Naked and pale, and covered in blood, a young woman barefooted wanders through the dimly lit landscape of southern Italy's Apulia. Stripes are visible along her legs, bruises on her hips, and her face is swollen. When she finally reaches the road, the headlights of a truck are the last thing she sees. A murder disguised as suicide by her father, the construction magnate Vittorio Salvemini, who rose to wealth from nothing, becomes the climax of a career built on greed, violence, corruption, and extortion. In the end, it is the brother who will avenge his sister and destroy their father. Nicola Lagioia dissects in "Cold South" with powerful yet often gentle language the darkest sides of human nature that emerge in the relentless pursuit of power, prestige, recognition, and respect.