Red April
A Novel
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A chilling political thriller set at the end of Peru's grim war between Shining Path terrorists and a morally bankrupt government counterinsurgency.
Associate District Prosecutor Felix Chacaltana Saldivar is a by-the-book prosecutor wading through life. Two of his greatest pleasures are writing mundane reports and speaking to his long-dead mother. Everything changes, however, when he is asked to investigate a bizarre and brutal murder: the body was found burnt beyond recognition and a cross branded into its forehead. Adhering to standard operating procedures, Chacaltana begins a meticulous investigation, but when everyone he speaks to meets with an unfortunate and untimely end, he realizes that his quarry may be much closer to home. With action rising in chorus to Peru’s Holy Week, Red April twists and turns racing toward a riveting conclusion.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Set during a bloody and desperate period in Peruvian history, this political thriller is a grisly but compelling read. In March 2000, during the waning days of a lengthy guerrilla war between the Communist group Shining Path and the Peruvian government, a gruesome discovery is made. Buttoned-up prosecutor Félix Chacaltana Saldívar starts his murder investigation with an open mind, but when witnesses begin to die after he speaks to them, his anxiety over who’s really behind the deaths intensifies. Author Santiago Roncagliolo doesn’t point fingers—people on both sides of the political divide cross moral lines, and there’s corruption and decay everywhere. Red April is a chilling listen that packs an emotional punch.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Roncagliolo's stunning debut, about the brutality of Peruvian society under the Fujimori regime, merits comparison to the work of J.M. Coetzee. In 2000, associate district prosecutor F lix Chacaltana Sald var, who's returned to the province of Ayacucho from Lima, clashes with his superiors after the discovery of a charred and mutilated corpse. Rigidly adhering to bureaucratic procedure, Sald var demands that an official police report on the crime be filed, despite the active resistance of the police and the local military commander. The prosecutor's refusal to abort his inquiry threatens the official line that the Shining Path terrorists are a thing of the past. Eventually, he's reassigned to help monitor elections, only to encounter more corruption. Within the frame of a puzzling whodunit, Roncagliolo crafts an unsparing view of life controlled by a repressive and paranoid government. A mother fixation, social awkwardness and a desire to impress others lend complexity to the protagonist.
