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Gerald Seymour
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The Collaborator: A Thriller Kindle Edition

by Gerald Seymour (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 681 ratings
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A friend’s death drives an Italian woman to collaborate against her criminal family in this “propulsive, neatly structured thriller” (Guardian (UK)).

She is an Italian accountancy student in London, and her boyfriend Eddie teaches at a language school. But the prime reason Immacolata Borelli came to Britain was to look after her gangster brother, wanted for multiple murders back home in Naples. For the Borelli clan are major players in the Camorra, a crime network more close-knit and ruthless than the Sicilian Mafia.

Mario Castrolami is a senior Carabinieri investigator of the Camorra, his career dedicated to destroying the corruption and violence of the clans. When Immacolata calls from London to say she is prepared to collaborate with justice—to betray her own family—he knows she is setting in motion a terrifying and unpredictable series of events.

The Borellis will not lose their criminal empire without a vicious fight. They will use anything and anyone to prevent her from giving evidence against them. Even Eddie, and Eddie’s life.

Praise for The Collaborator

“A dense, intensely satisfying thriller from one of the modern masters of the craft.” —Daily Mail (UK)

“No summary can suggest its depth and texture. Seymour is not one to cut corners. He does his research, thinks hard about his story and gives us richly imagined novels that bristle with authenticity. Very few thriller writers tell us as much about their characters.” —Patrick Anderson, The Washington Post

“Seymour’s twenty-sixth novel builds relentlessly to a fever-pitch conclusion in which a Camorra killer, a hostage rescuer, and a kidnapped victim—characters developed with consummate skill—are all one step from death. Highly recommended for thriller readers.” —Library Journal starred review
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  1. Print length
    483 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    The Overlook Press
  5. Publication date
    February 3, 2011
  6. Reading age
    18 years and up
  7. File size
    1982 KB
  8. Page Flip
    Enabled
  9. Word Wise
    Enabled
  10. Enhanced typesetting
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  11. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An underdeveloped romance undermines the hard-edged realism of this contemporary thriller from British author Seymour (Timebomb). When 25-year-old Immacolata Borelli rushes to Naples from London on learning that her closest friend, Marianna Rossetti, has died from leukemia, she receives a hostile reception from her late friend's parents, who link their daughter's fatal illness to the dumping of toxic waste carried out for years by Borelli's gangster relatives, one of the leading families of the Camorra. With the human toll of her family's crimes finally hitting home, Borelli decides to cooperate with the Italian authorities and provide them with everything they need to secure convictions. Then Eddie Deacon, a language teacher with whom Borelli had a brief fling in London, follows her to Naples, where the Camorra take him hostage. After the gangsters threaten to mutilate and murder Deacon if Borelli doesn't abandon her intention to inform on them, the story devolves into a run-of-the-mill suspense plot hinging on whether Deacon will be rescued in time. (Feb.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Review

Praise for The Collaborator:

"A dense, intensely satisfying thriller from one of the modern masters of the craft."--Daily Mail

"No summary can suggest its depth and texture. Seymour is not one to cut corners. He does his research, thinks hard about his story and gives us richly imagined novels that bristle with authenticity. Very few thriller writers tell us as much about their characters." -Patrick Anderson, The Washington Post

"A propulsive, neatly structured thriller." --Guardian

"This is a great suspense thriller . . Fast-paced with a strong cast." --Midwest Book Review

"Critics rank him with John le Carré and Frederick Forsyth as a master of suspense . . . But with The Collaborator, Seymour moves beyond suspense. Yes, the plot teems with criminals, and yes, the climax features a face-off between a negotiator and a bad guy who has a pistol and a hostage. But no, The Collaborator isn't just another thriller. At its heart, this tale is a novel . . . The Collaborator follows a plot that's distressingly realistic . . . Seymour takes readers far deeper into his characters than do most thriller writers. And by the standards of the genre, the book's 500-page length amounts to a thriller and a half." --St Louis Post- Dispatch

"Seymour's 26th novel builds relentlessly to a fever- pitch conclusion in which a Camorra killer, a hostage rescuer, and a kidnapped victim--characters developed with consummate skill--are all one step from death. Highly recommended for thriller readers." --Library Journal starred review

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07P9QVKLR
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ The Overlook Press (February 3, 2011)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 3, 2011
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1982 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 483 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 681 ratings

