“Raises the standard for crime fiction. Carofiglio’s deft touch has given us a story that is both literary and gritty – and one that speeds along like the best legal thrillers. His insights into human nature – good and bad – are breathtaking.”

“A stunner. Guerrieri is a wonderfully convincing character; morose, but seeing the absurdity of his gloomy life, his vulnerability and cynicism laced with self-deprecating humour. It is the veracity of the setting and the humanity of the lawyer that makes the novel a courtroom drama of such rare quality.”

“A powerful redemptive novel beautifully translated.”

“Carofiglio writes crisp, ironical novels that are as much love stories and philosophical treatises as they are legal thrillers.”

“Compelling novel written by a prosecutor, the scourge of local criminals who likes to write books that make his readers cry. An author that has the audacity to reveal both a flawed legal system and debunk the myth of the macho Italian man.”

“The author occupies a niche similar to that which is filled in America by Erle Stanley Gardner and John Grisham. The genre is flourishing and if Carofiglio, following his fellow practitioners, has endowed his hero with discriminating taste for good food, he has none of their relish for brutality. Violence is kept at arm’s length.”

This novel has been called many, often quite different things, both by the critics and the public: a legal thriller, a roman noir, a psychological novel, a Bildungsroman, a love story. All these definitions contain an element of truth. But what I like to hear more than anything goes something like this: Reading your novel kept me up all night, I couldn’t wait to see how Guido’s story was going to end, how the trial was going to end, whether Abdou was going to be found guilty or not guilty, and all the rest of it. And you know something strange? As I was getting to the end I started to slow down, and I felt sad. Because I didn’t want it to end.