The Summer of Dead Toys and over 1.5 million other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more


or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Sorry, this item is not available in
Image not available for
Colour:
Image not available

 
Share your own customer images
Search inside this book
Start reading The Summer of Dead Toys on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

The Summer of Dead Toys [Hardcover]

Antonio Hill (Author), Laura McGlouglin (Translator)
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
RRP: £14.99
Price: £9.59 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £5.40 (36%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Only 2 left in stock (more on the way).
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon. Gift-wrap available.
Want delivery by Saturday, 25 May? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details

Formats

 Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition £6.17   -- --
Hardcover £9.59   -- --
Paperback --   -- --
Books Trade-In
Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. Learn more.

Book Description

Publication Date: 24 May 2012

'Evokes the master of Barcelona-set narrative, Carlos Ruiz Zafon' Independent

When the death of a young witness in a case of human trafficking and voodoo provokes the normally calm Inspector Salgado to beat someone up, he is swiftly removed from the project. Instead, he is sent to investigate a teenager's fall to his death in one of Barcelona's uptown areas.

As Salgado begins to uncover the inconvenient truths behind the city's most powerful families, two seemingly unsolvable cases are set to implode under the hot Barcelona sun.

Frequently Bought Together

The Summer of Dead Toys + Kingdom Of Strangers
Price For Both: £15.58

Buy the selected items together
  • Kingdom Of Strangers by Zoe Ferraris Paperback £5.99

Product details

  • Hardcover: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Doubleday (24 May 2012)
  • Language: Unknown
  • ISBN-10: 0857521128
  • ISBN-13: 978-0857521125
  • Product Dimensions: 16.2 x 3 x 24 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 482,269 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

› Visit Amazon's Toni Hill Gumbao Page
Toni Hill Gumbao
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

Product Description

Review

A welcome corrective to snow-blindness from too much Nordic noir... excellent characterisation, a sympathetic and engaging protagonist and plenty of plot twists with a cliff hanger ending that sets things up nicely for the next in the series (Guardian )

Entertaining debut (Marcel Berlins Times )

Evokes the master of Barcelona-set narrative, Carlos Ruiz Zafon... For all his storytelling skills, Hill's real achievement is in the creation of an idiosyncratic new character, Salgado... a series to watch (Barry Forshaw Independent )

A blast of hot air through the current frozen Nordic crime-writing landscape (Book Of The Week Weekend Sport )

Book Description

International crime fiction set in a sweltering Barcelona, introducing Inspector Hector Salgado, whose problematic personal life threatens to destroy his career. For fans of Jo Nesbo.
See all Product Description
Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?

› Explore similar items

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The Summer of Dead Toys 24 April 2012
By S Riaz HALL OF FAME TOP 10 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
This crime novel takes place over five days in a stifling, Barcelona summer. It begins with the return of Inspector Hector Salgado from a visit to his birthplace in Buenos Aires. He was sent away "on holiday" after an incident where he violently attacked a member of a gang involved in human trafficking of young girls. Although his resignation was refused, it is clear that the incident has not gone away and, at a lose end, his superior asks him to look into the case of nineteen year old Marc Castells Vidal, son of a prominent business and future politician, who fell from a balcony window to his death. As Salgado investigates, along with the engaging and promiscuous Leine Castro, they uncover more than they bargained for, in what was considered a straightforward accident.

Both Salgado and Castro have personal issues in this novel, which is extremely atmospheric, well written, slightly menacing and very disturbing. Salgado's issues with his last case follow him and his investigation in Marc's death leads him back into the past and the death of a young girl. This author is not afraid of tackling really hard hitting issues: parental abandonment, drugs, peer pressure, abuse and violence are all involved in this intelligent and thought provoking read. I really enjoyed this book and would certainly read more by this author as this is a fantastic start to a series.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
No
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Summer of deaths, threats and complicated relationships. 25 April 2012
By Mrs. K. A. P. Wright TOP 500 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
It is Barcelona. It is summer. It is Wednesday. It is overwhelmingly hot and oppressive.The alarm goes off but Inspector Hector Salgado has been awake for a long time. It is the morning after his return from Buenos Aires and it is obvious that he is very fed up. Over the next few pages we find out why. The most immediate reason is that his suitcase has been lost in flight. Then we find out that he is separated from his wife whom he still loves and that he is wretched at losing his family life with Ruth and his son Guilliermo. Then we discover the reason he had been in Buenos Aires. He has been on forced leave of absence because he has savagely beaten up a suspect in a voodoo/paedophile ring.

