Salamander

by Morris L. West

The code SALAMANDER
Forged in the flames of war.
A symbol of courage and justice.
The mark of the final power.

An Italian general is found dead in his apartment, a card engraved with the image of the Salamander lying by his corpse. Colonel Matucci begins the routine investigation, only to find himself catapulted into the centre of a desperate web of political violence and intrigue. As he digs deeper, he is faced with an agonising how much is he prepared to pay to survive - his lover... his conscience... or more?

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Novels, Collections, Australia, Political Thriller

445 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1973

About the author

Morris Langlo West was born in St Kilda, Melbourne in 1916. At the age of fourteen, he entered the Christian Brothers seminary ‘as a kind of refuge’ from a difficult childhood. He attended the University of Melbourne and worked as a teacher. In 1941 he left the Christian Brothers without taking final vows. In World War II he worked as a code-breaker, and for a time he was private secretary to former prime minister Billy Hughes.

After the war, West became a successful writer and producer of radio serials. In 1955 he left Australia to build an international career as a writer. With his family, he lived in Austria, Italy, England and the USA, including a stint as the Vatican correspondent for the British newspaper, the Daily Mail. He returned to Australia in 1982.

Morris West wrote 30 books and many plays, and several of his novels were adapted for film. His books were published in 28 languages and sold more than 60 million copies worldwide. Each new book he wrote after he became an established writer sold more than one million copies.

West received many awards and accolades over his long writing career, including the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the W.H. Heinemann Award of the Royal Society of Literature for The Devil's Advocate. In 1978 he was elected a fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1985, and was made an Officer of the Order (AO) in 1997.

Morris West died at his desk in 1999.

Reviews

[William Parham]

An absolutely tacky yet beautiful book! This book is filled with the sentiment and detail of a time that no longer exists. It is a '70's spy movie in 12pt type. Our hero (Colonel Dante Alighieri Matucci) spends the majority of the book hopping in and out of bed with lovely Italian beauties and dodging bullets. When he's not doing that Matucci is digging up hidden documents, dining in high end private clubs, and swapping war stories with a racist American agent. The Salamander is nonstop fun. Tacky, inappropriate, non-politically correct fun. If you realize that this book was written in Italy in the early 1970's you can do nothing but love it. While reading Morris West's novel, one gives their guilty pleasure gland a good stroking. Like watching a Blaxploitation flick, one realizes that what they are witnessing is not appropriate or condoned in modern liberal society. And like a good Blaxploitation flick, one doesn't care. Just dive in and enjoy.

[Angelo Mifsud]

Read this for the second time after many years and still enjoyed it. Morris West a master of intrigue with many twist and turns. The expected ending did not eventuate but fitting.

[Raphael Hanna]

Wow. Wow wow WOW!

I bought this book at an Op-Shop down in Watsonia, not knowing what it had in store for me, but knowing this: that the book was old, and had the old book smell. It's almost as though those very facts on their own constitute a guarantee that you're about to read some fine literature (take that kindle users!).

This book was an absolute mastery of classical narrative structure. West set the scene beautifully, slowly building up character by character. From there it was a deeply enthralling and unbearably suspenseful climb to a grand adversarial climax, toil and suffering, and a beautifully bittersweet ending.

But that's not all, West used this work, in the least politically correct manner possible, to explore the human condition, commenting on power structures in society; why civilisations and people do what they do. He explores themes of war, of trauma, of corruption, of love and connection. None of it is on-the-nose. It walks the fine line between thematic subtlety and confrontation of the readers ideals and axioms.

I'm so impressed, and pleasantly surprised. This greatly exceeded my expectations.

[Daniel Archundia]

Un thriller político que te atrapa desde el principio. Ambientada en la Italia de los años 70's. Una época en la que la segunda guerra mundial se sentía tan lejana como para reconstruir los países y sociedades que más sufrieron las consecuencias de ésta; pero lo suficientemente reciente como para tratar de mantener los ideales políticos que llevaron precisamente a la división de bandos que origino la gran guerra.

