Sweet Money
An Inspector Lascano Mystery
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- $19.99
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
Praise for Ernesto Mallo's Needle in a Haystack:
“A vivid and compelling picture of a society riven by corruption, social breakdown, and casual brutality. A pacy, intense, and thought-provoking read.”—Guardian
“Martin Cruz Smith and Philip Kerr fans will be rewarded.”—Publishers Weekly
“A gritty, painful portrait of a dystopian culture spinning further and further out of control. A compelling, blood-stained document of tyranny and brutality told with skill and passion.”—Crime Time
In the second book in the Superintendent Lascano series, Lascano is drawn into a war between the Buenos Aires chief of police and the Apostles, drug-dealing cops who want to control the city. When the chief of police is murdered, Lascano becomes the Apostles’ next target. His only way out of the country is to retrieve the loot from a bungled bank robbery.
Ernesto Mallo paints a scathing portrait of Argentina, where the Junta’s generals are paraded in court in civilian clothes and treated like mere petty thieves. Corruption and violence continue to rule, but at the center of the novel lies a touching portrayal of two broken men, a cop and a robber, whose humanity is sorely tested by the troubles racking their beloved country.
Born in 1948, Ernesto Mallo is a published essayist, newspaper columnist, and playwright. He is a former militant, pursued by the dictatorship as a member of the guerilla movement.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in Argentina during the 1980s, Mallo's gritty, atmospheric second Inspector Lascano mystery (after 2010's Needle in a Haystack) focuses on two broken men on opposite sides of the law. After the Apostles, a group of drug-dealing cops who rule Buenos Aires, murder the new chief of police on his first day in office, Lascano becomes their next target. Meanwhile, "intellectual criminal" Mole Miranda discovers on his release from prison that the friend with whom he'd entrusted his money has spent nearly all of it, albeit on a good cause. Furthermore, Mole's wife and son want nothing to do with him. When the bank robbery Mole believes he has to commit takes a fatal turn, Lascano gets on his trail. Mallo's frequent ruminations on ants, love, and food serve as metaphors for the corruption that pervaded each aspect of Argentine life during this violent period of political unrest.
