Bitteres Rot

Bacci Pagano #6

by Bruno Morchio, Ingrid Ickler (Übersetzer)

Genua, 1944. Die 19-jährige Tilde, Kurierin der Partisanen, wird nachts von einer Patrouille der Wehrmacht geschnappt. Sie hat Glück: Beim Verhör in der Kommandantur gefällt sie dem Besatzungsoffizier so sehr, dass er sie laufen lässt. Das bringt die Partisanen auf eine Idee: Die junge Fabrikarbeiterin soll dem Witwer entlocken, wer den Deutschen ihre Pläne verrät ...

Rund 65 Jahre später soll der Genueser Privatdetektiv Bacci Pagano den italienischen Stiefbruder eines deutschen Professors suchen. Viele Informationen kann Kurt Hessen Pagano nicht bieten: Er weiß nur, dass seine Mutter Nicla hieß und sein Vater, ein Wehrmachtsoffizier, bei einem Partisanenanschlag auf ein deutsches Soldatenkino ums Leben kam. Dann findet Pagano jedoch heraus, dass der Deutsche zwanzig Jahre zuvor in Genua schon einmal dieselben Fragen gestellt hat.

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction

250 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Bruno Morchio is an italian psychotherapist and author of crime fiction.

Reviews

[Stace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Reviewed on www.whisperingstories.com

‘The German Client’ is a wartime thriller from the pen of Italian author, Bruno Morchio. Originally written in his native language, I read a version translated into American-English.

The book is divided into three threads; we meet Bacci Pagano, a present day private detective, when he’s waiting for news of his girlfriend, Jasmine, who has been seriously injured by a drugs trafficking ring. Then Professor Kurt Hessen enters the story. He was born as a result of an affair between Tilde, a local teenage factory worker and a disillusioned Wehrmacht officer, Hauptmann Helmut Hessen. The professor believes he has a half-brother, born after the war when his birth mother had another child and he wants Pagano to find his sibling.

The third thread is probably the most absorbing from my point-of-view and concentrates on Tilde’s role in the partisan movement based in Sestri Ponente, in 1944.

Pagano’s sections are written in the first person and the past tense and Tilde’s story is told in the third person and the present tense. It was definitely an unusual structure but I quickly got used to the format.

Taking Professor Hessen’s commission, Pagano spends time with the elderly PAG (Patriotic Act Group) partisans to try to throw light on events from more than half a century ago. Are their memories failing them or are they deliberately misleading him to prevent him from learning the truth? There are things they’re reluctant to discuss; is this purely down to their resistance experiences or something even more haunting?

I like the cover and feel it conveys a strong sense of wartime Italy. The author’s blend of fact with fiction is clever and I was interested to find out about his association with the area. I wasn’t sure the thread with Jasmine was necessary and became slightly impatient when we left the main plot to explore her backstory but in retrospect, I think her experiences of kidnap and torture mirrored that of the partisans who were captured by enemy forces. The author is demonstrating that such horrors are not consigned to the past.

We witness fear, betrayal, guilt, pain and sacrifice, contrasting with pride, hope, determination, resilience and love. We have some strong characterisations; we see the menace of Maestri, an Italian collaborator who relishes his role in the new regime, the hopelessness of Hessen who has lost his wife and three young daughters to an allied bomb and the perseverance of Pagano to fulfil the task set by Professor Hessen.

Tilde is perhaps the strongest character of all. She finds a way to survive in a country ravaged by war. Working for the partisans to free Italy whilst at the same time knowing an allied bomb could destroy her family and Biscia, her boyfriend, at any moment.

If you enjoy an historic thriller with twists and turns and an unexpected dénouement, then this book is for you.

[Mal Warwick · Rating 5 out of 5]

The French Resistance dominates accounts written in English about irregular warfare in World War II. But the most effective Resistance efforts may well have been in Poland, Yugoslavia, and the Soviet Union. And there was anti-Nazi activity everywhere in occupied Europe. Italy was no different. And, in contrast to France, where the Resistance gained mass and momentum only very late in the war, Italian partisans harried their German occupiers from an early date. Popular crime author Bruno Morchio dramatizes the operations of the Italian Resistance in World War II in his riveting detective novel The German Client.

A TALE ROOTED IN GENOA IN 1944
Morchio’s story is set in Genoa, in Italy’s industrialized north. The tale rockets in time between early 1944 and the opening of the 21st century.

