PRAISE FOR THE VANISHED HANDS
"Tangly, sprawly, garrulous, astute, here's one more Wilson witchery."—Los Angeles Times
"Wilson builds a many-layered portrait of survivors and perpetrators, each consumed by rage, guilt, or depression." — The Boston Globe
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Modern terrorism is uppermost in the minds of those who populate Robert Wilson's new novel, but the engines driving The Hidden Assassins through to its satisfying, nuanced finish are old human emotions: greed, obsession, love … the novel forges a link between personal calamity and greater terror concerns.
— The Washington Post
At the start of Wilson's strong third mystery set in Seville featuring police Insp. Jefe Javier Falc n (after The Vanished Hands and The Blind Man of Seville), the mutilated body of a nude male turns up in a municipal dump. Before Falcon has time to investigate, a huge bomb explodes in a mosque and flattens an apartment complex and a day-care center. Was it an Islamic bomb-making operation gone awry? A specific attack against Muslims? Or the work of separatists fighting to return Andalusia to Muslim rule? Falc n has a dark and tangled personal history that provides several side plots, some of which are incorporated into the terror investigation and some of which are left to be taken up in further installments. Falc n 's investigation is as detailed and meticulous as the writing, which makes for a dense tale that demands close attention, but will reward careful readers with a story that has not only plenty of plot but also in-depth character intrigue. Author tour. (Nov.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
On June 6, 2006, a powerful explosion levels an apartment block in a nondescript area of Seville, Spain. Inspector Jefe Javier Falc n (introduced in The Blind Man of Seville) is assigned the case, which grows more complex once he learns there was a mosque in the apartment's basement. The presiding investigative judge is philanderer Esteban Calder n, whose marriage to In s, Falc n's ex-wife, has gone bad. Falc n himself is in turmoil over his one-time lover Consuelo, who is now battling her own demons. Amid this psychological angst, the question becomes: Who was responsible for the bombing? Did the terrorists accidentally detonate the military-grade explosive, or was this an anti-Muslim attack? Although the psychological distress of some minor characters occasionally distracts, British writer Wilson does an excellent job of laying out the elaborate investigative procedures to be followed after a major terrorist attack. And, as in his earlier works (e.g., The Vanished Hand), his characters lead dramatically disturbing inner lives. For popular fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 7/06.] Ron Terpening, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Inspector Jefe Javier Falc-n (The Vanished Hands, 2005, etc.) takes on "the largest criminal investigation in Seville's history" in his hunt for the terrorists who blew up an apartment building. There's no obvious sign of how the corpse in the Dumpster came to die, but since his hands and face have been painstakingly removed, it's clear that whoever killed him didn't want him quickly identified, and soon enough it's clear why: because he had some connection to the blast that leveled a block of low-income flats notable only for its basement mosque. Ever since the train bombs that pulled Spain out of the Iraq war, the nation has been suspicious of Muslims, and it isn't long before the hydra-headed investigation focuses on the community that worshiped every day in the devastated mosque. Falc-n's police work, working from one slender lead to the next, is a model of procedural logic, patience and clarity. What really makes his third case outstanding, however, is Wilson's mastery of an intricate web of subplots ranging far afield. As investigators interrogate witnesses, analyze coded messages and recruit acquaintances as spies, other citizens start psychotherapy, confront mistresses, find with amazement that their bereavement gives them a rare moral authority and seek personal revenge for their losses. The ambitious subject suits Wilson's formidable gifts perfectly, and the Spanish setting should make it easier for American readers to focus on the issues without getting distracted by references too close to home.
