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Published Jul 2010
288 pages
Genre: Thrillers
Publication Information
An international bestseller and winner of Italy’s prestigious Premio Bancarella prize - an intense psychological thriller in the vein of The Talented Mr. Ripley. As world-weary Lieutenant Chiti spends sleepless nights hunting for the serial rapist terrorizing his city, trainee lawyer Giorgio is befriended by dangerously charismatic Francesco. Slowly the innocent Giorgio is lured into a corrupt world of beautiful women and casual violence. Then one terrifying night Giorgio is forced to realize just how far he has left his past behind.
"The intertwining plot lines build to a haunting ending." - Publishers Weekly
"[Carofiglio] heightens the tension by jumping back and forth in time, revealing a little but not enough to allow us to relax. As Francesco plays Giorgio, so Carofiglio plays the reader." - Booklist
"Former Mafia prosecutor Carofiglio... packs enough psychological suspense into this tightly woven tale to satisfy readers who crave another Barbara Vine or yearn for Georges Simenon's non-Maigret novels." - Library Journal
"Given his career, no reader will come to Carofiglio expecting a tortured moral relativism. Right and wrong never blur, but he does show with sympathy how isolation and insecurity can lead a biddable youngster down into the dark. ... If his prosecutions begin to match his prose, then the capi of Italian crime have had plenty to worry about of late." - The Independent (UK)
This information about The Past Is a Foreign Country was first featured
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo © Giorgia Carofiglio
Gianrico Carofiglio's books have sold more than five million copies in Italy and have been translated into twenty-seven languages. He is an incredibly charismatic author, having worked for many years as a prosecutor and judge specializing in organized crime and, later, as an Italian senator. He speaks fluent English and his last book was turned into a popular Italian television series.
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