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Gerald Seymour

Gerald Seymour

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
681 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Richard A. Frederick
5.0 out of 5 stars The best Since Early LaCarre
Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2014
Verified Purchase
Seymour is an excellent writer in every way. His characters are well drawn, plots interesting, suspenseful, and believable. If you are looking for a black and white, simple thriller, Seymour is probably not for you. His plots and characters are much more subtle.
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gDog Book Guy
4.0 out of 5 stars Average guy caught up in the violent world of the Camorra gangs of Naples-
Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2013
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Suspenseful and interesting. This story of an average guy getting caught up in a very violent world and having to find courage in himself that he--and his family and friends-- never knew was there. Very interesting setting within the gangs of Naples--the Camorra--and how this guy enters their world unwittingly but rises to the life or death challenge.... This read is well worth your time.
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Alex Balkin
5.0 out of 5 stars Capticating
Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2016
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Once again, Seymour takes his exhaustive research, phenomenal writing skills and human insight to bear. His characters are so believable that the reader wants to reach out, into the pages of the book and to caress, strike, hug, or just smile or nod at them.
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Athan
3.0 out of 5 stars For those with time to kill (on a budget)
Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2016
My little Mika is 4.5 years old. She was allocated 3 pound coins, carefully washed, to buy gifts at the school Christmas fair. And she knows daddy reads books. She sought advice from somebody at school and when she came back from the fair there was a ball for her mommy, an Octonauts video for her brother and….. “The Collaborator” for me. She had been assured it was a “mystery” book.

I don’t read fiction. And I sure don’t read trash. So I told her I would read it and hoped she forgets.

Mika does not forget.

Once every other day I’d be asked how far I’ve gotten in the book. At more than 500 pages this is a bit of a stout read, so that was an OK excuse: “I’m halfway done Mika.”

“And how about the book review daddy?”

Ah, there’s that too. I’ve set up my son on Amazon, where he reviews his school reading, and he’s very happy to do it because daddy reviews books. At 6.5, George still admires daddy (I’m told it ends soon) so reviewing books is cool. The corollary is Mika has been expecting this book review for a while.

Ski vacation happened last week (half term.) Mika and I flew out first, the rest of the family followed a day later. Made a point of bringing “The Collaborator” with me, so Mika would know I’m reading it. And now I’m done. The three stars I’ve given the book, dear reader, are there because my gorgeous Mika is not yet a very strong reader and will probably not get this far in the book review. One never knows, there may well be a book in this genre that merits three stars, but this is not it.

A friend of mine likes to say that there are two categories of people: those with spare time and those with spare things to do. 500-page airport thrillers / doorstoppers are decidedly for the first category. This is a book meant to be read in a coach, on a ferry boat or on the can. And at GBP 6.99 new (my girl got herself a bargain there) it’s priced to compete with a used DVD, compared to which it will give you many more hours of, well, not exactly sure what. A thrill, I guess, is the general idea.

So if you are too poor to buy one of those devices people seem to be staring at while they are sitting in the ferry or too scared you might drop it in the toilet (and you have a very slow moving gut) that’s where “the Collaborator” comes in. You really cannot read it in the Tube, mind: I had it with me the other day and from out of nowhere a gratuitous sex scene came up and I was overcome with the fear the guy next to me might think I’m a total loser. The words "inside" and “penetrate” come up a lot and for no reason, let's put it that way.

And the plot is outlandish: the daughter of a mafia boss goes to the funeral of a friend who died from leukemia caused by soil contamination her dad was responsible for. The parents of her friend spit on her and tear up her blouse (has that ever happened in the history of mankind? Has it happened at a funeral?) and she has the epiphany that she must collaborate with the police against her family. And her English boyfriend comes to look for her and becomes a pawn in the negotiation. And there’s an American loner who is a hostage negotiator and he’s introduced around page 100 of the book and isn’t put out of his misery till page 500. And you find out about how the mafia treats those who don’t pay for protection somewhere along the way, and wish you hadn’t, even if it’s true.

“And tell me Athan, did you finish the book?”

You got me there! I did. I’d love to say I needed to get past page 125 (that’s what the flight out to Munich got me to) to realize this is tripe of the worst order, the equivalent of watching Brazilian soap opera dubbed into Spanish, but I kind of knew that right away. And I also predicted fairly early on how all characters would develop (to the minuscule degree that they did) and I guessed all details of the plot except for the death of the negotiator (I thought the English loverboy would get it, instead) quite early too. And I do not ever read fiction. And yet I finished the book.

