Repentance by Eloísa Díaz #Repentance @eloisaescribe @wnbooks @RandomTTours

 

Published by Weidenfeld & Nicholson on 4th February 2021. My thanks to the publisher for the review copy and Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for the blog tour invitation. 

Buenos Aires, 1981.

 

Inspector Alzada’s work in the Buenos Aires police force during the Dirty War exposes him to the many realities of life under a repressive military regime: desperate people, angry people and - most of all - missing people.

 

Personally, he prefers to stay out of politics, favouring a steady job and domesticity with his wife Paula over the path taken by his hot-headed revolutionary brother, Jorge.  But when Jorge is disappeared, Alzada knows he will stop at nothing to recover him.

 

Buenos Aires, 2001.

 

Argentina is in the midst of yet another devastating economic crisis.

 

Alzada is still an inspector. He’s burnt out, frustrated that he hasn’t been able to affect real change, and convinced of the futility of yet another doomed Argentinian attempt at democracy. This time he is determined to remain a detached bystander, to keep his head down in anticipation of a peaceful retirement with Paula and the nephew they’ve raised together.

 

However, his plans are once again derailed as the riots gain traction and a young woman’s dead body lands in the dumpster behind the morgue on the same day that a woman from one of the city’s wealthiest families goes missing.

 

Past and present collide in this sharp, darkly funny debut crime novel set during turbulent times in Argentina. Capturing the spirit of Buenos Aires, the desire for change and the protagonist’s moral dilemmas, this is crime writing with real atmosphere and a cast of characters to fall in love with.

 

My Thoughts: 

Repentance is a fascinating novel about Inspector Joaquín Alzada, his family and colleagues but far more importantly a novel that shines a light on the history of Argentina. In a dual narrative the reader gets to learn about the period of state terrorism in 1981 and the economic crisis and uprising in 2001. I willingly admit to not knowing anything about the events that took place and it was equally fascinating, scary and jaw dropping to read about, particularly having happened in such relatively recent times. 

Inspector Alzada is well due his retirement but unfortunately the money is not there for his pension. Disillusioned and confined to a desk job, he feels saddled when a new partner called Estrático joins. His partner seems to want to follow the rules to the letter something that seems to rile Alzada. I think that Alzada immediately and unfairly writes his partner off, especially as events unfold...

Amongst the chaos the body of a female turns up in a wheelie bin at the same time a female is reported as missing. Missing from one of the richest families in Buenos Aires. Mystery surrounds whether these things are linked but this book is about so much more than this as a tension builds and sense of unease to match the climate spreads across the pages. 

You see the events of 2001 have happened before, Alzada lives in fear of history repeating itself with his nephew and the impact that can cause. In 1981 his brother Jorge who was a revolutionary and an activist was disappeared. Events of which I found truly shocking in every way. 

The ending to this book seemed very abrupt and final. It left me wanting more in a good way. I could have read so much more about Argentina, Inspector Alzada and his cohorts. I really hope there is more from this author in the future. 

Repentance is important, memorable and recommended by me.

About the Author: 

Eloísa Díaz is a Spanish writer and lawyer living in Madrid. She completed her MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University in 2013. Díaz’s parents emigrated from Argentina to Spain to escape the dictatorship, her father arriving when he was just a child and her mother, as a teenager. REPENTANCE, which Díaz wrote in English, is her debut novel. You can find the author on Twitter @eloisaescribe