Pubblicato ora in Italia. Una versione moderna del dramma scozzese, questa volta ambientato in una città rovinata dalla corruzione e dalla droga. Duncan vuole ripulire la città e promuove Macbeth come capo dell’Unità del Crimine Organizzato. Ma Macbeth vuole prendere il posto di Duncan e riportare in vita la città e non si fermerà davanti a niente per farlo.
As an English graduate, I am a big fan of Shakespeare. In the last few years, to celebrate the 400th anniversary from his death, it was created the Hogarth series that presents a modern retelling of Shakespeare’s plays. Authors like Jeanette Winterson, Margaret Atwood, Anne Tyler, and Tracy Chevalier, to name a few, have recreated a modern version of plays like The Tempest, The Winter’s Tale, King Lear, Othello and more. This year is the turn of an author I have come to love in the past few months, one of the most famous Nordic authors and the creator of the Harry Hole series (of which I reviewed The Snowman), Jo Nesbo, who rewrote my second favorite Shakespearean novel, Macbeth (my absolute favorite is A Midsummer Night’s Dream).
Jo Nesbo set the novel in the 1970s in a nameless town, a town corrupted by crime and drug. Duncan is the Chief Commissioner who leads the town’s war on drug. At his side there is his second, Malcolm, Duff (or MacDuff in the play) who dreams of becoming the Head of the Organised Crime Unit, and Macbeth, the head of the SWAT team.
When Duncan promotes Macbeth as the Head of the Organised Crime Unit, Strega, one of the witches, prophesizes him that he will become Chief Commissioner. So together with Lady (who in this modern version in the owner of the Inverness Casino), they come up with a plan to get rid of Duncan, Malcolm, and all those who risk to oppose him. And so he begins the blood path.
I literally couldn’t put down this book. The writing is captivating, the setting is gloomy, and the characters are simply well-crafted, especially Macbeth. Even though, I knew how it was going to end, I hoped for a salvation of Macbeth. Even if you don’t like Shakespeare, this is a fantastic and superb action-thriller, one of these that will keep you up at night!
