Three old-school criminals band together to free a colleague framed for drug smuggling in Massimo Carlotto's The Colombian Mule.
Carlotto's very tough crime novel, from the World Noir line and set in Venice, depicts a bleak world where criminals follow their own code of honor but the police follow none; and yet Carlotto fills the story with lots of dark humor.
The Colombian Mule is also livened by memorable characters, especially Old Rossini, a former gangster whose formidable presence and rather tarnished ethics make for some of the funnier, and most frightening, parts of the novel; and his philosophical protagonist, a semi-retired crook called The Alligator.
Apparently Massimo Carlotto is very popular in his native Italy, not only for his writing but for how closely his personal life hews to his storytelling. Recommended for fans of hard-boiled crime.
Carlotto's very tough crime novel, from the World Noir line and set in Venice, depicts a bleak world where criminals follow their own code of honor but the police follow none; and yet Carlotto fills the story with lots of dark humor.
The Colombian Mule is also livened by memorable characters, especially Old Rossini, a former gangster whose formidable presence and rather tarnished ethics make for some of the funnier, and most frightening, parts of the novel; and his philosophical protagonist, a semi-retired crook called The Alligator.
Apparently Massimo Carlotto is very popular in his native Italy, not only for his writing but for how closely his personal life hews to his storytelling. Recommended for fans of hard-boiled crime.
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