The Swindler
Original title: Il truffatore
Synopsis
“He had learned to steal the money. He would learn to use them and eventually waste them. But giving them back had never been an option.” — From the novel
A highly topical and contemporary novel, with a cutting edge question: what if a handful of years in prison were worth twenty years of luxury?
Fabio Montani is an apparently simple man: he works at a bank and lives in a thriving province in Northern Italy, in a small town at the foot of the mountains. Everybody adores him. But he has never managed to fool his wife, who has always sensed that his politeness hides a ruthless ambition. And when she leaves him, something cracks. Montani gets promoted and starts to manage the investments of well known businessmen in the city that he despises: spoiled rich people who ask him to help them preserve their privileges. At that point, his hunger for revenge turns into a demon and he begins to defraud them.
However one of his clients is unlike any other – an eighty-year-old man who bears a heavy sorrow. He sees in Fabio the eldest son he lost at a young age while Fabio sees in him the father he has always longed for. They become friends, confidants, while both hiding their darkest secrets from each other. And it is within this very relationship that the worst betrayal will unfold.
With the sharp and cinematic quality of his pen, Francesco Casolo takes us into the shadowy world of high finance, at the heart of the complexities of provincial Italy. Inspired by a true story, “The Swindler” is a gripping and bold novel, a powerful book about ambition and loss of innocence, that leaves the reader with one burning question: what if a few years in prison were worth a few million euros stolen? And, above all: can we truly trust someone?