Involuntary Witness

Rating: 4.9* of five

The Book Report: Avvocato Guido Guerrieri, lawyer of Bari on Italy's southeastern coast, is fast approaching forty, newly separated from his wife of ten lost, bored years, and in the grips of the worst constellation of anxiety symptoms since Mr. Monk on the TV.He's moved into an apartment that he couldn't describe if you held a gun to his head, and he's absolutely unable to muster even a fake interest in his clients' problems. He sits, smiles, nods, files paperwork by rote, and in short lives on autopilot.

And then in walks a woman with a case. No money, but a case.

Non-European citizen Abajaje, Egyptian by birth, wants Guido to defend her...her...co-continental? boyfriend? fellow sufferer from race bias?...Abdou, a show more Senegalese immigrant and fake handbag selling beach vendor, against charges that he, a multilingual schoolteacher in Africa, with a love for children, did willfully restrain and cause harm to a child. The police are sure he did it; the few witnesses are sure it was him they saw acting strangely and cruising around the beach at the relevant time; what's the big deal here, anyway, he's just a black dude who talked to the kid, must be him who killed little Ciccio.

Except he was in Naples at the time. Guerrieri, in spite of himself, is intrigued by what the case doesn't have, proof, and what it does have, the defendant's improbable, unprovable, but true, alibi. Is truth capable of beating out prejudice in an Italian justice system not known for its love of Veracity, but more for her sister Verisimilitude?

Hmmm.

My Review: For 137pp, Carofiglio sets the stage with Guerrieri's craziness, his lackadaisical work habits, his depressed past and anxious present. It's all very nicely written, eg:

"You are intelligent, Avvocato. I have always thought of myself as more intelligent than other people. This is not a lucky thing, but it is hard to understand that.If you think yourself more intelligent than others, you fail to understand a lot of things, until they are suddenly brought home to you. And then it's too late." (p112, paper edition)

Thus Abdou the Non-European citizen to his lawyer in the prison's meeting room. I was regularly able to pause and appreciate the euphony and the accuracy of Carofiglio's writing. It shines through the book that he was a judge, in fact one of the judges who very bravely brought in guilty verdicts against Mafia defendants in the 90s trials that revolutiionized Italy's southern social structure.

So it's no surprise to anyone that, in the last ~130pp, Carofiglio delivers the best, most complete, court trial I've read between book covers. It's a gem. It's pitch-perfect, and it's so nicely built that I hate to reveal it in detail. It's different than the standard American courtroom drama, because it's about the words, not the deeds, of the players. It's like listening to a fine old radio drama after watching an episode of "Starsky and Hutch" on AntennaTV.

It's a pleasure. I'm delighted to have found Sig. Carofiglio and Avv. Guerrieri at last. show less

Amo l’avvocato Guerrieri e amo tantissimo la scrittura di Carofiglio. Mi piace moltissimo questa serie e ogni volta che prendo in mano uno di questi libri non riesco a non rileggerli tutti.
Mi piace moltissimo Guido Guerrieri, per la sua forza e le sue debolezze, per l’intelligenza e quella vena ironica e umoristica che lo rendono tanto umano e reale.
Le storie in fondo non sono la parte principale ma solo un pretesto per raccontare la quotidianità di un uomo, un avvocato che interpreta al meglio il suo ruolo senza peraltro scendere mai a compromessi con sé stesso.
In questo libro la storia che fa da filo conduttore è quella di Abdou Thiam, un ambulante senegalese, accusato di aver ucciso un bambino di 9 anni. Scritto benissimo show more con uno stile asciutto e preciso che accompagna al meglio la lettura.
Per me indimenticabile e imperdibile. show less

INVOLUNTARY WITNESS opens with Bari-based lawyer Guido Guerrieri going through a rough period in his life. His wife has asked for a divorce and his reaction to that – or to life in general – has manifest itself physically by way of insomnia and sometimes embarrassing bouts of crying or panic. He does see a doctor about it all but ignores the advice (and medication) given and instead takes up boxing, something he used to do in his youth. Interspersed with Guerrieri’s personal travails are some minor legal matters that have nothing to do with the overall plot. Such as it is. Eventually we learn about the events described in the book’s blurb. Namely a young boy has been found dead on a Bari beach and a Senegalese man, Abdou Thiam, show more has been charged with his murder. When Guerrieri is introduced to the case there has already been an initial hearing with a court-appointed lawyer and no one, aside from the man’s few friends, believe anything more needs to be done other than lock him up and throwing away the key.

Although I’m not going to say much more about the plot details I should point out that it probably isn’t what you’re imagining right now. This is not an Italian version of a Grisham or Turow legal thriller. Guerrieri does not race about Bari looking for clues or alternative suspects. He makes a couple of moves that can, if you apply the same generously broad definition as earlier, be described as investigative but he’s no Perry Mason. At first this is a bit difficult to get used to – a matter of expectations I suppose – but Carofiglio does know how to tell a good story and I was utterly hooked. The final third is perhaps more traditionally procedural in that it takes us inside the courtroom but these scenes too are…unexpected…in tone and plotting. Guerrieri’s passionate defence of Abdou Thiam offers some nuanced insights into the Italian legal system, no doubt benefiting from its author’s experience as a legal practitioner himself, and an incisive commentary on human nature.

