I have never given something such a low star rating - and I received a review copy so feel quite bad about this.
I asked for it because I love books set in Venice, and love the odd ones, like the DVD Shark in Venice, which is hilarious. But this isn't. It isn't fun, it isn't quirky, and I have never before complained about language in books because normally I am not bothered, but I was in this. It was totally unnecessary, and the protagonist was so unlikable I cannot imagine anyone caring what happened to him. Unfortunately, some of how he behaved in Venice is typical of many tourists from the US - but I could not work out whether the author was aware of this and making him a stereotype, showing he understood people should not behave like that, or whether he thought this acceptable behaviour.
The basic idea of the story was an interesting idea, but the way it was developed was very distasteful. Yes, I know horror is not meant to be tasteful, but I really did not like this. At all.