Ratking (novel)

1988 novel by Michael Dibdin

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Ratking

First edition

Author| Michael Dibdin
Language| English
Series| Aurelio Zen series, #1
Genre| Crime, Mystery novel
Publisher| Faber and Faber

Publication date

| April 5, 1988
Publication place| United Kingdom
Media type| Print (Hardback, Paperback)
Pages| 288 pp (hardback) 292 (paperback)
ISBN| 0-571-15147-7
OCLC| 17262947
Followed by| Vendetta

Ratking is a 1988 novel by Michael Dibdin, and is the first book in the popular Aurelio Zen series, introducing readers to the Italian police commissario's morally shady world. On publication it won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger for fiction.

## Plot

[edit]

Police Commissioner Aurelio Zen has crossed swords with the establishment before - and lost. From the depths of a mundane desk job in Rome counting paperclips, to which he has been exiled through political fallout from the Aldo Moro kidnapping and murder, he is unexpectedly transferred to Perugia. Unbeknownst to him, favours have been called in and words have been whispered into ears. He is to take over a kidnapping case involving one of Italy's most powerful families, with control of a business empire at stake. The missing head of the family is a big benefactor of one of Italy's main political parties and pressure is being applied. Zen contends with local power politics and troubled relationships with his mother and girlfriend, while employing some distinctly unorthodox methods and skirting the borderline of the permissible in a race to get results before he is removed from the case through political pressure.

## TV adaptation

[edit]

The novel was adapted for television by the BBC, starring Rufus Sewell in the title role. It was aired in January 2011.

## External links

[edit]

* BBC Programme page: Zen - Ratking

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Novels by Michael Dibdin

Aurelio Zen series|

* Ratking (1988)
* Vendetta (1990)
* Cabal (1992)
* Dead Lagoon (1994)
* Cosi Fan Tutti (1996)
* A Long Finish (1998)
* Blood Rain (1999)
* And Then You Die (2002)
* Medusa (2003)
* Back to Bologna (2005)
* End Games (2007)
* Television series (2011)

Other novels|

* The Last Sherlock Holmes Story (1978)
* A Rich Full Death (1986)
* The Tryst (1989)
* Dirty Tricks (1991)
* The Dying of the Light (1993)
* Dark Spectre (1995)
* Thanksgiving (2000)

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Gold Dagger Award

1955–1959|

* The Little Walls by Winston Graham (1955)
* The Second Man by Edward Grierson (1956)
* The Colour of Murder by Julian Symons (1957)
* Someone from the Past by Margot Bennett (1958)
* Passage of Arms by Eric Ambler (1959)

1960–1969|

* The Night of Wenceslas by Lionel Davidson (1960)
* The Spoilt Kill by Mary Kelly (1961)
* When I Grow Rich by Joan Fleming (1962)
* The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré (1963)
* The Perfect Murder by H. R. F. Keating (1964)
* The Far Side of the Dollar by Ross Macdonald (1965)
* A Long Way to Shiloh by Lionel Davidson (1966)
* Murder Against the Grain by Emma Lathen (1967)
* Skin Deep by Peter Dickinson (1968)
* A Pride of Heroes by Peter Dickinson (1969)

1970–1979|

* Young Man I Think You're Dying by Joan Fleming (1970)
* The Steam Pig by James H. McClure (1971)
* The Levanter by Eric Ambler (1972)
* The Defection of A. J. Lewinter by Robert Littell (1973)
* Other Paths to Glory by Anthony Price (1974)
* The Seven-Per-Cent Solution by Nicholas Meyer (1975)
* A Demon in My View by Ruth Rendell (1976)
* The Honourable Schoolboy by John le Carré (1977)
* The Chelsea Murders by Lionel Davidson (1978)
* Whip Hand by Dick Francis (1979)

1980–1989|

* The Murder of the Maharaja by H. R. F. Keating (1980)
* Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith (1981)
* The False Inspector Dew by Peter Lovesey (1982)
* Accidental Crimes by John Hutton (1983)
* The Twelfth Juror by B. M. Gill (1984)
* Monkey Puzzle by Paula Gosling (1985)
* Live Flesh by Ruth Rendell (1986)
* A Fatal Inversion by Barbara Vine (1987)
* Ratking by Michael Dibdin (1988)
* The Wench Is Dead by Colin Dexter (1989)

1990–1999|

* Bones and Silence by Reginald Hill (1990)
* King Solomon's Carpet by Barbara Vine (1991)
* The Way Through the Woods by Colin Dexter (1992)
* Cruel and Unusual by Patricia Cornwell (1993)
* The Scold's Bridle by Minette Walters (1994)
* The Mermaids Singing by Val McDermid (1995)
* Popcorn by Ben Elton (1996)
* Black & Blue by Ian Rankin (1997)
* Sunset Limited by James Lee Burke (1998)
* A Small Death in Lisbon by Robert Wilson (1999)

2000–2009|

* Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem (2000)
* Sidetracked by Henning Mankell (2001)
* The Athenian Murders by José Carlos Somoza (2002)
* Fox Evil by Minette Walters (2003)
* Blacklist by Sara Paretsky (2004)
* Silence of the Grave by Arnaldur Indriðason (2005)
* Raven Black by Ann Cleeves (2006)
* The Broken Shore by Peter Temple (2007)
* Blood from Stone by Frances Fyfield (2008)
* A Whispered Name by William Brodrick (2009)

2010–2019|

* Blacklands by Belinda Bauer (2010)
* Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin (2011)
* The Rage by Gene Kerrigan (2012)
* Dead Lions by Mick Herron (2013)
* This Dark Road to Mercy by Wiley Cash (2014)
* Life or Death by Michael Robotham (2015)
* Dodgers by Bill Beverly (2016)
* The Dry by Jane Harper (2017)
* The Liar by Steve Cavanagh (2018)
* The Puppet Show by M. W. Craven (2019)

2020–present|

* Good Girl, Bad Girl by Michael Robotham (2020)
* We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker (2021)
* Sunset Swing by Ray Celestin (2022)
* The Kingdoms of Savannah by George Dawes Green (2023)
* Tell Me What I Am by Una Mannion (2024)

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