De Luca is a |good cop| living through a dark period in Italian history. This first instalment in the enormously successful De Luca Trilogy is set in the final days of WW2. In addition to being a first-rate thriller, it is a compelling look at a very particular moment in Italian history. Lucarelli's sharp, incisive writing perfectly renders the period and the characters. De Luca, with his shoulder-shrugging, hip lip-biting and his perennial insomnia, is an ordinary man caught in extraordinary times; his insouciance is a perfect antidote to the era's fanaticism.