"Day after day" by Carlo Lucarelli
The Harvill Press - EUR 16,57
Day After Day
Written by Carlo Lucarelli
Category: Fiction - Mystery & Detective
Publisher: Harvill Press
Format: Trade Paperback, 192 pages
Pub Date: July 2004
Price: $10.99
ISBN: 1-84343-149-1
ABOUT THIS BOOK
A professional killer is at large in the
cities of Italy. Code named "The Pit
Bull" the killer is a master of disguise
and an expert with weapons. He modifies his
guns and his bullets are untraceable. His
skill with prosthetics, wigs, makeup and
padding means that no two victims witness
the same before their death and, as with
the search for the ever-reincarnating "Iguana"
in Almost Blue, once again this is a hunt
for a man with no face. Only the picture
of a pit bull terrier, from which the killer
takes his name, left behind at each murder
can link the crimes. Stuck in a rut, the
Pit Bull's life continues, day after day.
And, day after day, Ispettore Negro works
on her seemingly impossible case.
When an innocent young man, surfing the Internet,
unwittingly places himself in serious danger
from the Pit Bull, Negro uses the man's knowledge
of cyberspace to help her close in on her
terrifying target.
-----------------------------
In Bologna, a car has exploded, its now legless
occupant near death in the centre of the
road. As the police arrive at the crime scene,
amongst the last words issuing from the victim,
the phrase "pit bull" is caught
by a carabinieri. In another part of the
city, a young man demonstrates a startlingly
effective method of escaping the attentions
of a would-be mugger. Elsewhere Inspector
Grazia Negro and her team break into the
apartment they have kept under surveillance
for several days, only to find the occupants,
a well-known criminal and his wife along
with their bodyguard, horribly murdered.
The subsequent police investigation shows
that the killer is a professional and with
an unusual mastery of the art of disguise.
Meanwhile another young man, part of a supervisory
team checking on the chat rooms of a local
internet service provider, notices a new
chat room, its ostensible purpose to discuss
the acquisition of pit bull terriers.
It's true, there are a few similarities with
last year's astonishing Almost Blue, Lucarelli's
British debut. Basic plot, three criss-crossing
narratives, internet chat rooms taking the
place of Simone's radio scanners, and, less
resonant for UK readers, Luigi Tenco's 1966
Italian hit Day After Day (covered later
by Perry Como!) replacing Chet Baker and
Almost Blue. But this is, in fact, the third
of the three Grazia Negro books to date,
and it was written three years after Almost
Blue, and five years after the first, the
untranslated Lupo Mannaro (1995). In between
Lucarelli won a prize or two for his historical
Sicilian crime novel L'Isola dell'Angelo
Caduto.
Indeed, it is quickly evident that an even
more sophisticated writer is at work. Lucarelli
has retained his uncommon talent for rendering
the sounds, texture and feel of things. But
this time each of the narrative strands is
more fleshed out, the characters given more
context and more rounded as a result, making
for instance the casual sexism that surrounds
Grazia more subtle, if no less demeaning.
It's a pity that, in the process Lucarelli
has lost some of that punkish edge that gave
Almost Blue its unique flavour. Thomas Harris
meets David Cronenberg, I said at the time.
But this time the creep of Cronenberg is
missing and for Thomas Harris, read Frederick
Forsyth.
No less gripping, of course, and certainly
worth your time. Oonagh Stransky's seamless
translation never misses a beat. And if you
haven't read Almost Blue (now available as
a Vintage paperback), read it later.
( Bob Cornwell )
------------------------------------
Ispettore Grazia Negro returns to track down
another faceless killer in this intelligently
woven plot of sex, violence and suspense
from the author of Almost Blue.
Jacket Notes: A professional killer is at
large in the cities of Italy. Code named
"The Pit Bull" the killer is a
master of disguise and an expert with weapons.
He modifies his guns and his bullets are
untraceable. His skill with prosthetics,
wigs, makeup and padding means that no two
victims witness the same before their death
and, as with the search for the ever-reincarnating
"Iguana" in Almost Blue, once again
this is a hunt for a man with no face. Only
the picture of a pit bull terrier, from which
the killer takes his name, left behind at
each murder can link the crimes. Stuck in
a rut, the Pit Bull's life continues, day
after day. And, day after day, Ispettore
Negro works on her seemingly impossible case.
When an innocent young man, surfing the Internet,
unwittingly places himself in serious danger
from the Pit Bull, Negro uses the man's knowledge
of cyberspace to help her close in on her
terrifying target.
REVIEW QUOTES
“A brilliantly psychotic villain…a roller
coaster plot…this is a compact and powerful
masterpiece, and the first example we have
of the Turin school of Italian noir. More,
please.”
—Guardian
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Carlo Lucarelli was born in 1960 in Modena,
Italy. He has written eleven noir novels
and his work has been translated into many
languages. He hosts a popular late-night
television show in Italy that examines unsettling
and unsolved crimes. He also teaches creative
writing in Turin and edits an online magazine.