In the present day, private investigator Bacci Pagano is in the thick of a case targeting the violent thugs who have sold his girlfriend to a sadistic murderer. She is now clinging to life in a hospital bed. While waiting for a chance to visit her, an aging German professor named Kurt Hessen approaches him in the hallway with a lucrative proposition. The German wants him to track down his half-brother, his father’s son with an Italian woman who had worked for the Resistance.

SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY
Meanwhile, and in alternating chapters throughout the novel, we follow the woman’s story. In 1944, she is 19 years old and a courier for a Partisan Action Group on the outskirts of Genoa. Tilde is a beautiful young woman. When she is arrested after the Fascist police receive a tip that she is carrying messages for the partisans, she catches the eye of a German officer at headquarters, Captain Helmut Hessen. He arranges her release. Soon, learning of the attraction he feels, the local partisan leader asks Tilde to “get close to” the captain to coax secret information out of him. The relationship that develops dominates the story that follows. Though deeply conflicted, Tilde wishes to do whatever she can to save the lives of her friends and coworkers.

THE DETECTIVE’S INTRIGUING BACKSTORY
As Bacci Pagano doggedly pursues the meager clues available to him, he learns that his greatest advantage is that the few Partisan survivors who knew Tilde during the war also knew his own parents. His father had been “a worker at the Fossati factory in Sestri Ponente,” the industrial suburb of Genoa where the action takes place. He had been “an active member of the partisan Resistance. He was a true hero. He’d even earned a commendation from the President of the Republic.” Pagano’s own backstory emerges in the telling, including the five years he spent in prison on a ten-year sentence for some major (but unspecified) crime. The detective is now 50, with a 19-year-old daughter. Following Tilde’s story in 1944 and Pagano’s much later investigation, we also learn a great deal about the operations of the Italian Resistance.

THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF THE ITALIAN RESISTANCE IN WORLD WAR II
The Allies had invaded Italy late in the summer of 1943. Sicily first, then the foot of the boot, and then, with US and British troops moving up the calf, Italy surrendered. On January 22, 1944, the Allies under American General Mark Clark landed at Anzio, south of Naples. Fierce fighting was underway there and at Monte Cassino as Morchio’s story opens. By June 5, the Allies will enter Rome—the same day the first troops of Operation Overlord leave the shores of England for the invasion of Normandy.

The Italian Resistance was most robust in the industrialized north, where the Communist Party was well entrenched. And it was Communists who led most of the partisan bands who roamed about in German-occupied territory, spreading havoc. But those bands also included socialists, Christian Democrats, anarchists, and others.

Morchio’s setting, Genoa, is a city that hugs Italy’s northwest coast east of the French border. During World War II, it was an industrial town that housed some 700,000 people. Seven hundred years earlier, Genoa had been the richest city in the world. Its trading fleets ranged throughout the Mediterranean and beyond. But in 1944, the city was under siege, occupied by Nazi Germany and bombed by the US Army 15th Air Force.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bruno Morchio (1954-) is one of Italy’s most popular crime novelists. His creation, Bacci Pagano, is an iconic figure in Italian popular literature. He studied psychology at the University of Padua and from 1988 to 2018 maintained a family psychology practice. He then retired to devote himself full-time to writing. Morchio is the author of 14 Bacci Pagano novels as well as 11 others. As far as I can tell, The German Client is the only one of the Bacci Pagano novels to be translated into English.

[Rosie Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

The German Client is a story which flits from war time Italy to a modern day hospital corridor. Private investigator Bacci Pagano’s latest client offers a tantalising finder’s fee to unearth a lost sibling; however, he’s tempted to turn it down because the timing is off.


Reluctantly, he begins the search for his client’s step-brother. His investigations take him back to friends of his parents, the old guard, those who have kept secrets hidden for sixty years and fear opening old wounds left by WWII.

In 1944, the war rages on and life in Genoa, Italy, is bleak, with severe allied bombing from above, and danger on every street corner. Partisans are using women to smuggle messages, but the Germans have a spy, and one Italian woman is asked to place her country before herself and discover who that mole is.

I was attracted to this story because I enjoy resistance themed war stories. The parts of the book set during the war were my favourite. I found it harder to understand the modern story theme, which may be because this is book six in the series; earlier books will, no doubt, offer more clues to Bacci’s personal dilemmas. There are a lot of characters in the story and many have a second war time code name which sometimes made it hard to keep them all in my head. It did enjoy this and would read another by this author, especially if it also had a war-time theme.

