This book may be an eye opener for those who know little about the country of Malta. The picture offered in these pages is not pretty, laden as it is with pervasive corruption and lurking menace, all the more startling because it involves a European Union member.

Paul Caruana Galizia is a superb storyteller. His book reads at times like a thriller, at times like a detective story, and at times like the work of an investigative journalist uncovering webs of corruption, with levels of detail that will be most interesting to those who understand Malta, its systems and flaws. His mother emerges as no saint either. She was clearly not the easiest of women to live with. Highly determined people rarely are.

Paul has written a superbly honest and very painful account of all this. Like her, he didn’t start out as a journalist, but, also like her and his brother Matthew, he became a highly effective reporter. His fine, natural, relaxed style shows Daphne as a living woman – delightful, quirky, far from perfect, increasingly affected by the things she wrote about and the danger she faced, and utterly magnificent.

Daphne’s work affected her family. It strained her relationship with her husband and seeped into the daily experiences of her three sons. Despite those struggles, their love for this amazing woman shines through.

Paul’s story, told in a clear and vivid narrative, has all the elements of a political thriller. But in the real world the story is not over. A Death in Malta is an indictment of our global financial system – and of the institutions that supposedly exist to protect us from its worst effects..

...devastatingly compelling.

Galizia combines memoir, true crime, and history as he details Malta’s complicated past for a riveting and unnerving story that remains fully unresolved..

Blistering.

Moving.

The descriptive narrative highlights not only a son’s love for his mother but also the positive and negative effects of determination and resistance of those in the story. Most notable is how he provides such a lovely image of Malta and his tenacious mother, who exposed political corruption in the course of her work, while giving a less than savory picture of the political atmosphere. Worthy of mention, the work pulls readers in slowly but picks up pace towards the horrific and tragic event of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder. The book concludes by illustrating that justice often comes too late for those who expose injustice. Overall, this sad story offers encouragement, peppered with caution, to those spotlighting corruption, with a rallying call to find the courage to speak out against wrongdoing..