The patience of the spider

One of the most iconic detectives in crime fiction begins to feel the weight of the years. And of loneliness. But like the wines he so enjoys, Salvo Montalbano gains more personality and flavor with the passing of time. Refined, a lover of the pleasures of fine dining, and averse to violence, he analyzes his own trajectory with the same sharp intellect with which he solves the most intricate mysteries. In *The Patience of the Spider*, a sad and depressed Commissioner Montalbano, tormented by an existential crisis, asks himself: is it possible for a man to reach the end of his career and rebel against everything he fought to maintain? Convalescing after a near-commitment to death in one of his previous adventures, cared for by his faithful and beloved Lívia, he reevaluates his beliefs, his life dedicated to a justice system in which he no longer blindly believes. Amid moral digressions, he realizes that the criminals he helped arrest are unfortunate victims of an equally imperfect system. And sometimes what he believed to be right was deemed wrong by the justice system. So, would it be better to follow the law or one's own conscience? Montalbano is pulled from this self-examination by a call from his colleagues in the Vigàta police force: a motorcycle has been stolen. Unable to understand why they would disturb him for so little, the inspector soon discovers that the beautiful college student who was driving it, Suzanne Mistretta, was also stolen. Despite anonymous phone calls to the family and a photo of the kidnapped girl, Montalbano believes there is more to the case. And he will be the only one capable of finding the thread in a web woven with patience and cruelty...