Giancarlo De Cataldo explores the abyss of the present, the collective nightmare haunted by men who hate women, by sadistic torturers and merchants of human flesh, by powerful Leopards and new masters. When hatred becomes the best business, only the first ray of a ruthless dawn can illuminate the darkness that surrounds us.
They say times have changed. But Italy always stays the same, showing off its ferocious grin. Commissioner Alba Doria knows it well. Suspended between light and darkness, Alba suffers from a deadly personality disorder. They call it the Dark Triad, a mixture of narcissism, sociopathy and manipulative ability, capable of inspiring the worst criminals or supporting those who fight them. So when the ghost of a murderer, who everyone believed dead, returns to strike, Doria will have to deal with secrets from the past. And she’s not the only one: the Blonde Man and Dr. Sax will be by her side once again, ex-boyfriend and best friend of those distant days: impetuous and tormented policeman, the first; Secret Services official and jazz virtuoso, the latter. It will be up to Alba to tie up loose ends while Rome is transformed into a dangerous metropolis, populated by outcasts who live in the slums, where the law of the strongest is the only law.
Giancarlo De Cataldo
Giancarlo De Cataldo was born in Taranto. He lives and works in Rome where he’s a judge of the First Appeal Assizes Court. He has been judge in many important and well-known cases, dealing with Mafia, murder, terrorism. His most famous novel is Romanzo Criminale (2002), that became a movie directed by Michele Placido and an equally successful TV series, directed by Stefano Sollima (also director of TV series Gomorra, based on Roberto Saviano’s novel). The series was broadcast by Channel 4 in UK. The English translation of the novel was published in 2015 by Corvus Publishing. Three of his short stories are translated in the anthologies Italian crime (Bitter Lemon Press), Cocaine and Judges (MacLehose Press). His novel The father and the foreigner is published by Europa Editions. He also wrote short stories, graphic novels, and scripts for cinema and TV networks.
His novel Suburra, co-written with the journalist Carlo Bonini, has been adapted for cinema by director Stefano Sollima and it is available worldwide on Netflix. He is story-editor of the Netflix TV series based on Suburra (currently at its second season, and renewed for a third). Suburra is published in English by Europa Editions. His most recent novels are L’agente del caos (2018), Alba nera (2019), Quasi per caso (2019, Premio Ippolito Nievo 2021), Io sono il castigo (2020), Tre passi per un delitto (2020, with Cristina Cassar Scalia e Maurizio De Giovanni), Un cuore sleale (2020), Il suo freddo pianto (2021), La svedese (2022).
Foreign rights sold in
France: Editions Métailié
Germany: Folio Verlag
- Italy
Rizzoli (Bur)
Alba nera (paperback)
- Italy
Rizzoli
Alba nera
- Germany
Folio Verlag
Alba nera