Carlo Bonini e Giancarlo De Cataldo, Sandrone Dazieri, Marcello Fois, Bruno Morchio, Enrico Pandiani

It's easy to imagine evil personified as a monster or a demon, to remove it from the sphere of the reality that surrounds us. Yet evil has countless faces - many of them quite familiar - and if we look evil in the eye, that's when it recognizes us and sows its seeds in our own hearts. The six authors probe the underside of contemporary society - corruption, violence, lack of freedom or a rewarding occupation - and analyze just how close evil is, when it's understood as going against moral obligations, not just the law. We ourselves have possibly experienced it, seduced by its flattery, sure it will solve all our problems. By personifying ambition, lack of trust, flight from responsibility or betrayal, the five tales reveal that this evil is part of us, and that if we have fallen into temptation even once, we were, partly at least, guilty ourselves.

Carlo Bonini (1967, Rome),  who formerly worked for "l Manifesto" and "Il Corriere della Sera", is now a top investigative reporter for "La Repubblica" as well as author of books such as Acab, which takes a hard look at the Italian police force and was made into a film: Il fiore del male, which tells the story of modern-day bandit Renato Vallanzasca; Guantanamo, a journey into the horror of the American prison; and La toga rossa, a biography of the judge Francesco Misiano.

Sandrone Dazieri (1964, Cremona), after publishing his first novel Attenti al Gorilla in 1999, was tapped to head Mondadori’s mystery line and then all books slated to appear on the newsstands. He is a screenwriter as well as novelist; his credits include La cura del Gorilla starring Claudio Bisio, directed by Carlo Sigon; Un gioco da ragazze by Matteo Rovere, and the TV series Squadra Antimafia. His latest novel, Uccidi il padre, came out this year.

Giancarlo De Cataldo (1956, Taranto), is a judge who is also a writer, translator, playwright and screenwriter for film and television; he also contributes to "La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno" and "Il Messaggero." He is the author of Romanzo criminale (winner of the 2003 Scerbanenco Prize), made into the film by Michele Placido and the TV series directed by Stefano Sollima.

Marcello Fois (1960, Nuoro), is a writer, playwright and screenwriter for film and television. He made his literary debut in 1992, with Ferro recente, followed by many other novels such as Sempre caro (winner of the 1998 Scerbanenco Prize). In 2012 his Nel tempo di mezzo was a finalist for the Strega Prize; his novel L'importanza dei luoghi comuni came out the following year.

Bruno Morchio (1954, Genoa), a writer and psychologist, won acclaim for his 2004 novel Bacci Pagano. Una storia da carruggi, which sparked interest in the novels he had written previously. This year Garzanti has published his new Bacci Pagano thriller, Un conto aperto con la morte.

Enrico Pandiani (1956, Turin) started out writing and drawing comic strips and is a book designer today. He made his novel-writing debut in 2009 with Les italiens, the first of four novels featuring police commissioner Mordenti. His 2013 novel La donna di troppo features private detective Zara Bosdaves.