[Chelsie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bacci Pagano is minding his own business in a hospital, waiting for news of his girlfriends condition, when a German man approaches him for hire. Kurt Hessen doesn’t have much time left, as he is dying from a terminal illness. What does he want to hire Bacci for? To research a supposedly half-sibling who was born after the war. He is hesitant to take on this case, as he has a lot of other things on his plate right now, but against his best judgement he can’t turn this guy down.

As Pagano begins the search for this half-sibling, he is transitioned back into the past, WWII and war strewn Italy. He is quickly finding out that this is harder than he thought, and many refuse to speak about the war these days, claim they don’t remember, or the answers he receives seem to be brick walls or bring about more questions to his search.

If Pagano is not successful in helping Kurt, the seizable family inheritance will go to the state. So this is a drive that pushes Pagano to do what it takes to find out the truth no matter how horrific, scary or unrealistic it may seem. Often people did desperate things during war and reminding them of the things they did is not so easy.

Thank you to Kabazo publishing for the pdf copy of The German Client. I really enjoy reading WWII novels, and this one was a bit different in that it was trying to solve a mystery from back then, but still brought about all that was happening during the war.

[Judi Moore]

Genre: History and mystery
Description: There are three strands to this book: secret events of 1944 during the Nazi occupation of Italy (after the fall of Mussolini); a search for those secrets in ‘the present day’ (this book was first published, in Italian, in 2008); this second thread being displacement activity for Bacci Pagano, while he sits by the hospital bedside of his comatose girlfriend, Jasmine, who has been badly beaten, waiting for her to wake or not wake – which is the third thread.
The events of 1944 are loosely based in fact, and the setting (Sestri and surrounding area near Genoa) is accurate: it is the locality in which Morchio lives.
One of the puffs at the front of the book, from Il Giornale di Brescia, claims this is “the best novel Morchio has written so far.” Telegraph Avenue adds that “This is the beauty and the distinctive trait of Italian noir. There is more than just crime: [there are also] history, politics, society, love, friendship.”
Bacci Pagano is the protagonist in a series of gumshoe-type investigations by Morchio. Italian readers are very fond of him. This is the fifteenth in the Pagano series and the first to be translated into English (in 2020) by Kazabo Publishing, which specialises in providing English translations of books which have been bestsellers in their original language but have never been available in English before. Perhaps unusually for series, especially this far in, Il Giornale’s review claims this series is hitting a new high note with this book.
Author: Bruno Morchio lives in Genoa, Italy, where he worked as a psychologist. He has won two literary prizes for the mystery genre, the “Azzeccagarbugli” and the “Lomellina in Giallo” Prizes; and has been a finalist for the “Bancarella”, “Scerbanenco” and “Romiti” Prizes.
Appraisal: Morchio is very knowledgeable about the area in which this book is set. It is a reasonable supposition that the local 1944 story piqued his interest, and led him to write this particular book. The Pagano books are not usually set in the past. The original 2008 publication date was already nudging the edges of plausibility for a WWII story, if your protagonist is going to be interviewing participants in that conflict in your book’s present. Even teenage partisans would have been about eighty in 2008, and the eponymous German, in his sixties, is the son of Hauptmann Hessen, the German in the story from 1944. Nevertheless, that strand of the story convinces. The tendency, forged in war-time, only to speak when absolutely necessary, not to inform on a comrade, and to maintain that tight-knit comradeship to the grave, comes across strongly. In point of fact, all the characters are well drawn. In addition, the Italian way of life is there on the page, and the cultural life of this time and place shine through.
Unfortunately, the three plots do not entirely hang together. Why and how Pagano became enamoured of Jasmine is never fully explained. And how she ended up in the hands of the traffickers is kept from the reader until very late in the book, providing a mystery that I found more frustrating than intriguing. The mystery from 1944 turns out to be no mystery at all, except … no, I won’t give that away – you will work it out for yourself soon enough.
The 1944 sections are the strongest part of the book: I always felt we were on firmer ground when Morchio took us back to that part of the story. And it does form the major part of the book, with a satisfying plot of its own.
I hope Kazabo feel it worthwhile to translate others in the Pagano series. And that somebody decides to turn them into a television series (in Italian or English, I don’t mind) now that we have run out of the Sicilian Montalbano novels to dramatise. Here we have just enjoyed the first series of Inspector Gerri, set in Puglia (at the other end of Italy from Genoa). But Telegraph Avenue is quite correct: there is a particular charm to Italian noir, on the page or on TV.
If you are a fan of Andrea Camilleri’s Inspector Montalbano books, or you tried Pentimento Mori by Valeria Corciolani on the strength of my recent review, or you enjoy holidays in Italy or have felt you would really like to visit that country, or simply enjoy noir crime fiction, you will find much to enjoy in this novel.
** this review originally prepared for Big Al’s Books and Pals: received a complimentary epub file for the purpose **

