Informations
Giorgio Faletti 
Niente di vero tranne gli occhi 
Baldini Castoldi Dalai 
500 pages
18.60 euros

Related articles
Thriller pace

Although Italian figurative and literary tradition offers no equivalent of Hieronymus Bosch or Edgar Allan Poe, for quite some time now in Italy, thrillers have been no longer strictly imported goods: suffice to consider, without venturing beyond the past decade, the merit of novels such as “Io non ho paura” by Niccolò Ammaniti, “Almost blue” and “Un giorno dopo l'altro” by Carlo Lucarelli, or the short stories of “Gotico rurale” by Edoardo Baldini. All these books share the same quest for a specific, original and Italian vein in the thriller genre: with familiar settings, and characters plucked from everyday life, they are far removed from the often OTT spectacular style of American thrillers. What was very different about Giorgio Faletti's debut (two years ago) in the thriller genre with “Io uccido” (translated into several languages and published in many countries, it is one of the best-sellers of recent times), was the author's successful bid to create an “American-style” crime story, but with international characters, setting, structure and plot. The formula works even better in this second book “Niente di vero tranne gli occhi” (Baldini Castoldi Dalai), where the action is split between New York and Rome - although predominantly New York - and the American metropolis is shaken by a series of brutal murders, with the victims' bodies arranged in such a way as to imitate the posture and behaviour of Peanuts characters. The killer, who seems to target wealthy young individuals (the first victim is the non-conformist son of the mayor, an in-vogue painter who goes by the name of Jerry Kho), is being hunted by former NYPD lieutenant Jordan Marsalis and, subsequently, by a Detective Superintendent from Rome, the intriguing Maureen Martini. Fast-paced and with shrewd composition, this book is impossible to put down, despite its almost five-hundred pages: at more than one point, the strong cinematographic style of certain passages would seem to indicate a work conceived already with the big screen in mind (a work indeed influenced by movie imagery, as well, from “Eyes of Laura Mars (Occhi di Laura Mars)” by Irvin Kershner to “In Dreams” by Neil Jordan, taking in “Murder to the tune of 7 black notes (7 note in nero)” by Lucio Fulci). No criticism intended, let us be clear: the focus on the spectacular cut of some segments certainly does nothing to detract from the tight narrative, nor from the quality of the writing. And the latter is high, indeed higher than one might perhaps expect from a thriller: one cannot but note how, even in a work of this length, Faletti has taken the trouble to work with the precision of a master engraver, with truly convincing results. The book is a first-class read and definitively confirms the bona fide talent of a worthy new author.

F.T.