Serge Quadruppani

Libro complottistico, confuso e parodistico, con un topo da scrivania che riesce, con l'aiuto di uno pseudo investigatore privato superuomo e paranoico, a ingannare i servizi segreti francesi, la yakuza e non so più che altro per venire a capo della sparizione di un manoscritto che dovrebbe essere un thriller e invece contiene rivelazioni sulle strategie dei poteri forti per impadronirsi del mondo. Quadruppani è estremamente celebrato, ma io lo trovo sopravvalutato, anche se, in certi show more passaggi, abbastanza divertente. show less

On vacation somewhere in the mountainous part of Italy, police Commissario Simona Tavianello and her husband Marco, himself a capo commissario (police chief) encounter the dead body of an engineer for a major—and highly secretive—agricultural research firm. Local activists suspect the victim’s company of contributing to the disappearance of the area’s honeybees, and he’s been shot on the premises of a deserted beekeeper’s shop. While this case ordinarily wouldn’t involve the show more vacationing couple, it soon emerges that the murder weapon was Simona’s own gun.
A smarmy television reporter . . . an eccentric local scientist . . . a shady government spy . . . a ruthless industrialist—the full deck of eccentric personalities is here, against the backdrop of a real-life crisis in agriculture and some interesting speculation on the promise (or is it the threat?) of nanotechnology.
Possibly it’s an artifact of the translation of this mystery, but a time or two I was unclear which of the book’s many characters was under discussion. More puzzling was the author’s habit of having characters openly blurt out a confession, subverting the mystery. Poor Simona (who ordinarily works for the anti-mafia squad) is involved in the case because of her gun, and she’s also in the way, as the local police try to sort things out.
Her husband is retired and she herself is described as white-haired and a little thick around the middle, yet she still has an eye for the handsome beekeeper that arouses her husband’s jealousy, mostly good-natured. They are old antagonists, locked in a lifelong battle that pleases them both. Their relationship is quite fun for the reader, too.
Quadruppani has a distinctive, somewhat breathless writing style, moving his characters rapidly from one scene to another, and a facility with description of the Italian countryside and lifestyle. Fans of previous books in this series may have developed a fondness for Simona and Marco. As a first-time reader, I found the pace a little frantic—too reminiscent of a bee flitting from flower to flower, gaining information pollen grain by grain, but still needing some serious processing to produce honey. show less

Die Bankiersfamilie Boutonnier hat an Heilig Abend zum Festessen eingeladen, da steht um 18 Uhr der Weihnachtsmann vor der Tür. Doch die Freude der Kinder währt nur kurz, denn der Überraschungsgast ist alles andere als ein Überbringer guter Botschaften und schöner Geschenke: Mit Pistole und Sprengstoff bewaffnet, nimmt der Gangster die Familie und ihre Gäste als Geiseln und verlangt unter Gewaltandrohung den Code für die Öffnung des Banksafes. Doch vorher überreicht er jedem show more Anwesenden ein passendes Geschenk, das, wie sich zeigt, die geheimen Laster und üblen Vergehen jedes Einzelnen bloßstellt. Der Unbekannte hat über Monate hinweg jeden der Gäste beobachtet und abgehört und ist fest entschlossen, die vermeintlich bessere Gesellschaft mit brutalen Mitteln zu demaskieren. Allerdings ist der Weihnachtsmann nicht der Einzige, der ein doppeltes Spiel treibt.
Ein gesellschaftskritischer wie hintersinniger Krimi voller bösartiger Überraschungen, der sich als idyllenferner Anti-Weihnachtsroman entpuppt. Einfach nachdenkenswert und klasse!! Ein spannender Sonntagnachmittag ist garantiert! show less

semplicemente bellissimo.......