[Elaine Aldred · Rating 4 out of 5]

While anxiously waiting in a hospital corridor to learn whether the woman he loves will live or die, Private investigator Bacci Pagano is approach by Kurt Hessen, an elderly German. Hessen is searching for his Italian half-brother and is prepared to pay handsomely for Pagano to find him. Pagano reluctantly accepts the job. It is a task that will tax Pagano’s detective skills to the limit, because the answer lies in the events of the Second World War, during the Nazi occupation of Genoa in 1944.

This novel is primarily a detective novel in which an old mystery must be solved to bring closure to the client. But there is a great deal more to it than that. By agreeing to take on his German client’s case, Pagano will become embroiled in a cat’s cradle of partisans whose desires, ambitions, and righteous justifications led to the type of activities that in time of war challenged the understandings of right and wrong. The last thing these now elderly people want is painful old memories brought into the light. For this reason, “The German Client” becomes almost an anthropological study of people’s personal responses to living in and defying a ruthless and evil regime.

There are some interesting narrative devices in the book. Set both in the past and the present, the past is written in the third person, the present in the first. Each era cannily echo’s the other, so that Pagano’s love interest, a woman forced into a life of prostitution by a ruthless gang, might seem little more than a side story, but in fact holds a mirror to the past.

Moving from one chapter to another is a shift in time. The ripples of events initiated in the war reach into the present, causing enormous and intriguing problems for Pagano’s investigation. With the past weighing heavy with the resistance members who have locked away their secrets for years, they are not in a hurry to release them. In part this is due to emotional trauma, but also because they know that the young, would judge their actions by the standards of those who can never hope to understand what it is to live in constant oppression and the danger its opposition brings.

Throughout the novel Bruno Morchio maintains a tense atmosphere of people forced to make life changing decisions in the turmoil of war, while moving along the fascinating investigation of Pagano unpicking the past to get at the truth. The 1944 sections of the book are a very immersive experience and page turning with the anxiety of wondering what will happen to the characters next. Although a short novel, at a little over 200 pages, Morchio packs a great deal into the book.

The German Client was courtesy of Kazabo Publishing.

[Sara Stamey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gripping mystery that weaves fascinating World War II history into a contemporary Italian detective’s search for the truth.

From the start of the novel, I was captured by the vivid scenes of street life in Genoa and introduction to the troubled detective Bacci Pagano. Bacci, who was jailed earlier in life for a crime he didn’t commit, keeps his feelings tightly held from all but the reader, and the author’s profession as a psychologist shows in the deep development of all the characters. Bacci, while keeping hospital vigil for the victim of human trafficking and torture in a case he helped crack, is hired by a mysterious, elderly German. The new case involves delving into the tightly-held secrets of the surviving partisan resistance fighters from World War II. Bacci’s chapters, in which he navigates the twisting lanes of Genoa on his trusty Vespa, alternate with scenes from 1944 Italy. These scenes focus on the young woman Tilde, who carries messages on her old bicycle for the partisans resisting the occupying Nazi Germans who are torturing and killing any suspected partisans.

The gripping historical scenes are based on actual events and places, with many of the partisan fighters real historic figures. The privations of the nearly-starving Italians and the moral ambiguities of war are presented in all-too-believable detail, as good people are faced with anguishing choices. Some characters must report friends as traitors, knowing they are sentencing them to death by the partisans. And the stakes are very personal: How can you love someone who just shot a friend in the street? The Nazi atrocities, of course, are well known, but even a Nazi captain here gains some sympathy for his despair in being trapped in his own role in the war.

The contemporary scenes with Bacci’s investigations are likewise gritty and propulsive, as he tries to break the code of silence of the elderly partisans and leads a dangerous race to rescue one of the human-trafficking victims in a hail of bullets.

My only regret is that the rest of the series is not yet available in English translation. I highly recommend The German Client!

