Why a Booktrail?
1960s 1982 – Commissario Balistreri escapes his regrets through sex, alcohol and gambling. The regrets of his past are huge but the danger of his present ever more serious.
The Root of All Evil (Commissario Balistreri 2)
What you need to know before your trail
Tripoli, 1960s. The place and time that has left many with regret and horrific memories. No more so than Michele Balistreri who since then has lived under the shadow of his father’s roe in Gaddaffi’s rise to power. The blood pact that would shape and corrupt his future started back then and the horror of that time remains in the deepest recesses of his mind.
Rome, 1982. Commissario Balistreri escapes his regrets of a failed investigation and one hell of a blunder through sex, alcohol and gambling. Given the supposedly straight forward case of a South American student’s murder, he is also tasked with protecting a rising TV star
Two cases which turn out to be linked in ways Balistreri could never have imagined.
Travel Guide
A story and setting in two parts.
Tripoli
This is the story of Balistreri’s growing up in the pre Gaddafi days in Libya. The author mentions at the start of the book that locations and events in Tripoli have been modelled to serve the needs of the story although the history on which it is based is largely true. It is a work of fiction but the word of war, Gaddafi’s political circle and the Italian community in Libya is a harsh and fascinating place to be – and Baistreri’s grandfather has a dark history, having helped to build agricultural villages and being awarded land from the National Fascist organization for social security. His father says the smell of olives reminds him of poverty and is always trying to avoid both. Libya is a time bomb waiting to happen –
That we Italians don’t own Libya. One day we invaded it, and , one day. We’ll have to leave’
Rome
Italy of 1982 is a country celebrating the win in the World Cup. A sparkling event and background to contrast to the scandal happening in Rome. The corruption and underhand dealings of Italian Politics, the Vatican bank scandal and the secret underground clubs which exist in the city.
Against this background, Balistreri becomes involved with the murder of Anita Messi, a recently student from Argentina. Her middle finger has been removed by her killer. Then a letter arrives from Libya showing a similar case…and Balistreri starts to confront and unravel the links and threads of the past right back to the roots of evil.
Two cases, two cities, two histories, inextricably linked.
Where Next?
