Oscar Martello is a misogynistic, bullying, corrupt and famous movie producer in Rome. His hedonistic world of celebrity comes to life with striking detail in We'll Sleep When We're Old, the debut novel by Italian journalist and television producer Pino Corrias.
Martello loves power and money more than anything: "I'm an anarchist, I dismantle power and I pocket it." He lies, cheats and carelessly betrays friends, wives, lovers and coworkers with tacit approval because his influence seems limitless. When one of his movies appears to flounder, Martello devises what seems to be the perfect publicity stunt to turn critical opinion and ensure his profit. He secretly sends Andrea Serrano, a screenwriter and the closest thing to a friend Martello has, and Jacaranda Rizzi, the beautiful but unstable star of the movie, to Paris in a disappearing act. The media frenzy over the actress's whereabouts will boost the movie, Martello knows, and he's right. But when Jacaranda leaves Paris and cannot be found and, simultaneously, Italian police investigate Martello's connection to money laundering and corruption, his world begins to collapse and his capacity for cruelty comes back to haunt him.
We'll Sleep When We're Old, with action between Rome and Paris, vividly describes the debauchery in Martello's world of La Dolce Roma, where "everyone is so damned guilty that no one ever really is." Even the most unlikable characters--of which Martello tops the list--are multidimensional and not merely vile. Fans of Elmore Leonard and Boogie Nights will enjoy this wild ride. --Cindy Pauldine, bookseller, the river's end bookstore, Oswego, N.Y.