April 15, 2021
This is the sixth legal thriller (following A Fine Line, 2016) by former organized-crime prosecutor Carofiglio to feature Guido Guerrieri, an attorney practicing in Bari, a charming city in the south of Italy with a long and difficult history--the perfect setting for the contemplative Guerrieri, whose Proustian monologues center on painful episodes in his past. This time he is visited by a lover from over 25 years ago, now struggling with a life turned difficult. She asks him to file an appeal on behalf of her delinquent son, convicted of murdering a local drug dealer. Although unconvinced of the son's innocence and beset by conflicting memories of his former lover, Guerrieri accepts the case, telling the reader that "digressions are my passion." But what he considers mere digressions provide breathtaking insights into human nature, both philosophical and psychological, all the more fascinating given that this introspective man's best friend is Mr. Punchbag, who hangs from the ceiling in his living room. Carofiglio's exacting prose makes absorbing reading, and the legal machinations will please old-school fans of Erle Stanley Gardner.
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