The Transaction

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Pub Date 01 May 2020 | Archive Date 30 Jun 2020

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Description

A property harbouring a gruesome secret goes up for sale. Two men—perhaps, the wrong men—are shot in plain daylight. Nothing is what it seems. And matters do not turn out as anticipated. De Angelis, an inscrutable northerner, is travelling to a small town perched somewhere in Sicily’s hinterland to negotiate a real estate transaction, only to find himself embroiled in a criminal conspiracy. While en route, the train he’s on mysteriously breaks down, forcing him to spend the night in a squalid whistle stop. What follows is a web of unsettling events, involving child prostitution and brazen killings, leading to the abrupt demise of his business deal. But De Angelis is undeterred and intent on discovering what went wrong with his transaction. As he embarks on a reckless sleuthing, an unexpected turn of events sends him into a tailspin. At the heart of it is an alluring blue-eyed girl, Marinella. The chance encounter with the eleven-year-old traps him in a psychological and moral cul-de-sac, leaving him no choice but to confront the type of man he really is. Told in a cinematic, darkly humorous genre-bending prose, The Transaction traces De Angelis’ Kafkaesque descent into deviancy.

A property harbouring a gruesome secret goes up for sale. Two men—perhaps, the wrong men—are shot in plain daylight. Nothing is what it seems. And matters do not turn out as anticipated. De Angelis...


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EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781771834544
PRICE $20.00 (USD)
PAGES 236

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Average rating from 12 members


Featured Reviews

This is written in an interesting, but simple style that is designed to feel off kilter. I assume this is why a number of things seemed to happen for no reason or not related to the plot. I tend toward novels with more "realism" in them. So this was OK for me. It has some good twists and was certainly unpredictable. I don't think this will have wide appeal but will be appreciated by a certain segment.

Thanks very much for the ARC for review!!

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Mr. D’Izzia offers a fabulous debut novel that reads like an immediate classic. It is at once grotesque and menacing, dark and humorous, subtle and bold. The Transaction offers complex characters and a wide yet jarring landscape that all close in on an ambiguous (but somehow endearing) protagonist, De Angelis. 

The author’s acute depiction of the human kind seems so relevant to our times: everyone rooting for themselves above all else, avoiding every fact that would threaten their own immediate future.

The narrative style evokes the works of European modernists such as Camus and Kafka. Each word is a deceptively simple stroke that paints a vivid, cinematic tableau—this novel would translate very well into film.

I am not about to forget this book, nor the pair of blue eyes that steers its plot in a direction I never expected it to go.

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Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

A very Kafkaesque debut from D'Izzia about a businessman trip to a little Sicilian town to wrap up the titled Transaction. What follows is a decent into a sinister mystery involving stray dogs attacks, a case of mistaken identity, a mafia hit and what appears to be a paedophile spying on masturbating children. There is also the comic relief side issue of the protagonists relationship with his landlady.

On the surface it appears little more than a detective story but with the unusual twist of the person doing the detecting being next to useless, but below the surface there is a creepy, at times hypnotic thread, that leaves you with a constant sense of dread in the background.

I enjoyed this for the most part, never outstaying it's welcome at just over 200 pages, but it still once or twice started to drag, but to the authors credit, any time this does happen, he brings it back round pretty quickly.

4 Stars for me, great work for a debut novel.

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De Angelis is on his way from Milan to Sicily to conclude a real estate transaction when his train is cancelled, stranding him. After much trouble, he finally arrive at his destination to find that his contact is not there to meet him. He asks around, encountering little co-operation, until he learns that his contact has been shot.

The villagers make it clear that De Angelis is not wanted and that he needs to go away, but he feels obliged to at least try to conclude his transaction, as his boss requires. He strings his boss along, unable to bring himself to give him the bad news.

De Angelis gradually descends from being a respectable businessman to a hounded and despised outsider, all in the context of a baking hot and grim village environment. Oddly, it reminded me of Alice in Wonderland, in that the protagonist finds himself in a strange world where he doesn't understand what people expect of him, doesn't know the rules and finds himself upsetting people constantly.

This is a pretty raw and confronting story. Probably not for everybody, but certainly interesting, and different.

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The Transaction
By Guglielmo D’Izzia
This novel makes me want to visit Italy. This novel also makes me NOT want to visit Italy. There are numerous dichotomous images and events in this novel that leave the reader unsettled.
Our protagonist is a man by the name of De Angelis. De Angelis is tasked with visiting a small town in Sicily to broker a real estate deal. Sounds simple? Nope. Whatever could go wrong does. The trip itself is filled with catastrophe with everything from a broken down train where the passengers have to walk in the scorching heat to the nearest town, to being attacked by feral dogs. All of this happens BEFORE De Angelis meets up with the people who have hired him. Not that it matters, these people have been murdered by the mafia on their way to meeting him at the train station. Of course, this crime leads the authorities to suspect our protagonist’s arrival in their town.
On this journey, De Angelis meets with all sorts of people of questionable moral character. De Angelis often struggles with doing “what is right”.
At times this novel is humorous, especially in the way our protagonist views the events he experienced, however, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread while I was reading.
This isn’t a long read, and it moves at a fast pace. If you like suspenseful and atmospheric novels, you will enjoy this one.
Thank you Netgalley and Guernica Editions for a free copy.

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