The Lost Girls of Rome

September 23, 2013
Carrisi (The Whisperer) takes an unsparing look at the nature of evil and guilt in this fascinating, if meandering, thriller. Sandra Vega, a forensic photographer with the Milan police, refuses to believe the official ruling that her photojournalist husband David Leoni’s death five months earlier was accidental. And what was David doing at a high-rise construction site in Rome during the middle of the night before he took his fatal plunge? Sandra’s investigation leads her to the penitenzieri, a secret Catholic sect whose members categorize every major crime and often mete out their own punishments. Sandra joins forces with the enigmatic Marcus, who’s trying to find a young woman he believes to be the fifth victim abducted by a serial killer. The shifts between past and present make the complex plot, which moves at a halting pace, hard to follow. The story is strongest when Sandra and Marcus pursue separate trails leading toward the surprising climax. Agent: Markus Hoffmann, Regal Literary Agency.

Starred review from October 1, 2013
With references to the Monster of Florence, a medieval serial murderer, and a secret Vatican sect, Carrisi's (The Whisperer, 2012) second literary thriller draws readers into a labyrinth of evil. In his derelict Rome villa, Jeremiah Smith lies comatose, "Kill Me" carved in his chest. The emergency responder physician begins working and then sees evidence that Smith is her twin sister's killer. With that, Carrisi's noir narrative descends into surrealism, soon drawing in Sandra Vega, police forensic analyst. Sandra's husband, David, a freelance photojournalist with a penchant for danger, died five months earlier in a fall from a Rome building. Or was David pushed? Perhaps the penitenzieri know? The secret sect, remnants of the 12th-century Paenitentiaria Apostolica--The Tribunal of Souls--keeps "the largest and most up-to-date archive of evil in the world. Evils abound beyond Smith's murders, and a penitenzieri may be entangled. Sandra stumbles upon Marcus, an amnesiac penitenzieri, and they confront other killings, past and current. Astor Boyash arranges a boy's assassination to procure a heart for his grandson. Raffeale Altieri kills his father to avenge his mother. Paraplegic Frederico Noni kills his sister because she discovers his deadly perversion; and blind, retired detective Pietro Zinni kills Frederico because Pietro felt pity for Frederico originally. Carrisi writes beautifully--"Obedient little flames that bow their heads in unison at each draught"--and intimately appreciates Rome, its chapels, its narrow alleyways, its fountains and gardens. Confronting human depravity in a story shifting from the current day to the recent past, Carrisi's second interwoven narrative thread follows a nameless hunter pursuing a transformist, a chameleonlike serial killer able to assume a victim's personality. The appearance of mysterious Thomas Schalber, Interpol undercover agent, adds complexity, but it's Marcus and the other penitenzieri, "guards appointed to defend the border" at the "place where the world of light meets the world of darkness," who inhabit the bloody ground where good and evil clash. A powerful psychological drama.

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November 1, 2013

Multiple story lines weave a complicated web in this psychological thriller from Italian author Carrisi (The Whisperer). Forensic analyst Sandra Vega has been a widow for just five short months when she receives a phone call insinuating that her photographer husband's death may not have been the unfortunate accident she believes it to be. Driven by photographic clues and a cryptic message he left behind, Sandra heads to Rome in search of his killer and becomes entangled with an Interpol agent who seems to cause as many problems as he solves. Meanwhile, a woman has vanished without a trace, and Marcus, an amnesiac, is on the hunt to find her for reasons he's learning as he goes. While Marcus struggles to understand his role in solving violent crimes and remember who he used to be, his path crosses Sandra's. The two realize that while their ultimate goals are different, they are closely linked. VERDICT With a lot of separate subplots, intricate details, and twists, this novel has plenty for readers to follow, but those who can keep up will be rewarded with a satisfying conclusion. [For more Italian crime thrillers, see David Keymer's "Crime, Italian-Style" roundup, LJ 10/15/13.]--Madeline Solien, Deerfield P.L., IL

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