2 Books Like Dead in the Water

My big discovery this year were the works by the Spanish author, Arturo Perez-Reverte, and this was the third book of his which I've read so far, all in Spanish. He can seamlessly weave history with fiction in a way that will have you checking the Internet to see what was fact and which characters were real. Falco is a fantastic spy novel about the politics and treachery of the Spanish Civil War. The protagonist, Lorenzo Falco, arms smuggler recruited by the Fascists, finds himself at the center of a double-cross by his own side, in cahoots with their mortal enemies, the Reds. We're introduced to Falco, who we see as a slick, romanticized Bond-type womanizer, until we're with him when he has the unpleasant task of beating a confession out of a suspected turncoat. The narrative throughout can be brutal. Weaselly government hacks, psychopathic secret agents, naive partisans, and… show more.

I adore everything Bob Crais writes; he is a lovely human being in person, and it shines through all his writing, no matter how dark the subject matter. The Big Empty was especially bold; he took on some awfully dark topics, and wrote them with such poignant care and sensitivity. Powerful stuff.