So I must admit, with some regret, that the author gripped me enough that I had to finish. With that said, I also once watched Mike Judge’s “Idiocracy” till the end. Make of that what you want
One person found this helpful
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Rodders
5.0 out of 5 stars GS at his best
Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2013
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Moving away from terrorism GS has written a marvelous, gripping novel about Italian criminal families. Well researched as always. one really gets an appreciation of how the city of Naples is run by gangs with the authorities virtually powerless to intervene==until one family member turns on her relatives.
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jrh25
4.0 out of 5 stars ok, take it to the beach
Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2011
Verified Purchase
Gripping. Period. Not pretty for the most part, but you're not likely to put it down! Engrossing characters and a finely drawn plot. I read it a few months ago and get a few chills thinking about it. In the end, not grea literature, but if you want a crime/mafia thriller, this might fit the bill.
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Andrew Irvine
5.0 out of 5 stars Great read once you got into it. Recommeded by a friend, I have found a new great author. Well done.
Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2013
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I knew this was going to be a good read, because I had already read one of Gerald Seymour's novels - The Dealer and the Dead. It was my first and this was a no brainer. The plot was excellent and beleivable. Cheers and happy reading.
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Don Hutton
2.0 out of 5 stars The Collaborater
Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2024
Verified Purchase
There was far too much padding in the book. Baldacci may have thought he was building up tension with long meandering passages, but they were actually annoying and deviating from the rather simple plot. The book was a long way from his best.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars gritty and engrossing
Reviewed in India on January 8, 2017
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gritty,empathic,sad but enobling
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Hans Breuer
4.0 out of 5 stars Gleichbleibende Qualität
Reviewed in Germany on March 15, 2014
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Damit meine ich, dass Gerald Seymour, ein Vielschreiber, auch hier wieder eine spannende, von Sachkenntnis unterstützte Story erzählt, in der die Personen leben, glaubhaft sind und Eigenschaften entwickeln, und in der die beschriebene Handlung sich vor dem inneren Auge des Lesers abspielt. Das muss man als Autor erst mal können, und dann in vielen Romanen diese Qualität halten. Doch, sehr lesenswert.
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Guy51
5.0 out of 5 stars On en demande encore
Reviewed in France on December 13, 2009
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Les fans de Gerald Seymour ne seront pas déçus.
Une fois de plus l'intrique est bien menée, les personnages comme à l'accoutumée sont forts dans leur ordinaire; pas de héros sans faille; pas de bons sentiments. Juste la vie de gens bouffés par le quotidien, usés, parfois blasés et qui font ce qu'ils peuvent. Et, ce n'est pas toujours joli.
Amateurs de happy end s'abstenir.
Pour ceux qui aiment Seymour, un régal!!!!
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Markus Ronnie
5.0 out of 5 stars Another brilliant novel from the master story- teller
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 23, 2009
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On the back of this novel the Sunday Telegraph says " A Master Of His Craft" and that is exactly what Gerald Seymor is. Five out of six readers gave this book five stars and the sixth gave it three, saying the book is predictable, which i have to disagreee with as nothing about Gerald Seymor's books is predictable. Every book the guy writes is pure pleasure. He is the sort of author who could write five hundred pages about a ping-pong ball and get you begging for more.

As for the story, it reminded me of "In Honour Bound" 1984 with the hero being a loveable character called Barney Crispin. In "The Collaborator" Barney is Lucas the negotiator and he is woven in slowly to the story. It is not so much about Lucas, but out of all the characters, Lucas i find is the most interesting. The story starts out in London where Eddie Deacon a very ordinary brit meets by chance a not very ordinary Italian beauty called Immacolata Borrelli daughter of the famous Borrelli clan out of Naples. Without ruining the story for you Immacolata decides to turns her whole family into the Italian authorities after a very close friend of hers dies.
Once the decision is made, the story moves to Italy where we learn all about the "clans" (nasty lot !) and we get to know another likeable guy called Mario Castrolami a senior investigator with the Italian Justice miistry. Slowly we understand where Lucas is coming from and the pace really moves along to what i say is not the ending i would have liked, yet is typical of Mr Seymor. (maybe i am too sentimental).

So in conclusion, if you want a first-class story, then don't think twice about buying this book or any one of Mr Seymor's previous books.

ABSOLUTELY FIRST RATE !!!
And now sadly we have to wait another year for his next one.
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in India on March 18, 2016
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Excellent. Narration is Superb. highly engrossing
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