The characterisation of Guerrieri is, ultimately, well-rounded though at first it seemed as if it would not be. I would have liked to learn a little more about some of the other people, especially Abdou Thiam, though his depiction is deftly handled even if we do not spend enough time with him for my liking.

My only real gripe with the novel is probably an issue with the translation rather than the original text though I guess I’ll never know. The ‘N’ word is used repeatedly to refer to the many African immigrants in Bari and Abdou Thiam in particular and I found this very jarring (particularly as I was listening to the audio version not reading the printed word). I don’t know if there is an Italian word of similar meaning but with (hopefully) less stigma attached or not, but either way I find it difficult to believe an alternative word, even a derogatory one in keeping with the context, was impossible to find. I cannot imagine this particular translation choice being acceptable to the American market at all and am surprised it was seen as such for the UK one.

That issue aside I thoroughly enjoyed INVOLUNTARY WITNESS, not least because it repeatedly confounded my expectations for a ‘legal procedural’ and ultimately offered a fascinating social and legal commentary. Its resolution would not sit well with those who dislike loose ends but I thought it fit the rest of the story admirably. Sean Barrett is one of my favourite audio narrators and, again, does a great job with this story. show less

"Whole worlds pass by us and we don't notice." Guido Guerrieri is an Italian advocate just coming out of a rough patch of depression. His wife has left him and he's just been struggling along until he's assigned the case of an African immigrant accused of killing a young boy. Abdou Thiam, the client, absolutely refuses to settle in spite of overwhelming circumstantial evidence against him. So the case goes to trial. The trial has a surface appearance of fairness, but at its core there is a subtext of racism that reminds us of sham trials of blacks in the U.S. After all, all those "niggers" look the same, as one of the witnesses insists. The trial revolves around the concept of involuntary falsehood., i.e. can a witness not lie, yet tell show more an untruth. It's a concept that involves memory, false memory, manipulation of memory, and what how much of what we see is merely a confirmation of what we have already decided the truth to be. As the Chinese say, two-thirds of what we see is behind our eyes.
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Those who dislike legal dramas heavy on courtroom settings will be disappointed. I love those kinds of scenes so this book really held my interest.

Very interesting legal drama that reveals some of the similarities and differences between the American and Italian legal system. Clearly the pressure to settle and plead out a case is tremendous. The cost of a trial, the "discount" in the sentence available to those who plead, the time required; all conspire to encourage everyone, even the innocent, to "cop" a plea.

I will certainly read/listen to more in the series. Very ably read as always by Sean Barrett. show less

Involuntary Witness (or Testimone inconsapevole): Italian mysteries tend only to have a hint of noir. At the beginning of this story, the protagonist, a defense attorney, has lost his wife and suffers from panic attacks. While edging along the noir seam, our hero takes a deep breath when he's faced with a crisis and solves it by retreating to his kitchen and makes himself a fine bowl of pasta. And not surprisingly this happens to all of the main heroes of Donna Leon, Michael Dibdin and Andrea Camilleri mysteries. Involuntary Witness is somewhat predictable, but enjoyable.

When we meet Guido Guerrieri, the defense lawyer in Bari, Italy, his life is in a downward spiral. His wife has asked him to leave, and his mental and physical health declines. He has insomnia, he begins to suffer panic attacks in elevators, and he's depressed. His work no longer interests him, until he's asked to take the case of a destitute Senegalese immigrant who is accused of kidnapping and murdering a child. To his own surprise, Guerrieri believes his client is innocent, but the odds of proving it in court are slim. Although there is no direct evidence pointing to his client's guilt, all of the circumstantial evidence points in that direction.

This book combines two of my least favorite attributes of crime sub-genres – a legal show more setting and a down-on-his-luck protagonist whose “bad luck” could be attributed to personal vices. On top of that, the book isn't particularly well-written. Apparently this book was a best-seller in its original Italian, so perhaps it's a poor translation. Then again, the author is described as “an anti-Mafia prosecutor,” so maybe it became a bestseller in Italy because of the author's celebrity rather than the quality of his writing. show less

A Senegalese peddlar working on the beaches of Bari in southern Italy has been accused of the murder of a young boy, whose body was found down a well 12 kilometers away. Guido Guerrieri, Counsel for the Defence, originally advises the accused to opt for a "short trial", a method in which the accused basically pleads guilty and gets a reduced sentence because of that. But the accused says he is not guilty and although he thinks the case is hopeless Guido also believes him. This novel is an Italian prize winner, translated into English. It is Carofiglio's debut novel, won a number of literary awards, and also already become the basis for an Italian TV series. Very different view of Italian justice system to Donna Leon. But then Bari is show more not Venice. show less