In choosing this as her standout book of 2013, Marina Sofia found this, “Darker than dark, with fiercely black humour and a callous attitude towards its high body count.”

The central character, Giorgio Pellegrini, is the quintessential bad boy we love to hate, yet cannot help rooting for. He is a marginally reformed criminal quietly running his own restaurant and high-end prostitution ring, while avoiding trouble with the police. When he discovers that his lawyer is hand-in-glove with the mob and cheating him out of his investments, he is spurred to leave his comfort zone and take decisive action. If you think that a novel about the corruption of Italian society and the mafia cannot possibly bring anything new, you are going to be surprised by the verve and sheer exuberance of this Tarantino-like plot. Read the review here.