His boss has been trying to clear the matter up and save Salgado's career. To keep him occupied he sends him on a semi-unofficial investigation into the death of a student. The death was almost certainly an accident but there is a slight possibility that it was suicide. The loose ends need to be tidied up and filed.

Of course it all turns out to be much more complicated than this. We meet Salgado's family and colleagues as well as those involved in the investigations, but it soon becomes clear that we cannot be sure whom to trust. We cannot even be sure of Salgado's integrity, though by the time that there's real doubt, I was fond enough of him to be worried about this possible turn in events.

By Sunday the efforts of the detectives bear fruit and the mysteries are unravelled in a completely logical and credible way. Nobody suddenly turns out to be a homicidal maniac and most of the clues are there for us to see. So, we come to a satisfactory conclusion - until the last two pages and Today . . . .

I really enjoyed this book which I believe is Antonio Hill's first book in English. Some of the early stages of the story drag a bit, but once everything is established, it picks up pace and tension. I hope that this is the first of many.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
No
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars A decent, if unspectacular, police procedural 29 Sep 2012
By Sid Nuncius HALL OF FAME TOP 10 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)
This is a very solid, readable crime novel. It is well written and involving, the characters are well enough drawn to convince much of the time, the story is well-paced and the dialogue generally believable.

Set in Barcelona, the story revolves around an apparent accident which, on further investigation, reveals murky goings-on in respectable families and family secrets from the past. It is a good story which moves at a decent pace. What I found lacking was a real sense of place and atmosphere. Somehow, I never really got a feel of Barcelona, and although we are repeatedly told it is very hot, the details were lacking which might have made this a convincing, pervading factor.

Minor reservations aside, this is a decent police procedural which isn't particularly original but is well enough written and constructed to be entertaining and generally pretty engrossing.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
No
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?   Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars Potential to be a good series
I was really looking forward to reading this book - the synopsis and the setting seemed brilliant. What I got was a competent page turner but not the heat and excitement I was... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Elaine Byrne
3.0 out of 5 stars Toys in the Attic
Barcelona is a beautiful city to visit on holiday, but if you are Inspector Salgado you probably want people like me to stay at home. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Sam
4.0 out of 5 stars Absorbing.....Barcelona is hot........
I found this to be an absorbing read.....it is set over a period of about 5 days in a hot and humid Barcelona....
Its a good detective story... Read more
Published 2 months ago by mandynolan
4.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing mystery
This novel is the first in a new series set in a sweltering Barcelona. Despite the sunny setting, the novel is full of menace and darkness. Read more
Published 2 months ago by dali
4.0 out of 5 stars Ingeniously plotted......
The Summer of the Dead Toys is an ingeniously plotted police procedural set in Barcelona. Inspector Héctor Salgrado has just returned from an enforced vacation in his... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Wynne Kelly
4.0 out of 5 stars Fairly standard crime novel that passed a few hours...
It seems to be a trend in modern police procedurals and crime/mystery novels to create a lead character that is flawed in some way and implicit within the narrative is that we'll... Read more
Published 5 months ago by John
5.0 out of 5 stars Complex and Absorbing Plot
Set in sunny Barcelona and featuring South American detective, Selgado, this is a rollicking tale of teenage death and destruction. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Brett H
3.0 out of 5 stars Very good
I like Crime stories and if they're set somewhere abroad, all the better.
This is set in a City that I don't know and that adds to the mystery. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Wilz
4.0 out of 5 stars Strangely absorbing
When a rich kid is found dead, apparently from a fall from an attic balcony, it first is taken as an unfortunate suicide. Read more
Published 6 months ago by A John
4.0 out of 5 stars slow start but well worth the read
A heavy text that took a while to get into. The plot soon picks up pace however and it was a great read. Read more
Published 7 months ago by xenofan
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

There's a problem loading this menu at the moment.

Learn more about Amazon Prime.

    Your Shopping Basket is empty.

    Give it purpose -- fill it with books, DVDs, clothes, electronics and more.

    If you already have an account, sign in.

    There's a problem previewing your shopping basket at the moment.

    Check your Internet connection and go to your cart, or try again.

    View Shopping Basket (0 items)

      Customer Discussions

      This product's forum
      Discussion Replies Latest Post
      No discussions yet

      Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
      Start a new discussion
      Topic:
      First post:
      Prompts for sign-in
       


      Active discussions in related forums
      Search Customer Discussions
      Search all Amazon discussions
         
      Related forums

      Listmania!

      Create a Listmania! list

      Look for similar items by category

      Feedback


      Amazon.co.uk Privacy Statement Amazon.co.uk Delivery Information Amazon.co.uk Returns & Exchanges