Massimo Carlotta (2006) The Goodbye Kiss, translated from the Italian by Lawrence Venuti.

Georgio Pellegrini has an epiphany. He’s like to open a decent Italian restaurant. One that would allow him to blend in with those that doesn’t worry about money, respectability, or the need to pay the cops to keep them off their back. He’ll just need to pull one last heist.

Pellegrini has to factor in being double-crossed. Formaggio, and the insider who provided details of the armoured truck, and how much loot it is carrying, can easily be murdered before the operation. The Croats, Romi and Tonci, who’ll take out the guards with their telescopic sights, and high-calibre weapons, will be trickier. The Spanish trio, including the beautiful Francisca. They’re left-wing anarchists and want to take out the Croats for their ethnic cleansing and murder of unarmed innocents. But it’s all about the money.

Pellegrini told them he’s a grass and it working for the cops. He’d done his time. Up for a series of robberies and the murder of a night watchman, he’d fled to the Central American jungle and joined the movement. He’d have to prove his loyalty by murdering his friend, the (other) Italian.

‘The alligator was gently bobbing belly-up. It’s been picked off because it started to get too close to the camp, and nobody wanted to lose an arm of leg. The sweetish stink of decay mingled with the sense of the jungle. The first cabana stood about a hundred feet from the clearing. The Italian was calmly chatting to Huberto. He felt my presence. He turned and grinned at me. I winked, and he resumed talking. I came up behind him, took a deep breath and shot him in the back of the neck.  

  No witnesses. The Widow of an ex-Mafia chief who has been turning tricks to make a living knows the score when he uses her place to lie low. She suspects she also might not make it. Pellegrini convinces her she is wrong, but not very hard. He might even have fucked her if she was younger. The way the Croats want to rape Francesca. They got a taste for that in their war. Anneda, the cop, has his boot on Pellegrini’s neck. He’s running the show, and has left his mark on him. Their plan to take out all the others and split the loot is risky because Pellegrini is unsure he won’t be another corpse. Anneda, the last man standing. The loot split one-way. But he can live with that.

Pellegrini has done a lot of growing up since his stint in the jungle, when he was in his twenties. He’s hitting forty. He’ll do what needs to be done.

A crime novel, where the criminals are in power. Pellegrini wants a piece of that citizenship. Massimo Carlotto shows a grainy snapshot of Italy. Corruption is woven into the civic structure. Morality doesn’t come into it. Money is what matters. End of. Read on.