En el centro de Río de Janeiro, un ejecutivo es encontrado muerto en circunstancias misteriosas. Nadie ha visto ni oído nada. pero el caso se complica aún más con la enigmática desaparición de su secretaria... Una inusual novela policiaca ambientada en la capital carioca y que presenta al público español un singular personaje: el inspector Espinosa, un policía atípico, el antihéroe de los tiempos actuales.

Boring and mundane typify Inspector Espinosa's life, and the book is a lot like that. There were parts I liked, but ultimately the storyline was a bit twisted and weak. I dislike reading hundreds of pages before thrown into the last few pages, nay the last few seconds, there is a life or death countdown to a foregone conclusion. With all that was going on it was like the story ran out of steam. Tons and tons and tons of more-or-less irrelevant stuff happened, and then it was over. If there was something to recommend... I didn't discover what that might be. ( )

I have a soft spot for crime novels. This one seemed pretty typical with a few twists.

What I found interesting was the shifting perspectives at the beginning of the book. The book shifted form several different characters in the 3rd person. Then shifting to Inspector Espinosa in 1st person in later chapters. We always had more information than Espinosa did. At the very beginning we learn that Ricardo Carvalho has committed suicide, but that fact has been hidden from Espinosa and the police. It is assumed that he has been murdered. We see the insights and motivations of several characters which Inspector Espinosa never sees. He has to come up with his own theories on circumstances which we know the details about.

Inspector Espinosa is not your typical super sleuth. In fact as a detective he seems rather average. At least in this book he did not put all the pieces together. He did not always guess the facts that we knew. When suspects lied to him he might feel that they were, but it was always gut instinct. He is, however, honest and diligent, and this serves him well.

He also has curious habits. He eats frozen food, orders pizza, and eats at McDonalds. The only thing interesting his eats are pork sandwiches with an old police buddy of his. He lives in a old apartment filled with books and spends much of his weekends attempting to get his books under control. Since he has no bookshelves this proves to be a sisyphean task. Still he continues to add to his stacks of books. Maybe it's this habit which endears him to me.

Rio was a main character in the book, but other than listing places I did not get a feel for it. That seems like a missed opportunity. I would have liked more local color. I did get a feeling for the level of police corruption and poverty, but little else.

There is, however, a growing mystery that we are not aware of. Suspects and witnesses are dying. This time it is murder. While the real mystery was not revealed until the end, it was rather easy to guess who was the culprit. It also seems like Espinosa should have had suspicions, but he did not.

The ultimate ending is a complete left turn. It's funny, strange, and somewhat unbelievable which left me wondering if I was satisfied with he ending or not. I'm still not sure. However, I liked the journey to get there.

I'll likely read more books in the series. ( )

One flatly written book: Naming places, floating past them, bodies dropping, no affect. Step by step it proceeds. And then it ends. Bam. ( )

A man is found dead in his car in Rio de Janeiro and while Inspector Espinosa tries to find his killer, the other characters in the drama are murdered, one after the other. This was different from what I had expected in that the reader knows the whole time what happened to the first man who dies, but it is really difficult to figure out what on earth happens to everyone else. I did catch on quite a few chapters earlier than I had wanted to, but it was still a good read. I only wished there had been more descriptions of Rio de Janeiro as, other than the names of the streets, the story could have taken place anywhere. I'm a little undecided about the main character, but I do like that he sometimes just checks out from everything and goes book-shopping, so I will soon continue with the next book in the series. ( )