The Lords of Time
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4.5 • 4 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
The third novel in the internationally bestselling White City Trilogy sees Kraken on the hunt for a murderer whose macabre crimes are lifted straight from history.
Kraken is enjoying life as a family man, content to spend his days with Alba and their young daughter Deba. But there's no rest for the weary, especially when you're the most famous investigator in Vitoria. Kraken and Esti are charged with investigating the mysterious disappearance of two sisters and finding it hard to make any headway when a wealthy businessman's murder appears to shine a light on the case. The man was poisoned with a medieval aphrodisiac--a crime that has eerie similarities to one detailed in the novel everyone in Vitoria is buzzing about. When the two sisters are discovered trapped behind a wall--bricked up alive--the parallels to the novel are undeniable. With the author's identity a closely held secret, will Kraken be able to track down the killer before they can strike again? Or will Vitoria's sordid underworld finally break Kraken, and his family, apart.
A VINTAGE CRIME/BLACK LIZARD ORIGINAL
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Spanish author Sáenz's conclusion to her White City trilogy (after The Water Rituals) brilliantly fuses two parallel narratives. In 2019, Unai Lopez de Ayala, a police profiler in the Basque city of Vitoria, investigates the disappearance of two young sisters as well as a series of gruesome murders that may be related. Meanwhile, Unai becomes obsessed by The Lords of Time, "the novel everyone in Vitoria was talking about," by an elusive author who won't reveal his identity. Set in 1192, it "wasn't so much a book as a trap made of paper, an ambush of words… and there was no escape." Passages from the novel gradually reveal hidden connections among old Basque families, with a staggering wealth of literary, cultural, and sociological material that relates to Unai's investigation. Besides providing memorable glimpses into a little-known European cultural milieu, Sáenz offers profound insights into the psychology of serial killers, shown as skilled and charismatic professionals, who, devoid of empathy, prey parasitically on the gullible. This Basque noir deserves a wide audience.
