Let me cut to the chase - I didn't expect to be reviewing a YA thriller translated into Italian. But here's how it happened: Linda signed us up for some couples' Italian class (her idea of "retirement enrichment"), and my tutor suggested I listen to Italian audiobooks to train my ear. So there I was, 11 PM on a Tuesday, Ranger curled up on his bed, me nursing a bourbon and listening to a teenage girl solve a kidnapping in a language I'm still butchering at restaurants.
And you know what? I got hooked.
Pippa Fitz-Amobi Is Not Your Average Teen Detective
So this is book two in Holly Jackson's series - the first one, Come uccidono le brave ragazze, won a British Book Award, which tracks. The setup here is sharp: Pippa solved a double murder case in book one, turned it into a viral podcast, and swore off investigating. Then someone close to her disappears, and she's dragged back in. The real-time podcast angle - recording a second season as the investigation unfolds - is a clever structural move that actually raises the stakes instead of just being a gimmick.
What surprised me is how Jackson handles the psychological cost. Pippa doesn't bounce back clean from book one. She's carrying damage, and that weight affects her decisions in ways that feel earned rather than melodramatic. I've seen people come back from deployments trying to pretend they're fine, and the way Pippa white-knuckles her way through this investigation while clearly not okay - that landed for me, even in translation.
The mystery itself moves at a solid clip across those ten hours. Jackson plants enough false leads to keep you guessing without resorting to cheap misdirection. There's a mid-book revelation around the missing person's connections that genuinely caught me off guard, and I say that as someone who's spent decades reading threat assessments and spotting patterns.
Contestabile Carries It - With One Caveat
Elisa Contestabile has the right voice for this. Young enough to sell Pippa's age, controlled enough to handle the thriller tension. Italian listeners have noted she fits the genre well, and I'd agree - there's an urgency in her delivery during the investigation scenes that pulls you forward. She doesn't oversell the emotional beats, which I respect. When Pippa's scared, Contestabile goes quiet rather than loud. Smart choice.
Here's my caveat, though: this is a single narrator handling a decent-sized cast, and while Contestabile manages the main characters fine, some of the secondary voices blend together. During a couple of tense group scenes, I had to rewind to figure out who was talking. Could be partly my still-developing Italian ear, but I don't think that accounts for all of it.
The YA Question - And Why It Doesn't Matter Much
Look, I'm a retired colonel in my fifties reviewing a book marketed at teenagers. I'm aware of how that reads. But good plotting is good plotting. Jackson clearly did her homework on how amateur investigations actually work - the dead ends, the ethical gray areas, the way obsession with solving something can destroy everything around you. The content warnings are real (violence, some disturbing themes around abuse), so this isn't light stuff despite the YA label.
Where it does feel YA is in some of the relationship dynamics and the occasional moment where Pippa makes a decision that had me muttering "no one with tactical sense would do that" at my phone. But she's seventeen. Seventeen-year-olds make dumb brave choices. That's not a flaw in the writing - that's the character.
The Italian translation reads naturally from what I can tell, and at 1.25x speed, the pacing felt right. Not too breathless, not dragging.
SITREP
Worth your time? Here's the debrief: Brave ragazze, cattivo sangue is a well-constructed sequel that improves on its predecessor's formula by adding real-time pressure and genuine psychological consequences. It's not going to replace le Carré on my shelf, but it kept me engaged for ten hours, taught me some Italian vocabulary I probably won't use in polite company, and made Ranger perk up his ears during at least two plot twists. For a YA thriller in a foreign language, that's a win.
Who should listen: Language learners looking for a gripping listen to train their ear, thriller fans who don't mind the YA label, or anyone who liked the first book and wants higher stakes. Who should skip: If you need your mysteries gritty and adult-only, or if you have zero patience for teenage decision-making, this one's not your mission.
Jackson writes mysteries the way good ops should run - tight planning, controlled chaos, and just enough things going wrong to keep everyone honest. Wonder Woman: Warbringer runs on similar fuel - a young protagonist who shouldn't be capable of pulling it off, carrying psychological weight the whole way through, and plot mechanics tight enough that I didn't spot the seams until after.
