Gianrico Carofiglio, The Past Is A Foreign Country

The Past Is A Foreign Country

Gianrico Carofiglio

Minotaur, Aug 3 2010, $24.99

ISBN: 9780312383961

In the Apulia boot region of Italy, a serial rapist rocks the city of Bari. No woman feels safe as the police led by Lieutenant Chiti struggle to apprehend the culprit. Making no progress disturbs Chiti who cannot eat or sleep properly.

Hard studying diligent law student Giorgio Cipriani meets gust for life philosophy student Francesco Carducci. They become friends; albeit a seemingly odd couple. However, rather quickly Giorgio ignores his studies joining his new buddy in cheating other players out of large sums of money playing poker. They also share drugs and alcohol, and have one night stands that are often violent with a myriad of women. The duo leaves Bari for Spain; while Chiti continues to lose sleep over the serial rapes.

This is a tense psychological suspense that focuses on three people. Chiti feels like a failure unable to prevent the serial rapist from finding victims; Giorgio wonders how he fell so far from grace as he gave up and betrayed all his friends for the hedonistic zest for life that charismatic Francesco displays. However, Francesco is the fascinating one as a sort of Peter Pan with a destructive vent. The Past Is A Foreign Country is a taut tale that grips the audience from the moment the two students meet and go on their frenzy.

Harriet Klausner