Rocco schiavone, the (exiled) deputy chief of the Aosta police, is the most outstanding creation of the writer Antonio Manzini. His series, a hexalogy for now, it has become one of the most popular of the last few years. I just finished off it with another good taste in my mouth because it maintains the level and has already acquired a touch of indispensable within the European black genre. This is my review.
Antonio Manzini
On the 7th, I was 56 years this Roman writer, actor and screenwriter that an important niche has been made in the European black scene in the last five years. It was in 2015 when the first title of the series starring the very particular Rocco Schiavone was published here. And at the beginning of this 2020 the last one arrived. At that time Manzini was already considered the most worthy heir of one of the biggest like Andrea Camilleri.
Rocco schiavone
I discovered Rocco Schiavone by chance in a bookstore taking a look at Black track. It just caught my eye and after reading the back cover I took it away. When I finished it I realized that I had really enjoyed everything: plot, setting, style So Italian (although it seems like a no-brainer) from Manzini, but I especially liked it from Rocco.
That Roman policeman has what usually catches me about the protagonists not only of crime novels, but in general: irreverence, little orthodoxy and no political correctness, character more than difficult and a deep humanity and romanticism. A policeman whose worst and darkest ways have led him into exile in the Aosta Valley. There he appears in his Roman costumes, his Clarks perennials, their leek daily morning and all intentions to do nothing at all. Of course, he does not forget those ways and is teaching and spreading them little by little to his team, a gallery of secondary ones as well defined as he is.
The team
From his most immediate subordinate, Italo Pierron, a young and inexperienced agent, going through his chief baldi, which always takes the chestnuts out of the fire, following the absolutely useless and more caricatured Deruta and D'Intino, and the very efficient inspector Catherine Rispoli, which is gradually making a hole in Rocco's heart.
Edge, irascible, angry with the world and especially with himself, Schiavone also drags a infinite grief for the loss of Marina, his wife, for whom he feels responsible. With her keep talking in first person dialogues that occur throughout the series and make us unable to help but empathize with his pain.
The friends
All the novels in this series are about different cases, but as usual too, in each one we get to know more about the characters and circumstances. So, despite following their research with interest, what matters most to us in the end is that development. Also background in all of them, except in the 5th which deals precisely with this, it is the reason last of that exile from Schiavone: his (more than) alleged corruption when I was working in Rome. That and the singular relationship with his lifelong friends, Brizio, Sebastiano and Furio, a trio that is the best of each house.
The four of them, with Rocco as a counterpoint because he is a policeman, are getting involved - or they are getting into it. always in trouble, but also always they would do everything for everyone, for that unbreakable friendship. It is in the last novel, Dust and shadow, when that friendship will be truly threatened and the betrayals will be the most unexpected. Or maybe not.
Rocco Schiavone series
As I usually recommend in all series that are started, it is convenient to read them in order to see the evolution of the characters. Also to verify how logically Manzini's style evolves, which in the latter has just rounded them.
- Black track
- Adam's rib
- A spring of dogs
- Sun of may
- 7-7-2007
- Dust and shadow