He is helped by Lo Spettro's daughter, Lucia with whom he forms a close relationship. Nic has to learn to behave as a gang member in order to be accepted by various criminal gang leaders due to meet for a conference during which Italian police hope to arrest them.

Nic's colleagues - Teresa Lupo, Leo Falcone, Gianni Peroni and their computer expert, Silvio - wait impatiently, cooling their heels in a small Calabrian seaside town - their 'holiday home' linked by encrypted computer to their bosses in Rome. Nic Costa goes undercover in Calabria to help bring in an 'Ndrangheta leader, Lo Spettro - 'The Ghost' - who wants to turn informer ('pentito') in return for witness protection for him and his family. Really enjoyed this and looking forward to the next in the series. I normally don't like gangster books (or TV/film) but this book focuses so much on the people that I didn't mind. I've read quite a few Costa books so I'm familiar with the characters and so already invested in them but I enjoyed seeing all of the team out of their comfort zone here and we get some different sides of personality.

Surprisingly the majority of this goes smoothly but there is always a risk in undercover operations and one small mistake leads to all kinds of problems. The whole book takes place over a number of days and Costa is taking part in an undercover operation to bring in head of crime family 'Ndrangheta and some extra villains he has promised the team. Luckily I'm on a heavy travel schedule for work so I didn't have to and for to actually keep the pages turning. When I did I decided by the synopsis I wasn't going to like it and then ended up proving myself wrong because I found it really engrossing and couldn't put it down. I downloaded this from netgalley as I like the author then didn't read it for a few months.

The savage shore david hewson