A massive Italian bestseller, this epic saga of crime and retribution set against decades of Roman turmoil, has already been the object of a major movie and inspired a successful TV series but it's taken over a decade for it to reach English-reading shores and not a day too soon! Based on the rise and fall of a genuine gang who pulled the strings of crime, corruption and political machinations in Rome for countless years, this weighty novel has a grand sweep with a colourful cast of characters on both sides of the law and crime divide and brings a whole world to life with brio on a canvas which reminds one of the GODFATHER saga, albeit with somewhat more realism involved. Storytelling on a grand scale which established De Catado as the foremost modern Italian crime writer overnight. A must if you are into translated crime. ~ Maxim Jakubowski
It is 1977. A new force is terrorising Rome - a mob of reckless, ultraviolent youths known as La Banda della Magliana. As the gang ruthlessly take control of Rome's heroin trade, they begin an inexorable rise to power. Banda della Magliana intend to own the streets of Rome - unless their internal struggles tear them apart. Based on Rome's modern gangland history, Romanzo Criminale fearlessly confronts Italy's Age of Lead: war on the streets and terrorism, kidnappings and corruption at the highest levels of government.
'Only when the story is over, when the book is closed, only then do you realize what a great story teller De Cataldo is: with the reader unaware, suspecting nothing, he paints little by little, page after page, the huge canvas representing a global failure. A failure concerning not only his characters but our whole society.' -- Andrea Camilleri, author of the Montalbano series, la Stampa
'What captivates here is the feeling of witnessing an epic tale, a piece of Italian history viewed from the streets' -- La Repubblica
Author
About Giancarlo De Cataldo
Giancarlo De Cataldo is a novelist, playwright, scriptwriter and a judge. Romanzo Criminale was first published in Italy by Einaudi in 2002 and has been translated into several languages, made into a film and into two TV series, which have been shown across Europe and in the UK on Sky Arts. TV series rights in US have been sold to Starz. Giancarlo de Cataldo was born in Taranto and now lives in Rome.
