“The Lost Girls of Rome” by Donato Carrisi – Avengers at the Confession Booths

Donato Carrisi has been a fantastic representative for Italian literature in the Western world, and his 2013 novel The Lost Girls of Rome is a fantastic example as to why.

Taking place in, you guessed it, Rome, it follows a young widow, Sandra Vega, seeking answers after her husband, a journalist, supposedly plunged to his death at a construction site.

Unsatisfied with the official version of events, Sandra sets on the trail of a secret society with a much darker and richer history than anyone could have imagined.

Donato Carrisi Pushes into the Shadows of Rome

Vigilantism is in itself an interesting topic and quite pertinent to modern times with the tremendous rise of super-hero movies. On one hand, we all have our own concepts for what justice truly is in any given context and vigilantes are, for lack of control, to go beyond the restrictions of the law.

On the other hand, I think most of us can agree there are people who don't deserve to remain on this Earth for the evil they have caused... or at least, don't deserve to remain members of society, and yet they still do. Though most people do have the good sense to understand they cannot do much and let the law handle things, in Donato Carrisi's The Lost Girls of Rome, we meet some people for whom common sense is the exact opposite.

The story begins by introducing us to forensic photographer and young widow, Sandra Vega. Her husband, a young and promising journalist, was recently found dead at a construction site, with the theory being he killed himself by jumping from the top floor.

However, Sandra is far from satisfied upon hearing this official version of events, and decides to start digging deeper on her own. She had no idea what to expect, but she just set out on the trail of a very old society, one with rather particular goals.

Calling themselves the penitenzieri, the society is comprised of Catholic clergymen yearning for justice in a world sorely lacking it. They archive the criminal truths people share with them in the confessional booths and then dish out justice of their own accord.

As Rome's notorious killers are being struck down one by one, it is obvious the network has re-emerged from the shadows after countless years of silence, and it could very well be the story Sandra's husband died for.

Searching for Murderers

Even though this book might definitely have many layers of complexity (more on this later), at its heart, for me at least, it remained a detective mystery with a relatively simple main path to follow. Sandra Vega remains our protagonist throughout the whole thing, and for the majority of the plot we observe her as she retraces her husband's steps and along the way meets characters who have the same ultimate goal as her.

However, the deeper we go into the book the more Carrisi begins introducing additional elements to complicate things. Expanding from the death of Sandra's husband, we are now looking into several murders and disappearances which have taken place over a relatively short period of time, and it isn't exactly obvious how all of the threads are connected to each other until the end. There are more red herrings and dead ends than I can count here, almost as if the author's main goal was to ensure the reader wouldn't figure the truth out before the end.

While this approach could have been annoying if a lesser author had used it, somehow Carrisi rarely made the false turns feel unfair to me. On the contrary, I was quite engaged trying to sort the truth from the lies, and I think it was mostly because of the realism with which he integrates those lies into the plot.

The obstacles rarely feel artificial, and I can easily forgive the few times they do for how good and profound the mystery ended up being. I don't want to spoil anything, but it does go beyond the run-of-the-mill secret society literature we've gotten used to lately.

The Exotic Realm of Italy

Taking place in a city and part of the Earth where I assume most of us have never been to, you can rest assured this story isn't short on evocative descriptions and curious historical references. Carrisi has a masterful way of depicting the Italian landscape, both in terms of the city and the nature surrounding it. He even takes a bit of time to dive into the political side of the country, a diversion from the main plot which will be of great interest to people such as myself who love learning about how foreign countries function.

At this point, I think it would also be worth mentioning the translation seems be of top-notch quality. I can't remember any glaring errors and it very rarely feels as if you are reading something which was translated.

As we go further into the investigation the author also finds the opportunity to share with us various tidbits about Italian history, touching on subjects such as the infamous Monster of Florence as well as the secrecy of the Vatican. All of these little details heavily complement the story by creating an atmosphere of importance, driving home the point of the events we're seeing being extensions of centuries-old ideas and philosophies.

As far as the characters we meet along the way, the fast pace of the book prevents the author from really focusing on anyone but our mainstays, and I feel it's perfectly fine as the secondary characters still perfectly fulfill whatever roles they were assigned.

Our protagonist Sandra is both likeable and intelligent, seldom making bad or uninformed decisions, while the Interpol agent Schalber has an interesting air of mystery and competence about him. We learn enough about them to form solid images of who they are as people, but not so much as to leave no room for the imagination.

The Final Verdict

Despite its millions of twists, The Lost Girls of Rome by Donato Carrisi remains a very engaging conspiracy mystery complemented by its likeable characters and the author's descriptive prowess. With multiple engrossing plot lines expertly woven together for a grand finale, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a solid occult mystery with a lot of soul in it.

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Donato Carrisi Donato Carrisi is an Italian writer and screenwriter who was the recipient of the 2009 Premio Bancarella Award. In addition, he saw his novel The Girl in the Fog turned into a major motion picture in 2017 by the same name. Some of his more notable works include The Whisperer, The Hunter of the Dark and L'uomo del labirinto.