First, I should say that this is a really top-class police thriller. Robert Wilson is in the first rank of proper writers, who happen to write in that genre.
Secondly, I have read the other three Javier Falcon novels as they were released, and would think that any reader would get far more enjoyment from this, the final novel, if they have a full knowledge of its predecessors.
The plot is very complex, but such is the clarity of Wilson's thinking and prose, you never feel lost or confused. The conclusion of the various threads of plot is perhaps a little too neat, and the attempt to increase the pace with ever more terse writing is obvious.
The fact that you know that this is the last in the series of Falcon novels, leads to a certain inevitability in the finale, but, as usual, the characterisation is good, the feel of Seville and Andalucia is skillfully conveyed, and the excitement builds relentlessly.
Major issues of government corruption, the fallout from the collapse of the Soviet Union, and Islamic terrorism are dealt with in a bleak statement of what is probably reality. Wilson's view of the 21st century is not a happy one.
Falcon would, of course, never be allowed to be so personally involved, or to have so much freedom to act recklessly, but that is a convention of the genre.
A great read with very serious undertones.
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