In 1992, as Italy works to cleanse itself of corruption, a hack journalist is hired to ghostwrite a memoir about a never-to-be-published gossip rag in order to cover up the real rationale for its fakery. This gripping story from the author of The Name Of The Rose is told with all the power of a master storyteller.New York Times Paperback Row One of Vulture's '7 Books You Need to Read this November' Included on the Los Angeles Times 's 'Holiday Books Roundup' One of Bloomberg Business 's 'Eight Books for Your Holiday Reading' One of The Millions 'Most Anticipated' from the Second Half of 2015 One of the Sun Herald 's 'Ten noteworthy fiction and nonfiction titles on the way' December 2015 Indie Next Pick 'Witty and wry.slim in pages but plump in satire about modern 's hard not to be charmed by the zest of the author.'-Tom Rachman, New York Times Book Review 'Frequently imitated for his amalgamation of intellect, conspiracism, and historical suspense, the author of In the Name of the Rose takes a more contemporary and satirical turn. Fuelled by media hoaxes, Mafiosi, love, gossip and murder, Numero Zero reverberates with the clash of the cynical forces that have shaped Italy since the last days of World War II. But when a body is found, stabbed to death in a back alley and the paper is shut down, even he is jolted out of his complacency. As Colonna gets to know the team of journalists, he learns the paranoid theories of Braggadocio who is convinced that Mussolini's corpse was a body-double and part of a wider Fascist plot. His subject: a fledgling newspaper, which happens to be financed by a powerful media magnate. Colonna, a depressed writer picking up hack work, is offered a fee he can't refuse to ghost-write a memoir. The precise circumstances of Il Duce's death remain shrouded in confusion and controversy.

Mussolini and his mistress are captured by local partisans and shot in a summary execution. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★4 Reviews Sign in to write a reviewġ945, Lake Como.

Umberto Eco (author), Richard Dixon (translator)

Numero zero book review