The Book of Hidden Things - Douglas Kennedy Prize for Best Foreign Thriller VSD and RTL 2019, Francesco Dimitri

DOUGLAS KENNEDY AWARD FOR BEST VSD AND RTL INTERNATIONAL THRILLER 2019

There are four of them. Fabio, Tony, Mauro and Art. Four childhood friends who, true to the Pact that binds them, meet once a year in their native village in Southern Italy to celebrate friendship, the passage of time and dreams that are better pursued together.
But this year, Art, the most flamboyant of them all, is not there.
Art has disappeared. Again. Just like twenty-two years ago, that summer night when he ventured alone into an olive grove. There had been a scream, then silence, then nothingness.
No one ever knew what happened back then. Art had reappeared and life had gone on.
His friends suspect that this new disappearance is linked to the first. But it is also much more unsettling.
For over the years, Art has become a man who is both charismatic and mysterious, with shady connections and perplexing passions, walking a tightrope between reason and madness, as revealed by the manuscript found in his home: The Book of Hidden Things.
Under the scorching sun of Puglia, where the mafia controls every move, where ancient traditions still dictate daily life and where the supernatural is never far away, Art's disappearance will force everyone to confront their secrets, their betrayals and their ghosts.

“The Book of Hidden Things is a brilliant fusion of suspense and fantasy, with subtle writing and an enchanting atmosphere. It is a book about our inability to understand others, even those we think we are close to, and our inability to understand life itself.”
Douglas Kennedy