Second in the contemporary Italian crime fiction series featuring Inspector Lojacono by the bestselling author of the Commissario Ricciardi novels.
A kidnapped child and the burglary of a high-class apartment: Two crimes that seem to have no connection at all until Inspector Lojacono, known as "The Chinaman," starts to investigate.
Darkness for the Bastards of Pizzofalcone is the second book in a series set in contemporary Naples that draws inspiration from Ed McBain's 87th Precinct novels and features a large cast of complicated cops doing battle with ruthless criminals.
De Giovanni is one of the most dexterous and successful writers of crime fiction currently working in Europe. His award-winning and bestselling novels, all set in Naples, offer a brilliant vision of the criminal underworld and the police that battle it in Europe's most fabled, atmospheric, dangerous, and lustful city.
"Imagine Fellini and Chandler collaborating on a Neapolitan remake of Our Town, and that begins to give you an idea of what you're in for with Darkness for the Bastards of Pizzofalcone. . . While de Giovanni never wavers from a world where terrible people do terrible things, motivated by selfishness, greed, and loathing (for themselves, for others, for both), he illuminates the soft underbelly of fear and loss without being manipulative."-Los Angeles Review of Books
"The police characters are flawed, lovable, and believable-you cannot but take to them . . . Naples comes through loud and clear in the story."-Tripfiction
The second title in the crime series set in contemporary Naples, following on from "The Crocodile", and featuring Inspector Lojacono. The author also wrote the series featuring Commissario Ricciadi. Translated by Anthony Shugaar.
Praise for
Darkness for the Bastards of Pizzofalcone
“The police characters are flawed, lovable, and believable – you cannot but take to them.... Naples comes through loud and clear in the story.”
—Tripfiction
Praise for the Commissario Ricciardi Series
"De Giovanni has created one of the most interesting and well-drawn detectives in fiction."
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The Daily Beast"Impossible to resist."
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Crimetime UK"Ricciardi is an intriguing detective."
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Library Journal"Reading a novel by Maurizio de Giovanni is like stepping into a Vittorio De Sica movie."
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The New York Times"The author's elegant style ennobles the wretched lives he views with such compassion."
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The New York Times Book Review
"[de Giovanni] explores an imperfect and truthful compassion, and finds that fragile place inside the bastards that resists the heavy hand of fated suffering."
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Los Angeles Review of Books