When one comes to the end of a labour of this kind, expressing one’s gratitude is obligatory but it is also a personal pleasure. And so, without further ado, let me begin by thanking the American Embassy in Rome, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Sûreté Publique of the Principality of Monaco, for the assistance they provided to a person who introduced himself as a writer but who, at that time, was a writer only in his own mind.
Thanks to Gianni Rabacchin, Assistente della Polizia di Stato in Asti, and to Maresciallo (warrant officer) Pinna of the Carabinieri of Capoliveri, who are more than names and ranks in uniforms – they are also my friends.
The same is true of Dr Gianni Miroglio and Dr Agostino Gaglio who, in a world of powermongering physicians, are two genuine gentlemen of medicine. Let me add to the group Professor Vincenzo Mastronardi, a clinical criminal psychiatrist, who holds the chair of Forensic Psychopathology in the Department of Medicine at the University of Rome La Sapienza; despite his countless obligations, he managed to find the time to offer me practical and technical advice that was as invaluable as his friendship.
My acknowledgment and gratitude goes out as well to Alberto Hazan and the staff of Radio Monte Carlo, with a special mention for Alain Gaspar, who accepted and assisted me in all my incursions with a truly laudable savoir-faire. And thank heavens for his Italian, far superior to my own French…
I should mention and thank my good friend Jeffery Deaver who demonstrated, forkful of polenta in hand, that a great author can also be a modest and likable human being.
Speaking of books, my thanks go to Claudia and Alberto Zappa for a number of volumes that I may continue to ‘borrow’ for ever…
Heartfelt thanks go out to my ‘supporters’, a team of conscripted readers, including Doretta Freilino, Mauro Vaccaneo, Laura Niero, Enrico Biasci, and Roby Facini, who supplied me with fuel and new tyres in my frequent and perhaps slightly demanding pit stops.
I would like to thank Roberta, who is always there, and who always understands; how and where, if you don’t mind, are exquisitely matters that concern only the two of us.
Thanks to Piergiorgio Nicolazzini, my literary agent, who agreed to take on an aspiring writer practically ‘on faith’. And for the same reason, thanks to Alessandro Dalai, Eugenio Rognoni and everyone at Baldini & Castoldi, with a special note of gratitude to my editor Piero Gelli for his invaluable advice, which allowed me to escape the ‘Matarazzo Syndrome’, and to Paola Finzi, a heroic editor who managed to walk unsuspectingly into one of my infrequent temper tantrums.
If there is anyone I have forgotten to mention, let them rest assured that they may be missing from this list, but not from my heart.
And as for me, I am afraid that I have taken, here and there, a few liberties both in my narrative and my geography. That is, for the moment, the only thing that I have in common with certain great authors, who are in some sense responsible for the presence of this volume in the bookstores of the world. The fact that I am saying ‘for the moment’ is not an incautious hint of conceit, but the sole, tender note of optimism that I allow myself. It is also worth noting, if there were any need of it, that the events narrated in this novel are purely imaginary and that the characters have no existence in the real world.
And neither, perhaps, does the author…