GIANCARLO DE CATALDO is a novelist, playwright, scriptwriter and a judge. Romanzo Criminale was first published in Italy by Einaudi in 2002 and has been translated into several languages, made into a film and into two TV series, which have been shown across Europe and in the UK on Sky Arts. TV series rights in US have been sold to Starz. Giancarlo de Cataldo was born in Taranto and now lives in Rome.
If you're a fan of gangster movies you're going to blow your wad over this one... the characters' lives are brilliantly revealed without prejudice, leaving you to decide where to draw the moral lines. Effing great! * Weekend Sport * What captivates here is the feeling of witnessing an epic tale, a piece of Italian history viewed from the streets * La Repubblica * Only when the story is over, when the book is closed, only then do you realize what a great story teller De Cataldo is: with the reader unaware, suspecting nothing, he paints little by little, page after page, the huge canvas representing a global failure. A failure concerning not only his characters but our whole society. -- Andrea Camilleri, author of the Montalbano series * la Stampa * A forceful crime narrative...the period details is impeccable, while the stark and gritty presentation of the many characters pays dividends in terms of verisimilitude. This belated English translation by Antony Shugaar is rich and idiomatic -- Barry Foreshaw * Financial Times *