The Vanished Hands
A Novel
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4.3 • 3 Ratings
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- $3.99
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- $3.99
Publisher Description
Inspector Jefe Javier Falcón investigates a series of suspicious suicides in the "intricate [and] chilling" follow up to The Blind Man of Seville (Publishers Weekly).
In an exclusive suburb of Seville, Spain, a wealthy couple is found dead in their home, the tragic conclusion to an apparent suicide pact. Lucia Vega has been suffocated in her own bed, while her husband, construction magnate Rafael Vega, has succumbed to poison, a bizarre note clutched in his hand. When Inspector Javier Falcón is called to investigate the scene, he senses something is not as it seems—a hunch that proves all too true.
Within two days, two more dubious suicides occur, a fire rages through the hills above the city, and Falcón himself receives ominous threats from the Russian mafia. Embroiled in a conspiracy much larger than it originally appeared, Falcón must uncover the secrets that were buried with the dead, before the gruesome body count rises even higher.
"Tangly, sprawly, garrulous, astute, here's one more Wilson witchery that intertwines literature and art." —Los Angeles Times
"Wilson builds a many-layered portrait of survivors and perpetrators, each consumed by rage, guilt, or depression." —The Boston Globe
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Wilson's intricate police procedural set in Seville, Spain the second to feature introspective detective Javier Falc n a wealthy couple is found dead in their home: Lucia Vega has been suffocated in her own bed; her husband, construction magnate Rafael Vega, is lying on the kitchen floor, poisoned, with a cryptic note in his hand. Is it a murder-suicide or something more sinister? Falc n's subsequent investigation reveals a vast criminal conspiracy involving the Russian mafia (crime writing's new favorite bad guys) and human trafficking for prostitution and child pornography (crime writing's new favorite transgressions). As usual, Wilson deftly deploys a vast cast of characters, from an ex-pat American couple to a popular Spanish actor, and spins his trademark web of corruption and deceit. But while Falc n is consistently compelling, struggling with his internal demons and with the challenge of ridding Seville of its moral bankruptcy, the plot itself is too complex to really be engaging. In addition, too many references to the first Falc n novel, The Blind Man of Seville, will confuse new readers. The story of one young Russian prostitute she's promised a job as a waitress in Portugal and ends up working the streets in Spain is a chilling reminder of the evil that men do, but her frightening tale is lost in the convoluted story.
