The Summer of Dead Toys
A Thriller
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
A riveting crime thriller set in the midst of a sultry Barcelona summer, introducing the first book in the Inspector Salgado series
Argentine native Inspector Héctor Salgado is one of Barcelona's leading criminal detectives. After a stint on probation—he assaulted a suspect from a human-trafficking case—Salgado is back in the office and eager for something major.
To his dismay, he's assigned to a routine accidental death instead: a college student fell from a balcony in one of Barcelona’s ritzier neighborhoods. But as Salgado pieces together details from the victim's life, he realizes that his death was not all that simple: his friends are clearly hiding something and drugs might be involved. Salgado follows a trail that will lead him deep into the underbelly of Barcelona’s high society, where he’ll confront dangerous criminals, long-buried secrets, and, strangely, his own past. But Salgado thrives on pressure, and he lives for this kind of case—dark, violent, and seemingly unsolvable.
Gripping, sophisticated, and wickedly entertaining, The Summer of Dead Toys introduces a charismatic new detective and announces Antonio Hill as a new master of the crime thriller.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Spanish author Hill's strong debut introduces Barcelona Insp. H ctor Salgado, a native of Argentina who has just returned to duty after an enforced vacation. Four months earlier, Salgado was suspended from duty for losing his temper and assaulting Dr. Omar, the leader of a human-trafficking ring. Salgado now looks into the death of 19-year-old Marc Castells, the son of a successful businessman with right-wing political connections. The teen's fatal fall from a balcony appears to have been an accident, but Salgado's astute partner, Leire Castro, notices a subtle clue that transforms the matter into a homicide investigation. Meanwhile, Dr. Omar, now recovered from the inspector's beating, has vanished, with a bloody pig's head left on the criminal's office desk. Salgado's rich inner life and Hill's talents at plotting and prose bode well for a successful series.
Customer Reviews
More than a crime novel...
What a pleasure to read a beautifully plotted and compelling "crime novel" which has more than its share of the requisite twists and turns, BUT is really character-driven. Mr. Hill's central creation, Detective Hector Salgado, is a living, breathing, fully-realized character - warts and all. And Mr. Hill takes the time and thought to make sure that all the characters that surround Salgado are as deeply drawn as he. The fact that they are all participating in a clever and engaging story is icing on the cake. It's the characters that will reverberate for you long after you've read the book.
Of course the detail and care with which he draws his characters is the secret of a great novel. The situations and events all ring ever-so-true because they are populated by "real" people. One might imagine this particular "cast of characters" in many other styles of novel. For lack of a better description (I'm no writer!), they are not "genre-specific" characters. They are rich portraits of frail humans who happen to be in an exciting crime story. That's quite an achievement.
Don't let this one pass you by!