Suburra
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
The “razor-sharp political thriller set during the dying days of Berlusconi’s regime” that inspired the Netflix original series (New Statesman).
This “fast-moving crime thriller” takes a deep dive into a politically and financially corrupt contemporary Italy, where crime families, corrupt politicians, and new rabid criminal elements battle each other for control of a glittering prize—a multibillion-dollar development twenty miles from the Italian capital (Publishers Weekly).
During the final days of Silvio Berlusconi’s reign, a massive development proposal that will turn the depressed coastal settlement of Ostia into a gambling paradise, a Las Vegas on the Mediterranean, is winding its way through the Italian legislature thanks to the sponsorship of politicians in the pay of crime syndicates. It’s business as usual in the Italian capital. Or so it seems. A vicious gang of local thugs loyal to nobody but themselves is insisting on a bigger cut than agreed upon. The Mafia and their political puppets aren’t going to back down without a fight. And one policeman, pushed to the sidelines, may not be able to stop an all-out war . . .
With a plot that “thrills from the get-go,” Suburra is a compelling work of international crime fiction and the inspiration for the popular Netflix series of the same name (New Statesman).
“A novel of Rome, meaning that the city itself, in all its history, glory, and despair, is skillfully sewn into the fiber of the tale. . . . Evokes Mario Puzo’s famous trilogy and other classics of the genre.” —Kirkus Reviews
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In 1993, 18-year-old Marco Malatesta, the hero of this fast-moving crime thriller from journalist Bonini and novelist De Cataldo (The Father and the Foreigner), was a "hoodlum from Talenti with plenty of heart." He followed a gang leader known as Samurai, who asserted that certain acts considered criminal by the bourgeoisie such as theft and assault were appropriate responses to an inadequate justice system. But after realizing that Samurai was merely interested in consolidating his own power, Marco broke with him and joined the police. With his past a closely held secret, Marco rose through the ranks and eventually became a lieutenant colonel. In the present, an outbreak of violence in Rome appears to be the initial stage of a full-fledged Mafia gang war that Samurai might be involved in. When a massacre confirms Marco's suspicion that Samurai is involved, the policeman is sidelined, forcing him to be creative in his pursuit of justice. The authors effectively use genre formulas to provide an unflinching look at real-life widespread corruption in Italy.
