A fast-paced thriller in which the action and blood never stop, this strong debut by Spanish author Juan Gomez-Jurado will keep many readers going until well into the night. Set in Vatican City during the conclave to elect a new pope following the death of Pope John Paul II in 2005, the action begins with the grisly deaths of two cardinals planning to participate in the conclave, their bodies tortured and mutilated almost beyond recognition by a serial killer on the loose. That serial killer is Victor Karosky, a priest. As Rome begins to fill up with all the cardinals returning for the conclave, clergy of all denominations, pilgrims who wish to view the Pope’s body, heads of state arriving for the funeral, tourists, and news organizations with their equipment, the various security forces are frantic to find the killer and prevent additional killings.
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If you have never heard of Patrick Hamilton, you are not alone. Described by the [London] Daily Telegraph as “a criminally neglected British author,” Hamilton wrote nine novels from the 1920s through the early 1950s , along with the famous dramas of Rope and Gaslight. Almost Dickensian in his sympathetic attention to London’s poor and struggling classes, Hamilton may finally be gaining the widespread public recognition he so richly deserves. A writer of enormous gifts, Hamilton’s sense of time, place, and voice bring backstreet London in the 1930s alive with sense impressions. At the same time, he creates characters the reader instinctively cares about, even when they are being foolish. In Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky, three overlapping novellas filled with dark humor focus on three different characters associated with a pub called “The Midnight Bell,” providing a close look at ordinary people living at the margins of society and doing the best they can in often fraught circumstances.
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Though this novel has all the hallmarks of a recognized classic, it is, surprisingly, only twenty-five years old, a book first translated into English in 1985. Carlos Fuentes, the author, brought up by his diplomat parents in the US and throughout Latin America, has always been particularly aware of differences in cultures, and in this novel he elaborates on the differences between the US and Mexico, sensing more than most other writers the inherent, conflicting goals of the two countries. Through the action, set during Mexico’s civil war in 1914, the author shows Mexico determined to be independent in its own right and true to its own history, while the US wants to create outcomes there which coincide with US goals and political agendas here. For more than forty years, Fuentes has also been fascinated with the story of American author/journalist Ambrose Bierce, who is believed to have vanished in Mexico during that war, and he exploits this long interest by making Bierce the “Old Gringo” of the title. (Click on the title to see full review.)
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