The book starts in 1993 when 16 year old Elisa Claps goes missing inside the supposed bastion of all that is good, a Catholic Church in Potenza, Italy. We traverse the with Elisa`s family the journey that started out with such a clear cut belief as to whom the perpetrator was likely to be and walk with them as they confront disinterest, obstruction, power, caste, failure and the ability that those with influence in Potenza use to ensure that justice will not be done.
We travel to Bournemouth in England where in 2003 Heather Barnett whose neighbour is the exact same person to whom fingers were pointed in Potenza, is found murdered with tell tale signs that mirror those very strange behaviours that Danilo Restivo is known for, with a family in Italy consumed with the hunt for Justice and a family in England determined to find the truth and the substantial help of those who did care, the bizarre finding of Elisa`s body in the same church from whence she vanished, the stories of those who had had strange and frightening encounters with Restivo, one feels as if one is reading a thriller but no, this is all true and in the very capable hands of Tobias Jones, this story is told with a dignity and respect that honours the victims, their families, friends and those who so lifted them in support, it also tells the story of those who did not. For 17 years the brave and courageous Claps family waited for some closure, for the pieces that had been unearthed to all fit together....
Gripping, horrifying but never gratuitous, to say much more would spoil it for those who want to read it.
Amanda Knox who was jailed for Murder in Italy was a lucky girl to get out alive from a most disingenuous judicial system, truly frightening to think of even going there let alone getting so much as a parking ticket.
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