Aro Sáinz de la Maza breaks noir thriller traditions to surprise his readers once again
At dawn, on high seas aboard a yacht off the Barcelona coast, a heinous double crime has been committed. Inspector Milo Malart knew the victims well, an upper-class, bourgeois couple acquitted of the murder of a young woman thanks to the convenient contamination of the evidence. Tortured to the point of obsession, everyone in the force knew that the inspector was willing to stop them in whatever way possible. They knew that Malart did not forget. They knew he never let go of his prey. And now he has disappeared without a trace. As evidence from the crime scene begins to stack up against him, it’s all too easy for some to connect the dots. For others, on the other hand, the facts do not quite fit; however, they cannot answer a simple question: if he is innocent, why doesn’t he show signs of life?
His partner, Deputy Inspector Rebeca Mercader, does not believe him capable of having crossed the line. Working against the clock, she is determined to bring to light what happened, even against orders from her higher-ups, and despite the fact that she may ruin her career.
Malart brings the Elements trilogy to a close. It is a novel unlike any other, with an unusual plot in which mind games are particularly relevant. Sainz de la Maza masterfully closes the circle of injustice and infamy with a new and sublime twist.
Powerful and complex narrative of a noir genius
Compared to classics of the genra like Vázquez Montalbán or Toni Hill, and international ones, such as Jo Nesbo, Philip Kerr, the Icelandic Indridason or the French Pierre Lemaitre.
“Blunt and irreverent, Malart will lead the investigation in his peculiar style, with a blend of intuition and observation reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes, acting on his own, dragging his partners behind him or butting heads with them the way he does with the rest of the world -a world he doesn’t understand, and that feels unreal to him.”
Sergi Lozano, La Vanguardia
Compared to classics of the genre like Vázquez Montalbán or Toni Hill, and international ones, such as Jo Nesbo, Philip Kerr, the Icelandic Indridason or the French Pierre Lemaitre.
Malart brings the Elements trilogy to a close. It is a novel unlike any other, with an unusual plot in which mind games are particularly relevant. Sáinz de la Maza masterfully closes the circle of injustice and infamy with a new and sublime twist.
Crime Scene (Romania).
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