El 11 de julio de 1982, el joven comisario Michele Balistreri está, como Italia entera, pendiente del televisor. La Squadra Azzurra juega la final del mundial de fútbol contra Alemania. Por eso, cuando recibe el aviso de que Elisa Sordi, a quien él conocía de vista, ha desaparecido, se lo toma a la ligera. Un error fatal que no se perdonará jamás.
Veinticuatro años después, en 2006, Balistreri es jefe de la Unidad Especial de Extranjería en Roma. Un puesto delicado en un país donde una clase política cínica y la prensa sensacionalista azuzan la xenofobia y el asesinato de una inmigrante no tiene el mismo valor que el de una chica italiana. Un país donde las decisiones se toman a puerta cerrada, cierta gente y ciertos poderes son intocables y la justicia depende de unas pocas personas íntegra. Como Balistreri, cuya última investigación le lleva nuevamente al único caso no resuelto de su carrera.
Durante veinticuatro años, la verdad quedó sepultada bajo un cúmulo de mentiras. Es el momento de afrontar un Mal, tan tenaz como elusivo, y de múltiples rostros.

Dit eerste deel van wat een spannende thriller trilogie is geworden, weeft voortdurend bijkomende draden tussen de Italiaanse wereldtitel voetbal 1982 en 2006, tijdstippen waarop enkele moorden gebeuren die op een steeds meer betekenisvolle manier met elkaar in verband komen te staan. Onderzoeker van dienst is de lichtjes getormenteerde adjunct vicehoofdcommissaris Michele Balistreri, een man met een in 1982 nog voelbaar aanwezig neofascistisch verleden die echter tegen 2006 meer is beginnen lijken op wat hij vroeger verfoeide. Costantini houdt er een behoorlijke vaart op na met vele nevenpersonages en plotwendingen. Nu en dan maakt hij al verwijzingen naar de jeugd van Balistreri die opgroeide in het Libië van vlak voor de machtsovername van Kadhaffi. Dat verleden wordt in het tweede boek "De wortels van het kwaad" verder uitgespit. Je krijgt dus een hele kluif voorgeschoteld met soms wat minder geloofwaardige complottering op de achtergrond van de verschillende moordonderzoeken. Maar een zomerthriller mag voor mij als ontspannend leesvermaak wel wat meer zijn dan louter een whodunnit rechttoe rechtaan geschreven. En daarin toont Costantini zich erg goed. ( )

lenta partenza... ma da metà in poi ti tiene incollato fino all'ultima riga.
Consigiato! ( )

Tolles Buch, atmosphärisch dicht. Hin und wieder sind die Verstrickungen etwas verwirrend, aber insgesamt sehr lesenswert. Bietet einen guten Blick in das Leben Italiens zwischen 1982 und 2006. ( )

The Deliverance of Evil is part one of a trilogy by Roberto Costantini. The detailed and lengthy (564 pages) thriller is the story of a young police captain, Michele Balistreri, begining in Rome in 1982. The very good translation from Italian by N. S. Thompson captures the daily life of the citizens of Rome including solid citizens, gypsies, prostitutes, criminals, politicians, police officers, wealthy royalty, lay guests and religious of the Vatican, and Catholic church officials. Balistreri has a troublesome, secretive, and violent political past but has been saved from prosecution by his brother, a man with strong membership in the influential Christian Democrats political party.

Balistreri misses his past life of danger and makes up for it in debauchery. He certainly does not take his police captain duties or his use of women seriously. He spends most of his time rousting people with his badge in hand, drinking from dawn until dusk, and seeking new women to conquer sexually. As a result of his lack of attention, Balistreri makes a serious mistake in an investigation of a murder during the World Cup soccer match between Italy and West Germany. The drunken misogynist gets into trouble but manages to keep his police job because of his brother’s political connections.

The novel jumps several decades in time, and the reader follows the subdued-by-age Balistreri as he drags through his life focused on recovering from damage he did to himself physically and emotionally as a young man. Due to his early failure as a stand-up man, he thinks of himself as a degenerate no better than the criminals he chased. In the 2000s he has straightened up enough to be chosen as the head of a police unit dealing with crimes by foreigners. This is a good position for Balistreri outside of the mainstream of city police work in Rome. Balistreri’s aggressive style of dealing with women and criminals has changed, and now he carefully watches his diet and religiously takes his antidepressant medication.

The past in the form of the 1982 unsolved murder haunts Balistreri in his mind and in reality during the 2006 World Cup, déjà vu all over again. He has to decide whether to live as a man or continue his holding pattern of careful work framed by personal regret and misery. He has become a toady to Rome’s dominant political and social players, careful to keep his police staff from making any controversial waves. Is it the right time for redemption and does he have the right stuff to achieve it?

The novel includes many interesting references to political history and current interactions between the Vatican and the social/political ruling class in Italy. The descriptions of the problems related to the growing legal and illegal immigrant population in Italy are interesting in light of our own US problems with immigration.

The novel is a good tour de force narrative rich in the detailed descriptions of Italian life. This causes some reduction in the pace and tension of the story but the reader gets a good idea of the high energy life in Rome. I look forward to reading the next novel in the proposed trilogy, The Root of All Evil, due to be published in April. ( )