[Stanley McShane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A WWII mystery wrapped up in a modern-day saga. Italy is in the latter days of the war and has been demoted from a German Ally to an occupied country with the Germans refusing to withdraw. Italy and its’ people are forced to assist the Third Reich in any way they can. The characters are well developed and the collaborators are feared and hated by the average populace. Check-points are manned with German military who have very itchy trigger fingers.

Kurt Hessen is a late war baby who is suffering from a terminal disease. He is looking for a brother he did not know he had. Detective Pagano is hired by Kurt to find this long-lost brother. Apparently, there is a sizable family inheritance that should go to the only surviving son of Mr. Hessen. Should the brother not be found, the money will go back to the state.

The author skillfully weaves the story through two time periods. It is masterfully done and I found myself appreciating the drama between a young Italian girl and an older German officer. Weaving the nearly 65 year split between the end of the war and current day adds to the mystery.

Every bit of information is dragged out from those that remember. Many simply refuse to discuss the case or the time period.

The ending is a surprise that I did not see coming and was totally unexpected.

The only quibble I had was the continuous use of places existing during WWII with no map or way to identify the locality. This book is emotive and you will not be disappointed. Thanks to Chiara from Kazabo Publishing for my complementary copy. These are my honest and unbiased opinions. 4.5 stars - CE Williams

See my full review at https://rosepointpublishing.com/2020/...

[Grace J Reviewerlady · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tale of two halves: then and now, both gripping!

PI Bacci Pagano is seated in a hospital corridor, hoping that prostitute Jasmine will recover from her injuries to enable her to contribute to bringing a notorious human trafficking ring to justice. While he waits, he is approached by a German man who wishes to employ him to find his Italian half brother. Despite misgivings Pagano accepts the job, allowing us to discover all about how the second world war affected the area.

This is a beautifully told story, and the translation is so perfect that it's hard to believe it wasn't written in English in the first place. Absolutely riveting and it kept me enthralled to the very end. What a tale! I'm always drawn to novels about how ordinary people survived wartime and this one is both exciting and unpredictable. My heart wept for the characters but, at the same time, I was full of admiration for their courage and commitment. A very satisfying read, and one I'm happy to recommend. 4.5* stars from me, and a fervent hope that more of this series will find it's way into translation.

[Heather Barksdale · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The German Client” is a dual timeline, dual point of view novel that begins by following a private investigator, Bacci Pagano, as he is approached by a wealthy man looking to find his half brother. Reluctantly, he accepts the job and soon finds himself investigating what happened to a group of partisans in 1944 Genoa, Italy during World War II.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel. It was emotional, tragic, and heart breaking. The character of Tilde and her point of view absolutely make this novel. The alternating timelines provide an interesting way to incorporate details while also drawing correlations between the past and present. The ending is also really great. There are a couple of little surprises and while they are not completely unexpected, they are super satisfying. I look forward to reading more by this author in the future.

I received a copy of this novel in exchange of a fair and honest review.

[Antonella Montesanti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bello questo thriller noir ambientato a Genova.
Si intrecciano due storie.
Una attuale in una Genova misteriosa che inizia con Jasmine in un letto d'ospedale e l'investigatore Bacci Pagano a cercare di trovare il colpevole.
Un'altra, sempre a Genova, ma nel 1944, con tedeschi, partigiani e una guerra che miete vittime tra spie, soldati e resistenza.
Continui flashback, ma sapientemente calibrati, e il lettore non si annoia mai, perché la scrittura è fluida e molto scorrevole.
E un finale che... Va assolutamente letto.
Bella scoperta questo autore, di cui sicuramente leggerò altro.
Consigliato.

[Alessia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una storia iniziata per caso che alla fine mi è piaciuta davvero tanto, soprattutto per i numerosi richiami storici così dettagliati da trasportarmi davvero nella Genova degli anni della guerra. Ammetto però di essere stata molto più coinvolta nella storia di Tilde e nelle vicissitudini dei partigiani, che in quella di Bacci Pagano.

[Luigi Giorgio A Casagrande · Rating 4 out of 5]

6* romanzo del ciclo Bacci Pagano, voto 4 stelle, anzi 4 + 1/2. È scritto bene ed è coinvolgente. Il contesto ambientale e storico è credibile, ricostruito bene, nei minimi particolari. La storia è interessante, ad un certo punto nel procedere della lettura mi ero convinto fosse vera. Un Bacci da leggere, io l’ho divorato in un fine settimana.

