Consumed by 'Death's Dark Abyss'

Review of DEATH'S DARK ABYSS (Europa Editions 2006)
Author, Massimo Carlotto; Translation by Lawrence Venuti

This is the first time I've ever tried Italian noir, and it's easy to see, after reading DEATH'S DARK ABYSS, why Massimo Carlotto is "widely considered Italy's foremost crime fiction writer" and "a major exponent of the Mediterranean Noir novel." It's also easy to understand why he writes noir about the Italian criminal justice system, given the fact that he served years of jail time for a murder he didn't commit, but was eventually given a presidential pardon.

The story is told by two characters--Raffaello Beggiato, a man who (high on drugs and with the cops hot on his heels) murdered a woman and her young son during an armed robbery with an accomplice who got away with the loot, and Silvano Contin, the grieving widower who lost his wife and son at Beggiato's hands (although Beggiato claims his accomplice pulled the trigger--a distinction that is not only untrue, but makes no difference with respect to his legal culpability).

After a prologue that sets up the situation, the story jumps ahead 15 years to when Beggiato may qualify for release because he has cancer. Each character tells his side of the tale in turn--Beggiato, sick and embittered with prison life, hopes Contin will write a letter to the court forgiving him for what he did so he can get a pardon or suspended sentence and enjoy his last days alive as a free man; Contin, who has obsessed over his wife's dying words--"Everything's gone dark, Silvano. I can't see anymore, I'm scared, scared, help me, it's so dark"--for the last 15 years, is bitter and enraged, and has no intention of forgiving Beggiato for what he did. Unless . . . there's something in it for him . . .

Contin concocts a plan--a way to use Beggiato's release to get back at him and his unknown accomplice. Meanwhile, Beggiato bides his time and plays the system, hoping to get out of jail, find his accomplice and share the stolen wealth. He'd like to use the money to escape to Brazil and live out his days in luxury, but as it happens, Contin has other plans . . .

It's interesting to compare the characters. They are both crafty and unscrupulous when it comes to using the judicial system to get what they want. In that respect, the two are much more alike than they are different. However, while Beggiato is a killer, you get the sense that he never really wanted to kill anyone and he seems to live by some sort of code (for instance, he never rats out his accomplice); Contin, after years of harboring deep-seated rage over the murders, appears to have lost his moral compass and is willing to do anything to get revenge.

The events in the book are chilling and Venuti's English translation has a kind of lyrical quality that may come from its Italian origins. Without giving anything away, I'll just put it like this. By the time you reach the epilogue, you have to wonder: Who is the more honorable of the two men? Who is the real cold-blooded sociopath? And how ironic is it that things end up as they do because the system allowed it?