The Fugitive
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
An extraordinary tale of life on the run from the author of the Alligator mysteries, the acclaimed crime writer with “a history as riveting as any novel” (Chicago Tribune).
Massimo Carlotto’s odyssey began in 1976 when, as a member of a militant leftwing organization that had fallen awry of the ruling powers, he was arrested and falsely accused of murder. Unwilling to play the role of fall guy in a political power struggle, he chose to flee the country rather than wait for a verdict that the whole country knew was a foregone conclusion. He first went into hiding in the French underworld and then made his way to a Mexico embroiled in bloody class conflict. Betrayed by a Mexican lawyer, he returned to Italy in 1985 and spent six years in prison, during which time the “Carlotto case” became Italy’s most famous legal fiasco.
Carlotto was finally freed with a presidential pardon in 1993. Subsequently, his case helped bring about significant changes to the Italian criminal code to ensure that similar judicial travesties would never happen again.
The Fugitive is the first book that Carlotto wrote as a free man. It tells his story with verve and humor. Virtually a handbook on how to live life on the run, The Fugitive is also a vibrant novel full of vivid underworld characters and breathtaking moments that Carlotto recounts in the cool, lucid prose that has become his trademark.
“A gripping tale, whether read as a novel or as a memoir . . . As exciting as that other Fugitive, this roman a clef combines compelling crime drama with a searing portrait of a justice system gone horribly wrong.” —Booklist
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Billed as a novel, this less than compelling account by one of Italy's top authors of crime fiction focuses on the six years he spent as a fugitive from Italian justice for a murder he claims he didn't commit. After an Italian court upheld his murder conviction in 1979, Carlotto (The Goodbye Kiss) lived in Paris, Madrid and Mexico City. He describes in some detail his various disguises, people he met in the expatriate communities, techniques for evading capture and sources of income primarily his family and wages as a translator. What's lacking, however, is any sense of urgency. During his years on the run, Carlotto was never pursued by Italian authorities; he finally gave himself up in 1985. Though fortunate for him, the result is a flat, suspenseless plot. Originally published in 1994 in Italy, this short book contains frequent digressions into local politics and the machinations of Carlotto's legal case including his eventual presidential pardon that interfere with his story of personal flight.
