La città vuota (English: The Hollow City) is a 2019 Italian mystery novel by Elia P. Ansaloni.
Set in the city of Modena during a particularly hot summer, it revolves around the murder of Giada, a brilliant university student, and the improvised investigation put on by four of her former high school classmates. Things become more complicated once another mysterious death from five years before could be linked to the case: during a seaside vacation after the end of high school, their classmate Federico drowned in what was hastily written off as an accident. Could it be that someone is out to get revenge for his death?
La città vuota provides examples of:
- Academic Athlete: Alessandro is a water polo player and an accomplished Economics student at a prestigious university.
- Amateur Sleuth: The protagonists attempt this, given that they personally knew the victim. It only brings troubles to them at first but in the end, they find out the murderers.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: It progressively becomes clear that Giada wasn't really the perfect girl she seemed to be.
- Bittersweet Ending: On one hand, Alessandro is dead, Ander has been severely wounded and Giada's father is going to be indicted for murdering Alessandro's parents. On the other hand, however, all the culprits have been stopped and their scheme has been exposed, which will potentially save many lives. Also, Ander recovers from his wounds and the group is as tight as ever.
- Blackmail: It turns out to be the reason behind Giada and Alessandro's murders. Giada had found out about the Rovattis' embezzling and wanted to be paid for her silence. It turned out that Riccardo and Caterina had other ways to deal with such problems.
- Daddy's Girl: After their parents' divorce, Lucrezia lives with her father and the two are clearly close, even if he encourages her to talk more with her mother.
- Deadpan Snarker: Several characters, but Sergio and Matilde provide most of the sarcasm.
- Deconstruction
- Of Amateur Sleuth. The protagonists manage to obtain a discrete amount of information only because they know the victim and one of them almost dies after accidentally crossing one of the killers' path. Also, they don't have access to the instruments and freedom of action that is reserved to the police, and they can only get to the truth thanks to a confession left by Alessandro, although they deduce which password will unlock the access to said confession.
- Of Interclass Romance and Interclass Friendship. None of the four protagonists are particularly wealthy, and the relation between Lucrezia and the much richer Alessandro ends bitterly as he doesn't really consider her his equal. Also, Alessandro sees the rest of the water polo team as underlings, which strains his friendship with Ander.
- Dirty Coward: While Alessandro tends to react aggressively to any problem he faces, deep down he has no courage. He gets killed for it when he prefers to delay his confession to get a chance to evade justice, which only gives the killer enough time to reach him while he's still under the police radar.
- Empathic Environment: Modena is stuck in a heat wave, with a torrid weather that underlies the protagonists' impotence against the killer. Once the case is solved, it finally starts raining again.
- Foil: Alessandro is one to Ander. They both are athletes and popular during high school, but Ander is a true team player and a nice guy overall, where Alessandro only sees his team and other people in general as being under him. While Ander can be self-conscious about several things, he finds the courage to face his fears; Alessandro instead puts on a smug façade to cover his own deep cowardice.
- Formerly Fat: Sergio used to be a chubby kid during middle school.
- Formerly Fit: Ander used to play water polo during high school but, after some time of inactivity, he's worried about becoming fat, even if his girlfriend thinks he's overreacting and, if anything, he's a Big Beautiful Man.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: The four main characters fit the trope nicely.
- Lucrezia is choleric — the de facto leader of the group and the one with most initiative.
- Ander is sanguine — easygoing and friendly with almost everyone, although quite naive.
- Sergio is melancholic — sarcastic and methodical, not really in touch with his emotional side.
- Matilde is phlegmatic — The Heart of the group and willing to stay in the background despite being very resourceful.
- Friend on the Force: Sort of. Police chief Caselli knows Sergio because he investigated when the latter's father was injuried in a case of vehicular manslaughter. It works in the opposite sense than the usual one, as Sergio doesn't get filed information from him but rather shares with him what he has obtained from Daniele's... improvised interrogation, knowing Caselli will trust him without asking too much about how he has found out those details.
- The "Fun" in "Funeral": During Alessandro's funeral, Sergio can't stop cracking dark jokes due to his anxiety, and Ander tries to stop him. Hilarity Ensues.
- Honest Corporate Executive: Riccardo, Alessandro's father, is much more level-headed than his son and expects him to become an adequate inheritor for his company. He even offers Ander a jobs interview soon after the latter has obtained a degree, saying that he values greatly someone who is both smart and reasonable like Ander. It's all just a façade, since Riccardo is both more corrupt and twisted than Alessandro, and the same can be said about his wife Caterina.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The chapter titles are taken from the lyrics of famous Italian songs.
- Lovable Jock: Ander is a former water polo player and a really friendly guy.
- Noodle Incident: Vuk somehow prevented a theft with a relatively small spanner as an Improvised Weapon.
- Running Gag: Everyone seems to know that Vuk has stopped two burglars using only a spanner.
- Sarcastic Title: The song after which the book is named is about a woman feeling alone in a city full of people because she's not with her loved one. In the story, Modena is almost deserted because of the heat and people leaving for vacation, and Lucrezia couldn't be happier if only her former boyfriend Alessandro stayed away from her.
- Show Within a Show: Or better, book within a book. Sergio is an avid reader of detective novels, especially the ones written by Evelyn Bancroft. There are some passages dedicated to the fictional book The Eye of Astarte.
- Take That!: The book doesn't spare its vitriol towards the Italian judicial system and the light sentences it often applies to heinous crimes.
- Titled After the Song: The book is named after Città vuota sung by Mina.
- True Companions: The main group formed during high school and they have been close friends even after. The last chapter implies that they will keep being friends for the rest of their lives.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: In a funny twist, the epilogue only details what has happened to secondary characters, spanning from comedic to dramatic to simply trivial.