Inicia con la muerte de un poderoso líder militar. La investigación de su muerte o posible asesinato queda a cargo del comandante Dante Allighieri Matucci, de la agencia de inteligencia italiana.

Conforme avanza su investigación, el comandante descubre un intrincado complot que implica al director de su agencia y a uno de los líderes más importantes de la policía militar, quienes pretenden realizar un golpe de estado para restaurar la dictadura que gobernó el país en la primera mitad de la década de los 40's. Después de este descubrimiento, también su vida corre peligro.

Con ayuda de un poderoso empresario al que apodan "La Salamandra", el comandante Allighieri tendrá que recabar las pruebas necesarias que lo llevarán a limpiar su nombre y al mismo tiempo evitar que el movimiento que se está gestando se lleve a cabo con éxito.

[Graham]

A book that came to me from MC, on the back of the "shoes of the fisherman", this story is again set in Italy at a time of crisis. The death of a general sets into play a series of events that point to a coup led by the intelligence agencies. Our hero Dante, like his namesake, has to go through the stage of hell, purgatory and heaven several times in order to try to achieve his goal of deflecting this coup. The plot twists and turns like the switchback roads of the Alps, information given by characters in the book is often unreliable, and like Daniel in conversation with the Archangel Michael, we only see in part that which is occurring. This sense of unease, and 'who do I trust', means that you can't assume you know what is going to happen.
This is worth reading, although you may need to get it from a second hand bookseller.
Finished 27-7-14

[Pedro]

Una novela de intriga y conspiraciones secretas, al estilo habitual de Morris West, nuevamente desarrollada en Italia (pese a que era un australiano de habla inglesa), lo cual implica maffia, los secretos del Vaticano, la corrupción política.

Alguien en la red en la que nadie es puro y libre de pecado, es quien comanda la conspiración, y es conocido por los entendidos como "La salamandra", como el animal mítico que era famoso por no quemarse en el fuego, dando a entender que este personaje es inmune, y siempre saldra sin mancha de cualquier investigación.

Un thriller como muchos que he leído en mi adolescencia, que por alguna razón recuerdo.

[Carla H.]

I read this book when it came out in 1973 and have been trying to remember the title and author to put it on my list. All I could remember is that the cover had a big red “S” with flames on it. (If I had remembered that the “S” was formed by a salamander, I would have saved myself some time.) I remember enjoying it as a teenager of 18, perhaps because it was set in Italy, and the characters seemed so exotic to me. At any rate, for whatever reason, it impressed me enough that I remember it (finally) 40 years later.

[Brian Wilcox]

I bought this book through the old Book of the Month Club in 1973, presumably because I forgot to return the card declining that month's selection. Now I'm sorry I waited so long to read it. It's a political page turner set in Italy in the early 1970s, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Meera Srikant]

Too blah blah blah

[Isabel Luna]

Me ha gustado bastante. Además, ha sido bastente inesperado el argumento. Me esperaba una novela de otro tipo, y resulta que es un thriller policiaco. Ambientada en la Italia de los setenta, se produce la muerte no natural del General Pantaleone, una de las piezas claves del equilibro de poder italiano. A pesar de que es a todas luces un asesinato, las más altas instancias lo hacen pasar por un suicidio para evitar una crisis política en la inestable Italia.
El investigador encargado del caso, el Coronel Matucci (de nombre Dante Alighieri para mas inri), descubrirá un intento de golpe de estado, en el que incluso sus jefes pueden estar involucrados. Deberá andar con pies de plomo si no quiere que este caso acabe devorándolo a él mismo.
Una misteriosa tarjeta con una salamandra impresa encontrada en la escena del crimen será el hilo que irá desenrrollando Matucci, hasta dar con un miesterioso personaje, que le incitará a continuar investigando las verdaderas circunstancias de la muerte de Pantaleone, y sus implicaciones con el neofascismo.

