Eva Garcia Saenz de Urturi - The Silence of the White City

A madman is holding Vitoria hostage, killing its citizens in brutal ways and staging the bodies. The city's only hope is a brilliant detective struggling to battle his own demons.
Inspector Unai López de Ayala, known as "Kraken", is charged with investigating a series of ritualistic murders. The killings are eerily similar to ones that terrorized the citizens of Vitoria twenty years earlier. But back then, police were sure they had discovered the killer, a prestigious archaeologist who is currently in jail. 

Now Kraken must race to determine whether the killer had an accomplice or if the wrong man has been incarcerated for two decades. 

This fast-paced, unrelenting thriller weaves in and out of the mythology and legends of the Basque country as it hurtles to its shocking conclusion.

Comment: Several weeks, if not months, ago I saw this book - well, the Portuguese translation - being mentioned by a few friends on GR as being a fascinating read. I got curious but truthfully, not that much to go and buy it. Last week I was at my local library and voilá, there this book was, on display. I thought it was the perfect timing and brought it with me.

In this thriller we follow the investigations of police officers Unai and Estibaliz, who are dealing with a new case of deaths related to some weird rituals. The killer chooses specific victims to suit a certain pattern but everyone thought the murders had stopped when a very famous local archaeologist was imprisoned. But, now, mere two weeks before his release, the killing returns. How can this be, what does this mean, and might it be that the alleged killer's twin brother, the police officer who arrested his brother all those years ago, might have something to do with this after all? As Unai and Estibaliz search for clues about the new victims, some information comes to light, which can help them. The question is, at what price?

Reading this story was quite addictive and I could certainly understand why it was well liked by so many readers. The necessary ingredients are all there to make it happen: mysterious characters, weird rituals related to historical facts and places, danger, police officers who sometimes break the rules and a slightly unconventional hint of romance to balance things out.

The Portuguese edition I read was almost 500 pages but as soon as I had some free time in a row, I saw myself reading rather quickly and what better praise for a thriller than knowing it's a page turner? Several aspects of this book made a lot of sense but it wasn't always easy to follow some things and one or two details about the investigation felt weaker or, at least, the connections weren't as well established, which made me think the overall effect was great, but not as close to perfect as it could.

Portuguese cover

Still, the investigation often followed interesting paths and the whole ritual details and why they were important felt like worthy themes to explore. Sometimes I thought to myself, why would this or that matter, but the relationship with the characters and the meaning of certain things brought this story to life. The author is from the region and a lot of what she uses in the story clearly comes from personal knowledge and not only simple research.

There is also a lot of information about the location - Basque Country - and its customs and cultural references, which was a must. I say this because, apart from some political knowledge - many in the Basque Country wish their region was independent from Spain - I wasn't too aware of specific religious or cultural facts and there was a lot here to unpack. It's the type of story that, fictional murders aside, makes one want to visit and see for real some of the places described.

Regarding the fictional plot, it's simple, the police investigates the murders and the possible connection between the victims and the murders which happened years ago until a man was arrested. I think this section was good enough and the author dedicated a lot of time to make the information make sense and have sequence. Often I'd forget about one things, but then there it would be, which is to say I didn't feel there were many loose threads or information to ignore. Unless it was on purpose... 

While this happens, we also get to know a bit about the lives of the characters involved, mainly Unai as he is the narrator. I kind of liked him and his tactic to investigate. I was quite curious about his personality and he seemed to be one of those larger than life protagonists who wasn't a daredevil but wasn't so confident that everything was easy for him. Plus, the details about his personal life and the hint of romance (OK, more or less, because due to some circumstances, the romance isn't known) made him a captivating person and I wanted to know more about what he would do when confronted to certain things.

At the same time this happens, throughout the novel, we also have a few chapters set in the late 60s and early 70s, about a very prestigious couple in the region and how their relationship, and the fact the wife is mistreated makes her see a doctor and what goes from there has incredible repercussions. This section was important to make us understand a few things, but it's also a way to uncover the mystery, not of who the killer in the present is but why the killer became, well, a killer. I cannot say much without revealing spoilers, but before the true identity of the killer was told, I had some ideas and they were all wrong, so... in a way, clever thinking by the author for certain.

There is quite a lot of action as the story gets close to the end and the resolution done good enough, except for one or two minor elements. Despite that, i liked how things were solved, and I see this is actually a series... I'll need to check if the library has more books by the author and if so, I'll definitely read the next one at least.

Grade: 8/10