Donato Carrisi: phrase
Donato Carrisi is an Italian writer, journalist, screenwriter, playwright and film director who has stood out for his crime novels in the literary section. Specifically, the most well-known books of his —Wolves (2009) o The court of souls (2011), for example— expose plots related to organized crime and human ethology.
However, it is a bit concise to pigeonhole Carrisi only within detective fiction. In fact, the he is a versatile creator and famous in his country for his constant presence in prestigious audiovisual channels such as RAI, Mediaset or Sky. Likewise, one of the two successful feature films directed by the Tarentino director is The girl in the mist, based on a novel of the same name.
Summary of three fundamental books by Donato Carrisi
El whisperer
initial context
In any cosmopolitan city —location is never specified— five girls were kidnapped and dismembered in the span of a week. For this reason, the criminal investigation squad led by Goran Gavila is notified of the discovery of a rondo with six right arms corresponding to five bodies. But, to whom does the sixth arm belong?
At that point, Mila Vasquez, specialist in missing persons, joins the team of criminologists in order to identify and locate the sixth victim as soon as possible. However, in this unprecedented case, it is necessary for everyone involved to deal with their own inner demons before the killer is found.
The protagonists
Mila is a rather introverted, strange woman who lacks empathy., who enjoys going totally unnoticed and working on her own. Occasionally manifests certain self-destructive behaviors caused by overlapping traumas. She collaborates with Goran, a very patient criminologist with a special gift for noticing the most subtle details invisible to the common eye.
The haste of the investigators is taken advantage of by a psychopath with a master mind capable of turning each horrible death into an artistic creation. It's more, the criminal always seems to be one step ahead of his pursuers, having fun with them, anticipating them and making them feel complicit in the macabre murders.
La hypothesis of the times
Synopsis
Only the youngest son of a well-known businessman survives the massacre of his entire family group. Thus, by the intention of the culprit, a witness remains to describe to the police who has committed such an atrocity. Given the shocking characteristics of the massacre, Mila Vasquez is called to clarify the events together with agent Berish.
But nothing is what it seems. The murderer is Roger Valin, a (then) boy who disappeared 17 years ago after suffering the extermination of his entire family. To make matters worse, new murderers appear committed by people whose trail had been lost for several years. Therefore, the obvious question is: where have they been and why have they returned as murderers?
El Hunter de la darkness
Characters
This book is part of a successful tetralogy whose main character is Father Marcus together with the photographer Sandra Vaga. He is a rather particular priest; when he starts the saga he doesn't know what his name is, nor why he is in a hospital in Prague. Similarly, the cleric is the last known member of the "Hunters of the Dark", a holy order of jailers.
On the other side is Sandra, the only person with accurate knowledge about the true occupation of the penitentiary father. She is in charge of photographing the crime scenes in Rome and always try to be the first person to arrive to prevent the alteration of any visual evidence.
Approach
A horrible event occurs in the Vatican gardens, the Roman police have no jurisdiction there, therefore, the most appropriate official to clarify the facts is Marcus. Nevertheless, the protagonist's care is in vain for a year, until a married couple appears murdered inside a car found between some trees in Ostia. That is just the first of many deaths.
For this reason, the investigation team led by Vicequestore Moro—Sandra's boss—suspects a serial killer. The probable murderer is someone sinister who likes to "sow corpses" throughout the Italian capital. But clues are scarce and time is tight for the investigation team. Whether they like it or not, the resolution of the case will require time and patience… a lot of patience.
Brief biography of Donato Carrisi
Donato Carrisi
Donato Carrisi was born in Martina Franca, Italy, on March 25, 1973. During his youth he completed a law degree with a thesis on Luigi Chiatti, alias “the Monster of Foligno”. (This serial killer hit the province of Perugia between 1992 and 1993). Next, The future Martinesi writer specialized in Criminology and Behavioral Sciences. He currently resides in Rome.
Literary career
In 2009, the Italian publisher Longanesi published Carresi's debut feature, The prompter (The whisperer; although his original first name was Wolves). This book was recognized with the Bancarella Prize (among others) and began the cycle of Mila Vasquez, which continued with The evil hypothesis (2013) and the whisperer game (2019)
However, the tano writer completed the famous cycle of Marcus and Sandra, a couple of researchers made up of a priest and a photographer, respectively. The aforementioned series also consists of three titles: The court of souls (2011) Hunter of darkness (2014) and The master of shadows (2018)
Narrative style and character construction
All the written work of the Italian author falls within the category of Novelty. One of his hallmarks are the omnipresent internal demons to a greater or lesser extent in the psyche of all the characters. That darkness is evident in the most treacherous villains, but it also appears eventually in the protagonists in charge of solving the corresponding enigma.
For this reason, Carrisi's characters show nuances that transmit a lot of humanity to the reader. That impression is fed through the manifest weakness of the members of the story in the face of temptations, fears and sins of the past. Consequently, readers are drawn into a plot full of plot twists and that becomes suffocating in some passages.
Other books by Donato Carrisi
- The woman with the paper flowers (2012)
- The girl in the mist (2015)
- The house of voices (2021)
theatrical pieces
- Molly, Morthy and Morgan
- Corpse if born!
- Non tutte le ciambelle come per nuocere
- Arturo nella notte…
- Il Fumo di Guzman
- The Siren Bride (musical)
- Dracula (musical).
Some of the prizes awarded to Donato Carrisi
- Prix Livre de Pocas 2011, awarded by French readers
- Prix SNCF du polar 2011
- XXIV Literary Prize Massarosa
- Gialla Camaiore Prize for Literature (sixth edition)
- 57th edition of the Bancarella Award
- 'Belgioioso Giallo Award (second edition).