The Second Life of Inspector Canessa

Italy’s Answer to James Bond, Though a Little Older

The Second Life of Inspector Canessa by Roberto Perrone is the first of three Inspector Canessa novels and is currently the only one to be translated into English.

In the 1980s, Inspector Canessa jailed a notorious terrorist. Thirty years on, Canessa’s estranged brother and the newly released terrorist are assassinated together in a crowded city square. Politics, violence and sex, as only the Italians know how.

I hope the other two novels are translated soon.

Synopsis

In 1984 Annibale Canessa, a distinguished Carabinieri officer, surrendered his badge and gun. Then he walked away from the relentless battle with Red Brigade terrorists in Northern Italy. He moved to a small town on the Italian Riviera and enjoyed a quiet life working with his aunt in a small but thriving restaurant.

Flash forward thirty years, and Canessa’s quiet existence disintegrates. Gunmen slaughter his estranged brother outside Milan’s central railway station. Lying dead beside him is Pino Petri, a notorious terrorist killer newly released on parole. Petri had murdered eight police officers and magistrates during his terrorist heyday. It was Inspector Canessa who had imprisoned him three decades earlier.

Why was his brother gunned down in a double murder with a reviled terrorist? Inspector Canessa crashes out of retirement to find out.

Review

Roberto Perrone tells a boisterous tale of assassination, torture, corruption, fast cars and unsolved crimes. In stereotypical Italian style, it has plenty of gastronomic and carnal pleasures thrown in for good measure. Inspector Canessa and his companions are all-action Italian senior citizens. At sixty-plus years old, they are a curious amalgamation of James Bond and the characters in The Last of the Summer Wine. Yet, this is an entertaining and sophisticated read for all its foolishness.

The action oscillates between the present day and the turmoil of the “Years of Lead” — the period of the late 70s and early 80s when revolutionary activists terrorised the Italian State. Perrone harnesses terrorist atrocities from the past to explain current-day twists in his plot. (The raid on a terrorist cell in via Gaeta was modelled on the events on via Fracchia in 1980. Perrone was studying close by at the time at the University in Genoa.)

Perrone laces together a cast of characters with differing motivations and desires. They unite to deliver an engaging and, in many ways, credible tale of revenge and concealment. The characters are eminently believable, from the terrorist who picks at his toenails to the feisty old widow who witnesses a setup.

Action, adventure, revenge, guns, sex and Italian food. What is not to like? As one critic said, it would be a crime if this novel wasn’t made into a movie.

“What is not to like” is easy to explain. The novel is full of powerful old men bedding women who could be their daughters or granddaughters. You could take the book in one of three ways:

1. It is a misogynistic rant by a dirty old man.
2. It accurately represents Italian machismo; I suspect Silvio Berlusconi has had his fair share of illicit affairs.
3. It is a tongue-in-cheek fantasy, and Roberto Perrone smiled wistfully whilst writing it.

I went for option three, but I guess you’d have to be Italian to know the answer, which is part of the book’s allure. I am with the critic; I want to see the movie.

Excerpt

And so the ‘bastard’ had called the butcher to say he considered the matter settled. Thanks, see you later. ‘Mate, you gotta break his legs,’ the butcher had ordered Panattoni, wrapping up a hundred quid’s worth of ribs. ‘Tasty, needs cookin’ Milan style, bit o’ rocket, couple of tomatoes on top.’ Panattoni had taken his third hand Fiat 128 (a car that struggled with first gear, and outright ignored second)and driven to the outskirts of Formia with some friends who needed the extra cash. When the furniture maker came out in the dark, Panottoni and his friends blocked his path. Just then a skinny guy jumped out from behind the ‘bastard’ brandishing a butterfly knife. Twirling it around, up and down, left and right, it was hypnotising.

‘Who the fuck are you?’ Panattoni had asked.

‘My bodyguard’, the furniture man replied. He was small and ugly. Scary and suddenly smug.

‘This punk?’ said one of Panattoni’s grunts. But his comment stuck in his throat as Rocco plunged the knife into his leg. At the sight of his friend on the ground, his calf oozing blood, the other man fled the scene. Rocco stared at Panattoni, daring him to follow suit, but Panattoni just stood there.

‘How much is this bastard paying you?’

The question threw the kid off.

Why?’

‘I’ll double it.’

Rocco gave him the first of many hideous grins and immediately switched sides. The furniture maker ended up with broken tibias and femurs.

And so their partnership began.

The Second Life of Inspector Canessa by Roberto Perrone