«The strength of I diavoli lies in the individual stories.» Corriere della Sera

«Translating an impenetrable world like finance into fiction was not an easy task, but I diavoli made it.» Il Giornale

«A breath-taking thriller.» Il Mattino

The world of high finance like it’s never been told

Massimo De Ruggero’s life is about to take a definitive turn: his mentor, Derek Morgan, head of trading for a big American bank based in London, is about to pass his reign on to him, a legacy worth fifty million dollars a year and an enormous power. Massimo is ready to climb to the top of the financial pyramid, but wealth and success get to his head and lead him to a deep crisis. Because he realizes that the devil does exist: he manages millions and is endangering the future of the western world. 

Guido Maria Brera creates a multifaceted narrative which is both riveting like a thriller and informative like an essay. He digs in his own experience in high finance, accompanies us in a glittering and ambiguous world, where the art of moving money has the power to change destinies, and manages to make clear the complex mechanisms that were involved in the 2008 crisis and in the years that followed, all from a European perspective. 

A best-selling novel that inspired the acclaimed tv series Diavoli (Devils) with Alessandro Borghi (Suburra), Patrick Dempsey (Grey’s Anatomy) and Kasia Smutniak (Loro), a French-Italian co-production that has been picked up by The CW in the US and has been sold in 160 countries worldwide. It also features Laia Costa (Victoria), Lars Mikkelsen (The Killing), Malachi Kirby (Roots), Paul Chowdhry (Swinging with the Finkels), Pia Mechler (Everything Is Wonderful), Harry Michell (Chubby Funny) and Sallie Harmsen (Blade Runner 2049). A second season has been confirmed and is already in the making.

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In the author’s words

«Finance and literature have one thing in common: time. Together with politics, they are arts of the possible. Life on the trading floor is nothing more than a clash with variables, with events that take an unexpected turn. Literature also probes the eventualities, illuminating glimpses of alternative presents.

Some of the facts in this book eventually happened. Anger exploded on the streets of Paris taking on the jaundiced complexion of the yellow vests. The fragility of an ancient Italian bank was the epicenter of an earthquake. Central bankers have shown their political nature. The kind of finance that I tried to depict has stopped being the art of the possible and became the most pervasive defense tool of the existent. The men who embody its essence are different from the old school traders, all suspenders, cigar in the mouth and banknote in the nostril. The guardians of the existent have chosen invisibility, they hate excesses and do not violate the law because they have the power to write it. I have called these warrior-monks the Devils. Their universe has expanded between the web and television seriality, and so the characters of the novel have lived many lives, moving away from the pages that had baptized them.» Guido Maria Brera