Roberto Costantini's debut novel, The Deliverance of Evil (Quercus; February 2014 hardcover, audio and ebook formats), the first in a series, was published this week. This intricately plotted mystery, which begins with the murder of a beautiful young woman during Italy's victory of 1982 World Cup, is a fast-paced thriller that's as complex and compelling as the country where it's set. The case goes unsolved, shaping the identity of the book's central character, Commissario Michele Balistreri, a womanizing young cop with lingering fascist sympathies who grows to become an older, sadder, and wiser man who's determined to take up the cold case to make amends for his past.
Roberto's publisher, Quercus, provided us with an interview with the author, which provides his insight into Italy's unique sociopolitical climate and crime.
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Photo provided courtesy of
Roberto Costantini
• Which thriller writers do you most admire? Who and what were some of the other influences for writing this book?
Real life is the book's primary influence. Other than that, Chandler's The Long Goodbye and Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America have influenced my ideas as they relate to The Deliverance of Evil.
• How did your personal and professional background, prior to becoming an author, inform the sociopolitical issues you weave into the plot of The Deliverance of Evil?
Italy is not only beautiful, it is also a very interesting subject for sociopolitical analysis. No other country physically "hosts" a superpower like Italy does with the Vatican. No other country has had a media tycoon become its most influential politician for two decades, let alone one who has polarized public opinion the way Berlusconi has with his attitudes and policies towards tax evasion, young women, judges, prosecutors, state power, and other important things. Millions of Italians would never admit openly to admiring Berlusconi, but indeed did and voted for him in secret. This aspect of Italy and Italians — private face versus public face — is at the center of The Deliverance of Evil, especially in the character of Michele Balistreri. He does a lot of things people openly despise, and yet many women want him and many men want to be like him.
• On the surface Balistreri appears to be a complete misogynist. Why did you write such a character and how have women readers responded to him?
I chose this character because misogyny is more of a problem today than in the past. In many countries where women were subjugated to a lesser role, men have a hard time accepting the new place of women in society and therefore in their relationship. Some simply do not grant women the right to be independent and punish them violently, including death. Balistreri has many sexual relationships in this book and they are all somehow violent, women are just bodies to be dominated. But what was light and a bit unreal in the Fifty Shades is terribly real in here. I get hundreds of emails and posts on Facebook about women's reaction to this character. The incredible thing is that while many women hate the way he thinks, they are attracted to his dark side and certain that they can change Balistreri's mindset.
• What are the reasons for the recent surge of racism in Italy that figures so prominently in The Deliverance of Evil?
The reason is twofold: The economic crisis of 2008 and a surge of immigration from Eastern Europe, and more recently from Africa. Immigration is much easier for a country when its economy is growing. In The Deliverance of Evil it is clear how politicians can exploit widespread opposition to immigration during a time of economic weakness.
• It seems as though you are challenging your readers to make up their own minds about some of the social issues you present in the novel. Is this intentional?
Yes. I like to challenge readers to do more than just "guess the killer." I want people who read this book to ask themselves questions like "Does a Catholic clergyman have the right to withhold key information because of the secrecy of the Sacrament?" While I don't think it's mandatory, I think thriller novels can definitely engage readers on a higher level of thought about certain issues, and I hope I've done that here.
• There is a new Pope now than there was when you began writing The Deliverance of Evil. Do you think the way the Vatican behaves in situations like the one you describe in the novel will change as a result of Pope Francis?
I think it already began to change under Pope Benedict, as shown in his positions during controversies like the one involving the Vatican Bank. But he may not have fought as hard as he wished due to his physical constitution and energy levels. Pope Francis has the same will as his predecessor and a stronger physical constitution. So I think if he can fight for a correct interpretation of the role of religion in society, there will be great benefits to the Catholic Church and the world at large.
• Can you describe the extent of femminicido — the killing of women by men whom they have cut out of their lives — in Italy today?
It has its origins in the way children are raised, at home and in school. It is one of the negative consequences of strong Catholicism, where women are clearly subordinate to men. If a boy is taught this strongly enough, he will find it impossible to accept a situation where a woman wants to end a relationship, and perhaps react violently. Readers will notice this attitude not just in the murders, but also in Balistreri himself — his playboy attitude in his youth, and his relationship with Linda in his middle age.
• Do you have plans for future novels featuring Balistreri or any other characters in The Deliverance of Evil?
Balistreri will continue through the trilogy, of which The Deliverance of Evil is the first book. The second book is partially a prequel going back to the late sixties when Balistreri grew up in Libya with his American girlfriend and Arab friends. It is a story of great passions, love, friendship, but then, when Gaddafi comes to power though a conspiracy, it becomes a story of terrible violence and hate. Twelve years later, in Italy, Balistreri finally confronts both the killer and hidden forces that brought Gaddafi to power in 1969.
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Roberto Costantini was born in Tripoli in 1952. Formerly an engineer and business consultant, he is now a manager of the LUISS Guido Carli University in Rome, where he also teaches on the MBA program. For more information about the author and his work, please visit his website at RobertoCostantini.com.
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The Deliverance of Evil
Roberto Costantini
A Commissario Balistreri Mystery
With excitement over Berlusconi rise to power and Italy in a state of gleeful and frenzied anticipation over the national soccer team's improbable run to the 1982 World Cup, Italians are filled with hopeful feelings. The night before the big match, Elisa Sordi — an attractive eighteen year-old employed by the Vatican — vanishes. The case falls to a young, hedonistic post-Fascist officer named Michele Balistreri. Headstrong and ambivalent about spending his life as a policeman, Balistreri is annoyed to be interrupted during the festivities and takes the case lightly. But when Elisa's tortured corpse surfaces in the Tiber, Balistreri doubts he will ever be able to forgive himself for his inattention. After the man he arrested for the murder is exonerated, and tantalizing links to the Vatican and top right-wing politicians ignored, the case is never solved. Despondent, Michele spirals into drinking and depression.
Twenty-four years later Italy is victorious once again in the World Cup, but the nation has changed. The balloon of optimism from the Eighties has deflated, and the now-gloomy nation suffers under the arrogant and corrupt Berlusconi government. A weak economy and chaotic immigration policies that have inflamed racist sentiments provide a stark contrast to the last time Italy tasted sweet soccer victory. Disturbingly, more lax divorce laws have spawned a trend of "revenge" violence against women who try to assert their independence.
Suddenly Sordi's mother apparently commits suicide, and then a slew of female corpses begin to turn up all with a letter of the alphabet carved into their bodies. The apparent hate behind the murders causes Balistreri to realize that the case that has haunted for twenty-four years may be heating up again, and with a newfound sense of purpose he charges into his work: the opportunity to redeem the darkest part of his past.
The murders continue, and what initially seemed to be the work of a lone psychopath reveals itself to be part of something much bigger and more dangerous. Finally Balistreri realizes that the letters marking each victim are spelling out a chilling message.
