The Memory Key
An Alec Blume Novel
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- £5.99
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
An engrossing novel of murder, organized crime, and politics in contemporary Italy
'A powerful and hugely compelling thriller. Dark, worldly and written with tremendous style and assurance' William Boyd
'Alec Blume is an inspired creation. An American who has become a commissioner in the Italian police, he's a sly, sardonic loner who gives the impression of knowing Rome better than its natives. [...] Fitzgerald is an elegant, visual writer' Guardian
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On a freezing November night Commissioner Alec Blume is called to the scene of a shooting.
The victim is Sofia Fontana, the sole witness to a previous killing. Blume's enquiries lead from a professor with a passion for the art of memory to a hospitalised ex-terrorist whose injuries have left her mind innocently blank; from present day Rome's criminal underclass, to a murderous train station bombing in central Italy several decades ago.
Against the advice of his bosses and his own better judgement, Blume is drawn ever deeper into the case, which looks set to derail his troubled relationship with Caterina...
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The sniper's bullet doesn't quite dispatch notorious terrorist Stefania Manfellotto, but the investigation into the attack on the Rome university campus that leaves Manfellotto brain damaged as well as the subsequent fatal shooting there six months later of witness Sofia Fontana could finally deal a death blow to the career of Commissioner Alec Blume in Fitzgerald's cerebral fourth mystery featuring the maverick American expat (after 2012's The Namesake). By rights, Blume shouldn't even be involved in the politically sensitive probe, which falls under the jurisdiction of the rival Carabinieri. But that detail isn't about to deter him once his old mentor, magistrate Filippo Principe, appeals for help, any more than he would dream of changing his opinion on a road rage homicide just because his lover, Chief Insp. Caterina Mattiola, sees it differently. Blume's readiness to pursue any leads in an increasingly puzzling case helps make him an outstanding detective, but also, within a society that puts such a premium on personal relationships, a perennial outsider.
