- Paperback: 160 pages
- Publisher: Faber and Faber (5 May 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0571223397
- ISBN-13: 978-0571223398
- Product Dimensions: 21 x 13.2 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,007,240 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"'Classic noir intrigue with a sly literary twist or two... a pleasurably treacherous mystery.' Independent 'Prado conjures up a delicious and wonderfully satisfying dark tale that traverses the gamut of deadly sins. This excellent thriller combines the best elements of old-fashioned noir with a meaty, modern narrative.' Herald 'A smart thriller. Prado offers up the genre pleasures - the twists, a seductive, noir atmosphere - but he also scores with the psychological games. What's going on, who's the murderer, and who's running the show? Only at the close do we know.' GQ"
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Review
"'A page-turner, with rewarding imagery and ideas, a satisfying ending with a triple twist, and a pleasure to read' DBC Pierre"
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Is this what happens when writers take 1990s post-modernism and meta-narrative too seriously? This book has the first "narrative twist" I've ever encountered; so good, it could be used as a sample in creative writing.
I couldn't stop reading this book, I had to stay up late at night. Amazing translation into English too. I'm definitely going to read every book written by Benjamin Prado now.
I couldn't stop reading this book, I had to stay up late at night. Amazing translation into English too. I'm definitely going to read every book written by Benjamin Prado now.
Format:Paperback
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel by Benjamin Prado. The plot reads like a classic film noir ( I am guessing that someone no doubt will snap up the film rights sooner or later ) with the vulnerable, gullible Alcaen falling for the dubious charms of Laura Salinas. The downward spiral is tragic and filled with a twist or two that will keep your interest. The author has a great style and comes up with some unusual one liners and descriptions. I am looking forward to reading more works by the same author.
0 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'm annoyed with this book. It starts off with a proposition that one of three men we will meet in the course of the book "set off from his home last night, at about 11.30 to kill Laura Salinas." But nobody kills Laura Salinas in this book. No one even attempts to kill her and - she doesn't die. Someone else dies, but we know exactly who killed him. So why suggest that someone is out to kill another character? It's extraordinary, almost as if the writer has forgotten he wrote the prologue telling us who was going to be killed, and got caught up in another story entirely.
Benjamin Prado likes stories, he likes his protagonists to tell stories and he likes to hover at the edge of stories, such as what it's like to be the vet in charge of killing pigeons - nasty dirty things that he shoves in a gas chamber. The three main characters are a group of men who meet up regularly in a drinking club. They all have additional stories, as well as the central one, and they enjoy the mixture of invention, supposition and alcohol. The reader is challenged to guess which one is the murderer. But then the murder itself is described in detail. Confusions abound when trying to work out what was intended; but there is actually no confusion at all in the plot. All but one of the characters goes to prison in the end, which precludes the notion that maybe Laura Salinas was going to be killed outside of the plot in an act of revenge for her activities. This would only hold up if the murderer was going to break into a woman's prison to do it. But first he'd have to break out of his own prison cell. Strange, unsatisfying, even a bit ludicrous. Prado's writing style is declamatory, sinister and not actually very good. No doubt it reads better in its original Spanish.
Benjamin Prado likes stories, he likes his protagonists to tell stories and he likes to hover at the edge of stories, such as what it's like to be the vet in charge of killing pigeons - nasty dirty things that he shoves in a gas chamber. The three main characters are a group of men who meet up regularly in a drinking club. They all have additional stories, as well as the central one, and they enjoy the mixture of invention, supposition and alcohol. The reader is challenged to guess which one is the murderer. But then the murder itself is described in detail. Confusions abound when trying to work out what was intended; but there is actually no confusion at all in the plot. All but one of the characters goes to prison in the end, which precludes the notion that maybe Laura Salinas was going to be killed outside of the plot in an act of revenge for her activities. This would only hold up if the murderer was going to break into a woman's prison to do it. But first he'd have to break out of his own prison cell. Strange, unsatisfying, even a bit ludicrous. Prado's writing style is declamatory, sinister and not actually very good. No doubt it reads better in its original Spanish.
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