Reverte shifts the lens once more, turning a reading experience into a playful, intelligent conversation. The book paints a sprawling picture of Pancho Villa’s Mexico alongside a mid‑20th‑century world full of shadows, ships, and strategic gambits. It treats World War II as a backdrop that stirs up old loyalties and fresh temptations, delivering a novel that sits comfortably beside intense crime sagas yet feels distinctly its own. A witty, careful homage to classic detective fiction, it invites the reader into a duel of wits between author and audience. The texture echoes Nordic noir in mood and pacing, even as it distances itself from the long‑standing fashion of the genre’s recent past. It treats moral grit with a light, almost theatrical touch, where the sleaze never quite overwhelms the cleverness on display.
What follows is an admiring, lightly parodic ode to some of the best locked‑room puzzles, and a fond nod to the spirit of Conan Doyle and Christie. The novel nods to cinema, to the names that populate its stage, and to the grand tapestry of art, society, and literature. At first glance the tone may seem breezy, but the work reveals depth, multiple levels of reading, and a bustling, robust storyline. It follows a varied cast of people who find themselves confined by circumstance and fate, each turning point hinting at a broader mystery that begins to unfold with every step. The narrative lingers on the moment crime takes root, keen to expose every hint of suspicion. The famous “ten little blacks” refrain becomes more than a lyric; it is a thematic thread that tightens as the plot spirals.
Elegance marks the storytelling, with smooth, enveloping dialogue that pulls the reader deeper into the intrigue. The protagonist’s hunger for answers drives the pace, and the author’s craft offers plenty of rewards for those who stay engaged. The reader senses that Reverte is offering more than entertainment; he is presenting a structured puzzle that rewards careful attention. The experience is less about exposed action and more about the craft of inference—the reader infers, while the writer sometimes steers or misdirects with subtlety. Spoilers stay at bay, and the sense of an unsolved puzzle lingers in a satisfying, inevitable way. The cast of characters stretches beyond a single body count, including hotel staff, a film producer, a German visitor, a singer, and others who thread their motives through the stormy island setting.
The island, the storm, and the isolated hotel frame a theater where dialogue carries as much weight as the clues themselves. The guests form a mosaic of ambitions, secrets, and past roles that threaten to collide in a dramatic reckoning. Among the company one finds a veteran actor famous for a beloved fictional detective, stepping into a real investigation that wears the same silhouette as the on‑screen persona he once inhabited. A companion, a Spaniard who knows the Holmes canon by heart, supplies a witty, analytic counterpoint that grounds the mystery in performance and perception. The atmosphere is thick with possibility, and the story thrives on the tension between what is seen and what is inferred. The clever interplay of identities—fiction within fiction, stagecraft within crime—gives the work its enduring energy. The reader is invited to stay curious and to trust the mind that guides the investigation, even as it toys with expectations.
As the plot unfolds, a gallery of suspects emerges: the two waiters, the hotel owner, a German guest, a film producer, and a singer who offers companionship and unease in equal measure. The narrative’s genius lies in how these figures converge on a shared puzzle—how a crime can be conceived, executed, and then hidden behind appearances. The dialogue, often crisp and revealing, doubles as a toolkit for solving the puzzle, and the interactions between the hero and his unconventional ally push the investigation beyond simplistic verdicts. The book sustains a digestible pace while widening the frame to consider motive, opportunity, and the psychology of fear on an island where luxury masks a harsher reality. What appears to be a conventional whodunit evolves into a meditation on perception, memory, and the resilience of the human impulse to seek meaning even when the odds seem stacked.