop another star. I would, therefore, give The Vienna Connection 2 out of 4 stars. However, Dick Rosano's vivid description of the scenes made me curious to check out some of his previous works. I concluded that he has quite an extensive knowledge regarding various fields like military, politics, architecture, wine, and even geology; and despite the confusing feeling I got after finishing this book, his work shows his outstanding ability to depict graphic scenes which unfold the story right before of your eyes.