The Enigma of Desire, Castelvecchi editore, the book by Paolino Cantalupo, psychiatrist and essayist, professor of Clinical Psychopathology at the Specialization School of Integrated Strategic Psychotherapy in Rome, will be presented tomorrow, Thursday 3 April, at 18.30:230 pm, at the Feltrinelli bookshop (Corso Vittorio Emanuele, XNUMX, Salerno).
Article Key Points
An unmissable event for lovers of mystery. Spy story that becomes economic and political thriller.
Speakers: Giuseppe Fauceglia, Andrea Manzi and Alfonso Sarno. The author will be present.
During the presentation, excerpts from the book will be read and the author will answer questions from the audience. A book signing will follow.
THE NOVEL
Set in New York, The Enigma of Desire is a novel to understand contemporary geopolitics, a spy story that reveals the hidden plots of global finance and the work of secret services, a thriller that moves on the double track of passion and mystery. The setting is current events of our time, war, business, Putin and Russia, Zelensky and Ukraine, rare earths, Africa and the Middle East.
News from newspapers such as the Russian periodical Novaya Gazeta, reports from iStories, Bellingcat, Pro-ekt, Reuters, as well as the magazines Limes, Wired, Inside Over, Africa intelligence and Africa ExPress become, in fact, the support for a thriller that overturns the rules of the genre to embrace perspectives of close topicality.
The plot revolves around a crime and is filled with a varied gallery of characters, secret agents, criminals and ambiguous figures, who contribute to creating an atmosphere of vertigo and danger.
PLOT
Adham teaches psychiatry at the University, but his life is turned upside down in an attempt to save his brother Orion accused of Selena's murder. Contacted by his brother's girlfriend, Elena, with whom he will later fall in love, the psychiatrist finds himself catapulted into a world alien to him, governed by unscrupulous individuals who act only for sex, violence, money. An erotic thriller framed in an international intrigue, with the protagonist who finds himself catapulted, against his will, into the dark world from America to the Eastern Mediterranean, passing through Africa, to then return to New York where the story begins and ends. The common thread is Adham's life and thoughts, his weaknesses, his desires. A plot full of twists and turns with tight dialogues that manage to describe today's world and its hottest scenarios, from the Middle Eastern crisis to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, from the countries in revolt on the African continent to the Asian tigers, passing through Cyprus and Turkey. A story that nails the reader, page after page, in a long film sequence, through chapters that, like psychoanalysis rooms, lay bare the most hidden secrets of the Self.
PAOLINO CANTALUPO
Psychiatrist and essayist, he is professor of Clinical Psychopathology at the School of Specialization in Integrated Strategic Psychotherapy in Rome.
He taught Competition and Management at the University of Naples Parthenope and Psychology of Cultural Consumption at the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples.
He is the author of numerous scientific publications in international medical journals and many of his contributions have appeared in art criticism journals.
Among his publications we recall Healing with Cinema (Tullio Pironti, 2008) and The Missing Self (with A. Carotenuto, A. Masullo, S. Piro, Loggia de' Lanzi, 1997).
The Enigma of Desire is his first novel.
Article published on 2 April 2025 - 17:37
This book seems really interesting and the presentation promises to be a remarkable event. Too bad it is at the same time as other commitments, I would have liked to attend to hear more about the plot and the author.