L'uomo con la Valigia by Mattias Berg

 L'Uomo con la Valigia

-The Carrier by Mattias Berg is intense, and will provoke several different feelings while you will be reading it.

The carrier, in this case Erasmus follows constantly the President of the United States wherever he goes. The carrier is a real character, a bit distant from the President and the other part of the delegation during the trips of the most important man of the world but you can always see him. He carries the codes of the nuclear weapons of the USA.

I felt a lot of nerves reading this book because I grew up with the spectre and nightmare of a nuclear attack. Hiroshima and Nagasaki to my point of view, must be the example of what can be done, in terms of horror by the humanity, avoiding new horrors like that ones!

I also hope that the carrier of President Biden wouldn't be like the one portrayed in the book, with double identities, but that, although his delicate role, he can cultivates a family, having interests because what told in this book presents us a character quiet distant from the common scheme or reality.

Erasmus, the carrier is an intelligent boy and he is intercepted by a teacher called by everyone Ingrid Bergam, at the high school. Understanding the high qualities of the boy she recommended him to West Point, where will be prepared for working in  the government of the United States. He becomes the carrier. 

But, what Erasmus still doesn't know, is that during these past years has been manipulated. Who is he? What happened to his existence? 

Who were the people he trusted? 

And who was the one asked him of leaving the President for the...unknown? 

He knows the name: Alpha. 

The story opens with the arrival of the President in Stockholm, a fact realistically lived last years, and the disappearance of the carrier and a nurse...It starts a trip for trying to delete all the nuclear bombs from this world, but maybe the story is completely different. We read of spies in this book, we read of a web of connections long decades; we read of love, feelings and secrets, we read of manipulations of people per decades and decades; we assist at changes of destines just for private purposes: more, no one knows what will happen next; plus the main question: could a person trust the other ones with which she/he is connected with, considering that sometimes they are like phantoms and everyone act like a phantom for the other one? 

There are scaring thematic in this book, not just the nuclear one. 

Nuclear bombs can be of "help" to the humanity because no one want to devastate the Planet irreversibly; the new weapons are much more powerful of the ones that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki and everyone love to enjoy the idea of a peaceful world, because there wouldn't be any return.

Being the author affectionated to Italy sets a part of the history in our country.

The only hope, that we must cultivate with strength is a strong reduction of nucelar weapons and where possible, the elimination of this intrument of terror and horror for the world. 

Highly recommended.

I thank Marsilio for the physical copy of this book.

Anna Maria Polidori