Bel CantoA Novel

A lyrical and economical thriller examining how we behave in extraordinary circumstances
The narrowest synopsis of just the first few moments of Ann Patchett's novel Bel Canto might be enough to snare potential readers. There is, to begin with, a birthday party hosted by the vice president of an unnamed (and unstable) South American country. The celebration honors Mr. Hosokawa, the head of a Japanese electronics corporation and one of few leaders who can help turn the South American country's economy from coca leaves and blackhearted poppies into something more scrupulous. There are ambassadors at the party, government officials, corporate heads and one world-renowned lyric soprano, the beautiful Roxanne Coss, who has been imported especially for Mr. Hosokawa's entertainment. There are also eighteen terrorists hiding in the air-conditioning ducts, and it is at the moment when Coss finishes her final aria that the interlopers stage a takeover.

This is what happens in the first ten minutes, and there is very little else that can be given away in a summary. Part of Bel Canto's suspense lies in its revealing of the strange ways in which people behave in exceptional circumstances. In prose at once lovely and economical, Patchett spins a tale of violence, lust and discovery as experienced in a jungle-bound South American mansion that finds itself liable, at any moment, to go up in smoke.