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Who is Rocco?
Rocco Schiavone was born in Rome, in one of the city’s poorer neighbourhoods. Together with three friends, he had his first experiences with crime as a teenager, all in all offences of a fairly minor nature. While his friends remained loyal to the trade, Rocco decided to become a policeman – and he not only became a police officer on patrol, but quickly made it to vicequestore in the state police, responsible for serious crimes, especially murders.
Rocco is not a great believer in authority, but rather follows his instincts when it comes to solving crimes. He stumbles a few times, but nothing can be proven against him. Eventually … he is transferred. His clearance rate has always been quite high and he is recognised as a good investigator – which protects him from an internal investigation, subsequent dismissal from the police force and possible prosecution. Fool’s errand: Rocco is transferred to the Aosta Valley – the end of the world for him.
Rocco is angry about this. He has always been irritable and rude. He has always said straight out what annoyed him and got on his nerves. He’s never really been interested in the other person and their feelings. He bumps into things, runs into walls … often opens doors with his Swiss army knife without a court order. In short, he makes enemies.
His new team in Aosta likes him, doesn’t like him … He doesn’t like most of them either, because he thinks they’re stupid. Incidentally, he thinks many of the people he meets are stupid, boring, narrow-minded …
Rocco loves women, he needs women, but in Aosta no woman is allowed to get too close to him. One-night stands are fine, even several of them, but beyond that … Going on holiday together or even sharing a flat are a no-no. He is a macho man and behaves like one. So he also makes enemies of women.
But there is also Marina … Rocco meets Marina in Rome and falls in love with her at first sight. Marina sees him and immediately falls in love with him too. Marina comes from a wealthy family and works as a restaurateur. They marry and are happy. Rocco does everything he can to provide Marina with a good life, even if he occasionally fails to comply with the law and diverts money that comes to him in the course of investigations. There is a brief crisis when Marina finally discovers this, but neither of them can live without each other …
Shortly afterwards, Rocco investigates a serious case in the drug milieu. He is successful, but one of the perpetrators who has escaped tries to shoot him – and fatally shoots Marina. Rocco takes revenge, searches for and finds the perpetrator and kills him … in cold blood. He succeeds in covering up this affair.
Rocco cannot forget Marina – not in the time he is still in Rome, nor in Aosta, where he now works. He talks to Marina every day and in his mind she answers him. There is no room for another woman – and there will probably never be room for another. There is, however, room for a dog, which Rocco finds as a puppy.
Let’s go back to his youth and his three childhood friends. They are still friends, even though the three of them are now successfully active in the semi-secret milieu and make a lot of money. As a policeman, Rocco closes his eyes to this, but holds out his hand to be part of it all. When Marina is shot, they stand by him.
When he is working in Aosta, he receives a visit from the partner of one of these friends – no, not a one-night stand, not a secret affair. A criminal who has a score to settle with him for his revenge on Marina’s murderer breaks into Rocco’s flat at night and shoots the figure in bed. Rocco is not at home, so the bullet hits the partner of one of his friends. All four friends are horrified and swear revenge. One thing leads to another … Despair, revenge, the hunt for the gunman … Showdown.
Rocco may live and work in Aosta, but somehow his personal and professional cases keep taking him back to Rome … and time and again he comes within a hair’s breadth of an internal investigation.
When Rocco starts his day in the morning, now always accompanied by his dog, he loves to enjoy his espresso and cornetto in a small bar before settling behind his desk. There he shuts himself in and enjoys a joint. Then the day may begin … There’s always something to do … There are deaths, murders … There is smuggling, drug dealing … there are honourable citizens, who are involved in criminal activities, bur have good connections to high in rank people … there are foreign police units playing their games … Rocco can handle it all.
Is Rocco happy?
I don’t get the impression. He lives and tries to survive, can’t forget his wife … and is secretly disgusted by the crimes he is confronted with every day.
There are over twenty novels on Rocco Schiavone in Italian. I only know the ones translated into German … The books are exciting and vividly written, especially when Rocco lets the macho hang out … I haven’t seen the TV series.