“We think about Italian thrillers as mafia, Sicily and old fat men who torture people. This is the opposite, like an Italian Tom Wolfe set in Milan and Liguria.” Walter Iuzzolino

“There are great themes at stake in this story: sibling rivalry, atonement, the most difficult forgiveness (that for oneself)… the most beautiful noir on Italy’s years of terror.” Corriere della Serra

“The story grips and doesn’t let go… [a] captivating and powerful novel.” La Stampa

“So rich in tones that I’d love to read it again” Amica

Mystery and suspense, plot twists and surprises, and the evil of political terrorism in the Seventies. And a wonderful new hero.

Back in the Seventies, Annibale Canessa was a prominent figure in the war against political terrorism in Italy: the war fought on the street, in which neither ideologies nor political colours had any value, guns were shooting and too many people were left on the ground. Canessa was impetuous, strong, and determined – in his job as well as with women, who were attracted by his life of danger, elusiveness, and deep sense of honour.

This was before. On a dark day in 1984, everything fell apart, his certainties, faith, and dreams. He left the Carabinieri and found shelter in his personal heaven, San Fruttouso, an enchanting bay where to spend his time swimming at dawn and running a small restaurant with an old aunt. But the shadows of the past haunt you forever, and one morning Canessa receives, from Milan, some shocking news: his brother, Napoleone, whom he hasn’t seen for thirty years, was found dead, shot by a kalashnikov. Next to him, lying on the street, the body of “Pino” Petri, a former terrorist that Annibale himself had captured in his previous life. What were they doing together? Who killed them? In search for answers and lost time, nothing will stop Canessa – not even the beautiful journalist who’ll try to open the door of his battered heart.