Carofiglio, Gianrico: The Past is a Foreign Country (24.09.08)

A positively brilliant psychological study of the insidious effects of 'hero' worship when a law student is led astray by a charismatic man of about the same age (ealy/mid 20s) whom he meets at a party. Very much in the Patricia highsmith vein and completely believable with the early loss of morality coming in small doses once the first step has been taken. The parallel police investigation seems irrelevant until near the end when the denouement provides some sort of salvation. An excellent study of a flawe human being from an Italian master.