[Bruce Retallack]

Having just completed a reread of 'Harlequin,' which I found unexpectedly relevant and readable, I looked forward to tackling this other later work of West's. Unfortunately, it has not weathered the passage of time nearly as well as the other. It is, among other things, quite 'Cold War-y', rather like the work of Robert Ludlum. All really good at the time, but those times are not our times. So I am glad a tried it again, but won't hold on to it for a third go round.

[Truly]

Membaca buku ini rasanya agak lelah. Adrenalin terpicu dengan berbagai urusan mata-mata. Sungguh penjabaran tentang intrik tingkat dewa di Italia setelah PD II. Buku yang saya baca ini merupakan cetakan tahun 1977. Sayangnya huruf terlalu kecil sehingga mata saya tak bisa membaca dengan sekali babat.

[Alberto de Vega Luna]

Es curioso leer una novela escrita en los años 70, escrita por un australiano que ha vivido en Italia muchos años y descubrir lo actual qué sigue siendo. La trama podría estar pasando ahora mismo en muchos países europeos y merece la pena leer este libro para tener una nueva perspectiva con la visión de aquellos años.

[Carlos Humberto]

Demasiado denso a mi gusto, sobre temas que poco o nada están relacionados con la trama en sí. Quizá el autor se explayó demasiado, se dejó arrastrar por la inercia de su pluma hacia derroteros que no están al caso. Aún así la obra no es mala. La trama discurre con lógica y coherencia, lo cual es fundamental. Caso contrario, no hubiera aguantado leer ni siquiera la mitad del libro.

[Serge]

Italy, 1970s - just before the assassination of prime minister Aldo Moro. An intelligence officer is attempting to prevent a coup d'etat and solve a series of murders. Morris West, who has lived in Italy, creates an excellent sense of time and place, as well as considerable tension.

[Bob Box]

Read in 1975. Double remember but all of his books were solid.

[Mark Rudd]

It is now a very dated story. A knowledge of Italian politics is essential to make this understandable.

[Abby]

dad book

[Ram]

https://vramonline.wordpress.com/2022...

[Le Van]

3,2*
Tựa tiếng Việt: Con Kỳ Giông
In 40200 cuốn khổ 13*19 cm
NXB Tổng hợp Nghĩa Bình, năm 1988

[Eleonora]

No recuerdo nada

[Raig]

Very involved, if you like that kind of thing.

[Güero]

Nessun maggior dolore Che ricordarsi del tempo felice Nella miseria

[Sara]

Noioso

[Dan Alen]

Muy buena ambientación de la Europa de los 70, haciendo foco en la política italiana. Tal vez un poco lenta para estos días.

[Dr.J.G.]

A phoenix rises out of the ashes alive. But a salamander stays alive through the hottest fire.

Politics and society and church in Italy, and a young official caught in the midst of the whole thing coming out alive by sheer presence of mind and power of thinking, of seeing things and people for what they are, perhaps losing a little of the credulity of the youth but not the essentials needed for trust.

[Jose Miguel Gonzalez]

Una trepidante historia de policías donde el protagonista, un policía (no corrupto) que casi lo ha perdido todo (la corrupción se encarga de ello) intenta sacar la verdad a la luz de todo lo que esta pasando en el gobierno italiano. Genial.

[Fredrick Danysh]

Set in post war Italy, The Salamander is a story of a delicate balance of extremists on both the right and the left. Into this mix is inserted Colonel Dante Matueel who must prevent the return of Fascism.

[Suryati]

Berbagai intrik politik dan manipulasi tingkat tinggi untuk tujuan kekuasaan, efek dari berbagai munculnya golongan dan partai politik ditengah situasi negara yang tidak menentu... bisa dijadikan cermin bagi negeri ini..

[Tom]

This is excellent. Set in late 60s Italy, a Colonel in the Italian security forces uncovers an eventually thwarts a plot for a military coup. It's not a thriller per se, there isn't a lot here that would translate into an action movie, it's more of a espionage novel. Highly recommended.