Even the Darkest Night

Cercas, Javier

£9.99

When Melchor goes to investigate the horrific double-murder of a rich printer and his wife in rural Cataluña nothing quite adds up. The young cop from the big city, hero of a foiled terrorist attack, has been sent to Terra Alta till things quieten down. Observant, streetwise and circumspect, Melchor is an also an outsider. The son of a Barcelona prostitute who never knew his father, Melchor rapidly fell into trouble and was jailed at 19, convicted of driving for a Colombian drug cartel. While he was behind bars, he read Hugo’s ‘Les Misérables’, and then his mother was murdered. Admiring of both Jean Valjean and Javert – but mostly the relentless Javert – he decided to become a policeman. Now he is out for revenge, but he can wait, and meanwhile he has discovered happiness with his wife, the local librarian, and their daughter, who is, of course, called Cossette.

Out of stock

Publish Date: 29/09/2022
ISBN: 9781529410020 Category: Tags: ,

Description

A gem of a book, easily the best I’ve read this year. A contemporary police procedural with a literary edge. I was rooting for the flawed, but deeply compassionate Melchor Marìn from the first page to the last. Highly recommended” M W Craven

Two dead at the Adell house . . .

But nothing in the duty officer’s report can prepare Melchor Marìn for what he finds. A wealthy couple tortured to death in an almost ritualistic manner. The little town of Gandesa in the backwater region of Terra
Alta, Catalonia, is suddenly at the eye of a media storm.

Melchor is no stranger to notoriety. He was sent to Terra Alta to lie low after foiling a terrorist attack. And, before
that, he was jailed for his role as driver for a Colombian drug cartel, his decision to join the police inspired by a
desire to avenge his mother’s murder and a copy of Les Misérables from the prison library.

Gradually, the leads in the Adell case dry up, and Melchor is ordered to back off. He doesn’t, willing to sacrifice his reputation and career in a ruthless pursuit of the truth. But dusk is already falling on the darkest night of his life.

Translated from the Spanish by Anne McLean

Additional information

Weight 240 g
Dimensions 200 × 130 × 34 mm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Paperback

Pages

352

Language

English

Edition

1st paperback ed

Dewey

863.7 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K