1983

Rome, June 22, 1983: young Vatican citizen Beatrice De Gregori disappears near the Senate. After ten days of fruitless searches, during the Angelus the Pope addresses the alleged kidnappers, asking for their release. This appeal unleashes the frenetic activity of the CIA, Stasi, and KGB. The Cold War allows for no holds barred, and even the De Gregori case can prove useful in putting enemies in difficulty. Mysterious and ruthless figures plot in the shadows—the Good Samaritan, the White Dove, Wolff, and Deep Throat—among whom Agent Maggio, journalist Cavaliere, and Judge Panatta are struggling to find their way to the truth. Loosely based on the story of Emanuela Orlandi, this novel, filled with fake news and false flags, blackmail and would-be kidnappers, exhumed bodies and rediscovered bones, mythomaniacs and unlikely confessions, skillfully reconstructs the historical and political context of a complex period of great transformation, intersecting with some of the most controversial events in Italian and international history, from the Moro affair to the attack on the Pope.