[Beatrice Cameli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Due storie che si intrecciano, tra i tempi moderni e il periodo della resistenza. L’autore riesce a trattare temi duri senza calcare troppo i momenti più drammatici, apre la finestra su un’epoca difficile ma non ti ci butta in mezzo. Bello e ben fatto, un buon modo per conoscere la dura realtà della guerra e dei partigiani senza però esserne distrutti.

[Elaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a gripping story. I found it hard to keep the names and characters straight though.

[Alessio Campi · Rating 4 out of 5]

La narrazione scorre veloce e le due storie tra presente e passato si snodano facilmente. interessante

[dubh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bacci Pagano, der Genueser Privatdetektiv, soll einen ziemlich alten Fall lösen: ein deutscher Professor kommt auf ihn zu und möchte, dass Pagano seinen Bruder findet.

Professor Hessen ist sehr krank und dem Tode schon sehr nah, als er von Köln nach Genua reist und den Privatdetektiv in einer nicht gerade günstigen Situation mit seinem ungewöhnlichen Auftrag behelligt: seinen Vater, einen Wehrmachtsoffizier, der bei einem Bombenanschlag italienischer Partisanen ums Leben gekommen ist, hat er nie kennengelernt - von seiner Mutter allerdings weiß er so gut wie garnichts - außer, dass sie Italienerin sein muss und Nicla hieß. Aber er glaubt einen Halbbruder zu haben und bittet Bacci Pagano nun, diesen für ihn ausfindig zu machen. Es winkt ein beträchtliches Erbe für den Unbekannten und für Bacci ein stattliches Gehalt. Bacci Pagano nimmt nach anfänglichem Zögern an - einerseits, weil er Ablenkung gebrauchen kann und andererseits, weil er aus einer Familie von Widerstandskämpfern kommt und die Geschichte interessant findet.

1944 wird Tilde nach der Ausgangssperre von deutschen Soldaten aufgegriffen und in die örtliche Kommandatur zum Verhör gebracht. Die junge Frau dürfte um ihr Leben oder zumindest um ihre Gesundheit fürchten, doch unerwarteterweise gefällt sie dem Wehrmachtsoffizier Hessen so gut, dass er sie wieder auf freien Fuß lässt. So kann sie weiterhin die Partisanen, unter denen auch ihr Verlobter ist, unterstützen.

Bruno Morchio hat mit Bitteres Rot keinen klassischen Krimi geschrieben, sondern eine großartige, spannende Geschichte rund um die historischen Ereignisse während des letzten Jahres des Zeiten Weltkriegs in Italien. Die zumeist sehr jungen Leute, die sich gegen die deutsche Wehrmacht und das eigene faschistische Regime auflehnen, sind überzeugte Kommunisten und Anarchisten, ebenso wie große Patrioten, die ihr Land und dessen Bevölkerung mit allen ihnen möglichen Mitteln befreien möchten. Bacci Pagano begegnet rund 65 Jahre später bei seinen Nachforschungen einigen wenigen und befragt sie zu der unbekannten Mutter Nicla. Hierbei ist es sehr hilfreich, dass Bacci selbst aus einer linken Familie stammt: sein Vater und sein Großvater waren beide auch Partisanen und gute Freunde der Befragten - außerdem stammen die Paganos seit jeher aus Sestri Ponente, dem Stadtteil Genuas, der wie kein anderer eine Hochburg der Arbeiter darstellt(e). Und so plaudern die alten Herren über längst vergangene Zeiten als wären sie erst ein paar Jahre vergangen... Doch sind sie alle ehrlich? Warum kennt keiner von ihnen Nicla? Oder lügt des sterbende Professor etwa? Bacci Pagano ist sich dessen fast sicher, als er erfährt, dass dieser bereits 20 Jahre zuvor Nachforschungen angestellt hat.

Bitteres Rot ist großartig geschrieben - eben nicht (nur) als Krimi, sondern mit seinen ausgesprochen interessanten Figuren und seinen historischen Verknüpfungen, die bis ins Heute reichen! Auch wenn ich mich zwei-, dreimal auf der richtigen Spure gewähnt habe, so wurde das Buch auf keiner Seite langweilig oder vorhersehbar. Nein, dieses Buch ist - selbst wenn man den Ausgang kennen würde - super spannend, weil es von Menschen und ihrem Handeln oder Kampf erzählt, die es so oder so ähnlich gegeben habt. Morchio verknüpft gekonnt die einzelnen Schicksale und Ereignisse und so lernt selbst der Privatdetektiv, selbst lange Jahre Mitglied der PCI und Sprössling Genueser Widerstandskämpfer noch einiges über die Vergangenheit der Partisanen Sestris.

