Black Run by Antonio Manzini
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"[...] came back with a bottle of gin and two glasses.
'Is it true that policemen on duty do not drink?'
'Yes', Rocco answered and poured himself a drink."

Ha ha. By the way, how does one translate a sarcastic emoji into written English? Black Run (2013) is my first novel by Antonio Manzini, the Italian author compared, among others, to Andrea Camilleri, Donna Leon, and Henning Mankell. I have read the book in Polish translation (Czarna Trasa). The blurb on the cover enthuses over the author's mastery in creating an "amazing" protagonist. Unfortunately, as usual I disagree with the blurb: if anything is amazing it would be the degree of psychological implausibility of the portrayal. Yet, the criminal plot is indeed interesting and the reader will find some amusing observations of the Italian society.

As a result of unspecified past misdeeds Rocco Schiavone, a police Deputy-Chief from Rome, has been transferred - "banished" would be a better word - to Aosta in Northern Italy. The plot begins with a body of a man, badly mangled by a snow groomer, found on a ski slope near the alpine resort of Champoluc. The investigation poses quite a challenge for Rocco: he does not understand the local culture in this mountain village where all inhabitants seem to be related to each other. His progress is hindered by ineptitude of lower-level police officers and micromanaging meddling by his superiors; the only help he receives comes from a cliché sidekick, a young, locally-born police inspector, Italo Pierron. Despite all obstacles Rocco solves the case: in a cleverly designed denouement he provides a stage for the guilty party to be revealed.

There are several other threads in the novel, parallel to the rather standard police procedural story. When Rocco learns from his friends on the police force about an incoming transport of marijuana he enlists his sidekick Pierron to seize the load; the thread has a rather surprising ending. Rocco's love for his wife is a separate story, which I find quite touching, even if it is printed in italics.

The Italian male author seems to lampoon the stereotypes of an Italian male: to use a euphemism, Deputy-Chief Schiavone considers every encountered woman a sexual target. Is it satire, though, or perhaps just a sociological observation?

Rocco is a truly unconventional policeman. In addition to his unspecified past misdeeds he has a custom of hitting suspects during interrogation, following the rule established by Monty Python: "if he is a suspect, he must be guilty." Moreover, the author does not avoid one of the most common clichés of the detective genre: a detective must have one strange characteristic. Rocco cares deeply about his shoes. Clarks shoes are mentioned many times. Was the author paid by the company?

All in all, a marginally recommended read, mainly because of the affecting thread about Rocco's wife.

Two and three quarter stars.

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