Book Review: May the Wolf Die by Elizabeth Heider
By Janet Webb
July 26, 2024
Elizabeth Heider’s debut novel, May the Wolf Die, sets a frenetic pace. It’s a thriller infused with insider knowledge—of complicated quasi-governmental machinations that underlay the plot as well as detailed descriptions of Naples. Heider is an American PhD physicist with considerable experience in the European arena: “Raised in Utah, she lived in Naples, Italy, for several years, working as a civilian research analyst for the US Navy, deploying aboard US and European Naval ships.”
Naples is an Italian port city famous for its natural beauty and criminal underworld. Nikki Serafino is an unusual protagonist—a native of Naples who has spent years in London, she sees her home through a realistic, clear-eyed gaze. Her job in some ways mirrors Heider’s career, which adds verisimilitude: Nikki’s a trained investigator who works “as the liaison between local police and American troops.” It can be tricky since she’s neither fish nor fowl.
Nikki’s true love is her sailboat, Calypso. She and her friend Valerio have had a “sailboat partnership” for two years and twenty-four months later, after unbelievably hard work, long hours, and what money they could spare, Calypso is yar indeed. Swimming in the “cool rush of the sea,” while Valerio doses, Nikki touches her boat, musing that her feelings for her bella boat are “more profound than what she felt for most people.”
And why not? No other friend or lover had ever bestowed the gifts that Calypso offered. She was freedom—the knowledge that if life became too dull or unbearable, you could always escape into adventure.
Her peaceful sunset swim, overlooking beautiful Naples, comes to a jarring close. There’s an obnoxious couple loudly arguing on a nearby boat—their fight almost ends in catastrophe. The man has “drawn up the ladder of the Andiamo and was laughing at the increasingly frantic attempts of the woman to climb up the smooth sides of the boat.” She starts to slip under the water, clearly exhausted. Nikki swims back to the Calypso, wakes up Valerio and grabs life-saving equipment—the woman will drown if she can’t save her. Together Valerio and Nikki hoist the woman, Carmela, into their boat. Carmela is stunning, a blonde Aphrodite, in contrast to Nikki.
Where Carmela’s skin was smooth and unmarked, Nikki had several tattoos. Her left arm was covered by a ship with three masts and black sails. On her right bicep was a fanged skull with a burning candle burrowed through the top, edged in purple bat wings.
Nikki is sending a message with her inking—she wants to “deliberately reject any assumption or advantage that her gender might otherwise bestow.” Carmela is telegraphing a message as old as time about her belief in the power of sexuality, distracting Valerio in the process. As they head to shore, the “keel struck something, and suddenly it became difficult to steer.” What have they hit? Nikki goes back in the water and calls for help.
“I need you. Please come here, Valerio.”
She spoke calmly, but there was a tension in her voice that made him look up.
Her next words seemed like a joke.
“There’s a body in the water.”
What are the odds of rescuing a woman from drowning and discovering a dead body at the same time? The authorities take over when the Calypso finally makes shore, but the very next day, while she’s escorting an American naval family to the base, Nikki happens on another inexplicable crime scene. There’s a car by the side of the road—something about it concerns Nikki, so she stops. The man inside is dead.
As if a thick glass sheet stood between her and the world, some things were detailed and clear, and everything else seemed out of proportion. What the hell was wrong with her?
There was the sheer improbability of it: the idea that she would find two dead people in less than twenty-four hours. That had to be it.
Nikki is seconded to the team investigating the coincidental killings, but she’s shut out when the watery corpse “turns out to be a U.S. Navy captain stationed at the nearby military base—and the autopsy reveals foul play.” Nikki is too smart, too aware of Naples’s nefarious criminal underworld, and too determined to be cut out of the investigation, which puts her in the crosshairs of some thoroughly corrupt persons. Nikki’s travails, both personal and professional, take a toll on her spirit and her body. But she’s mentally as well as physically tough: her adversaries would do well to remember that.
Undoubtedly, readers will hope that we haven’t seen the last of Nikki Serafino or the memorable city she lives in. Heider’s descriptions make me want to jump on a plane. She says Naples looks like a wedding cake: “So many chaotic layers, colorful and haphazardly balanced, interspersed with palm trees and pines, bushes filled with bright flowers.” Bellissima!
May the Wolf Die is a brilliant thriller, cleverly crafted and unpredictable.