Fazit: Für alle, die Interesse an Italien haben oder aber gerne historische Begebenheiten in einer spannenden Geschichte verpackt lesen möchten, ist dies ein Buchtipp - aber auch sonst ist es ein äußerst lesenswertes Buch.

[Rosalba · Rating 3 out of 5]

Le parole sono un imbroglio, sembrano fatte apposta per ingannare gli altri e sé stessi.

Quando le scorte della speranza sono esaurite, il solo rimedio contro la rassegnazione rimane la rabbia. Una medicina amara, un veleno che corrode sogni e voglia di vivere e lascia dentro un senso di vuoto, di futilità, che fa terra bruciata di ogni altro sentimento.

Autore genovese conosciuto in occasione di una recente rassegna del giallo nella bassa padana, mi aveva subito incuriosito. Ho iniziato da questo suo romanzo perché ne avevo letto delle buone impressioni. Sinceramente, non ho colto nel personaggio di Bacci Pagano una personalità "prorompente", ma nel complesso il romanzo è buono. Ho apprezzato l'alternarsi fra passato e presente. I ricordi di guerra da scavare fra vecchi militanti della resistenza, per far affiorare una verità taciuta per troppo tempo; un presente in cui non manca la violenza, la brutalità e lo sfruttamento di donne fuggite da realtà senza speranza, che si ritrovano poi a battere i marciapiedi, in balia di uomini senza scrupoli.

La Sestri operaia di mio padre e del mio Sessantotto non esisteva più. Aveva subito una mutazione genetica e si trovava a pagare a caro prezzo lo scotto della propria sopravvivenza, anche se i giovani che incrociavo, allettati dallo sfavillante richiamo delle vetrine, non sembravano affatto preoccuparsene.

[Melisende · Rating 4 out of 5]

Using his own family history, Morchio crafts a story of secrets dating back to a period during World War Two that have now spilled over into the modern day.

When a dying Professor from Germany seeks out Pagano, the investigator is forced to dig deep into the long concealed wartime memories of family and friends in order to find some semblance of truth and help reunite lost siblings. But nothing is ever that simple. With little to go on and brick walls going up left, right and centre, Pagnano, distracted by the brutal assault of girlfriend Jasmine, must find answers before time runs out.

The narrative alternates back and forth from 1944 to modern day, with Pagano's in the first person, and that of the partisan Tilde, in the third person. Secrets are slowly being teased out until we reach the final denoument - and for Pagano, things finally make sense.

This is a great read. It is the sixth in a series of ten, and the first one I head read. Whilst not fully conversant with the background of the character Bacci Pagano, there is enough here to weave a wonderful tale. And - of course - make you want to seek out more in the series!

[Alessandro Giuliani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Due storie che nelle intenzioni dell'autore forse dovevano essere collegate, ma francamente il legame è molto labile
Bello comunque il passaggio tra i due periodi storici e i personaggi, soprattutto Tilde, la protagonista principale forte e determinata, non piegata dalla guerra, ma che ha portato per tutta la vita i segni degli avvenimenti narrati

[TigerT · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked the book! There are actually two story lines, one in the present and one in the past. I loved particularly the story set during World War II in Italy, I sympathized with the characters and their bravery during that horrible period. Especially the young woman who had to make difficult choices. Very compelling book, very real characters.

[Jak60 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Un romanzo onestamente deboluccio, in cui si intrecciano due storie che l'autore non riesce a ricondurre ad una decente unità; una trama che scorre abbastanza lenta per tutta la narrazione, salvo una piccola impennata alla fine.

[Filippo Bossolino · Rating 2 out of 5]

Purtroppo è l'unico Bacci Pagano che mi ha deluso... La storia che viaggia su due binari paralleli a me non ha convinto molto. Proseguirò comunque perché i precedenti mi avevano sempre lasciato ottime sensazioni

[Chiara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really liked it. I immediately identified with the young partisan woman, her moral struggle, the dangers she faces. I could not put the book down until I knew what happened to her. Very exciting, reading was just like watching a good movie!