It is 2013, we are in full economic crisis.

In Italy, as in the rest of the world, thousands of businesses are closing, freelancers are drifting between yet another customer who does not pay and creditors who raise cash.

This is the situation of Luca Pugliatti, a forty-year-old lawyer who opened his own firm years ago and who is now forced to fire even the last remaining assistant.
With the bank credit running out and the mortgage payment due, in the deserted office Luca thinks of the right words with which to inform his wife Emma of the impending catastrophe. An unexpected phone call, however, rekindles hope.
Stefano Galli, builder in the motorway sector and childhood friend of Luca, needs his services: first of all, he has to find an agreement with a pool of banks, led by Credito Ambrosiano, to which he owes around 200 million due to a real estate deal ended badly; second, to negotiate with the Libyan government to get a share in the construction of a new motorway network in the land of Africa.
If on the one hand Pugliatti finds himself elbowing with the team of lawyers of the bank with which he contracted the loan and with which he collaborated several times, on the other hand he has to deal with a country that has not yet reached political stability.
The game is therefore a dangerous one, but there are about 3 million euros on the plate, a figure that would guarantee a better future for him and Emma.
But at the table, not everything takes place according to the rules and Luca will have to investigate to try to put together a puzzle that has pieces scattered throughout the legal systems of half of Europe.
A gripping legal thriller that will thrill not only court and stock exchange buffs, but that will guide the reader through the insidious labyrinth of contractual clauses, also revealing several curiosities:
Did you know that in 2013, Germany was ranked in the top 10 of the least transparent countries in the world out of 82 ranked?

Caliceti’s writing allows you to fully immerse yourself in issues and situations that would otherwise be out of the reach of the layman, without ever exceeding legalese and, at the same time, respecting the reader’s abilities. I’m sure it won’t happen, but should something escape you, you can ask the author for clarification directly, since Caliceti will be with us in the Lilac Box on Thursday 31 March.

Further information on the event soon, stay tuned.

The last customer
Pietro Caliceti
Baldini & Castoldi
350 pages
year of publication: 2016