From the Publisher
Praise for Suburra
“Rome itself, in all its history, glory, and despair, is skillfully sewn into the fiber of Suburra. . . Evokes Mario Puzo’s famous trilogy and other classics of the genre.”
— Kirkus Reviews
“[A] fast-moving crime thriller . . . an unflinching look at real-life widespread corruption in Italy.”
— Publishers Weekly
"The basis of an award-winning 2015 Italian film, this contemporary noir will appeal to readers intrigued by gangland crime, big-city corruption, and how Italy actually 'works.'"
— Library Journal (Starred Review)
“[C]austic and blunt [...] Suburra is a reminder that crime fiction can say as much about a society as other genres.”
— The Guardian
“The plot of Suburra , fast-paced and brutal, thrills from the get-go. [A] blistering, grimly absorbing satire of Rome’s kickback and bribery culture.”
— The New Statesman
“An enthralling noir novel that draws inspiration from the real-life scandals that have plagued Italy in recent years.”
— Paris Match
“With a bit of added splatter à la Tarantino, Suburra captures a great city that has been tragically handed over to political, economic, and criminal corruption.”
— La Repubblica
“No code of honor, magnificent godfathers, or other such nonsense here, just cynicism, rapacity, money as the only value that matters. Made in the image of the world as it is. Chilling.”
— Télérama
“ Suburra may deal in traditional gangster movie tropes, but it uses them to tell a story that’s modern and universal.”
— Vice (on film adaptation of the novel)
“Bonini and de Cataldo find the courage to recount the unadulterated truth of a city that seems to have forgotten it is part of the civilized world.”
—Paolo Sorrentino, Oscar Award-winning director of The Great Beauty
Kirkus Reviews
2017-06-20
Rome is a hotbed of political corruption, violence, and scheming at the end of Silvio Berlusconi's reign as prime minister in this modern Mafia novel.Some of the most powerful Mafia families in town, led by a shadowy figurehead known as Samurai, are taking advantage of the unrest to hatch a multibillion dollar plan to build a luxury waterfront development that will also give them full control of the nearby port of Ostia. But Mafia egos are notoriously delicate, and, inevitably, murder will undercut the spirit of "family" cooperation. The novel begins with a politician covering up the death of a prostitute he's just had sex with, which leads a relatively unimportant gang member to overestimate his power. When he ends up murdered, the response from his family is swift. In the middle of this vicious quagmire stands one smart and noble Carabinieri, Marco Malatesta, himself a product of the violent streets. With help from the magistrate Michelangelo de Candia and a firebrand leftist named Alice Savelli, Marco not only uncovers the complex plans and the murders at their heart, but also sets his sights on Samurai, determined to catch the puppet master once and for all. The novel is set in a very specific time, and it is 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. At the same time, there is something old-fashioned about the narrative, because it clearly evokes Mario Puzo's famous trilogy and other classics of the genre. It can be hard to keep track of all the characters, but loose ends are admirably tied up in the end. While the complex plot intrigues, there is so much violence, so much dirty scheming, that even when the "good guys" win, it's hard to muster up much hope for Rome itself.
