The new generation at the helm of the black genre in Spain is nourished by new values such as the already exalted Javier Castillo or a laia vilaseca that is bidding hard to win that vitola of a great author of Iberian noir (take a label now...)
Only that in the case of Laia there is precisely something back to the origin from a reverential respect for the classics. Those who in the XNUMXth century remained among the police with their deductive nature. Something that was a challenge for the reader. But Laia can't help but confine herself to a more brazenly noir current foothill. What the Canarian author recently pointed out alexis ravel about a genre that goes more to the reason for the murderer as a narrative foundation. Since from that search for the motivation for the crime, everything can be possible...
Thus, the great virtue of Laia may lie in that balance between the origins of a genre full of suspense in her invitation to the reader about the investigation of the day, mixed with the taste for the disturbing access to the psyche of the murderer or his need to revenge. Because there is always a reason to kill, whether it is a crime of passion or simple animosity... In Laia Vilaseca's novels anything is possible.
Top 3 recommended novels by Laia Vilaseca
When the thaw arrives
We are going to the most unknown California, something beyond Twin Peaks (although the proximity already serves as a warning...) It is time to alternate spaces and circumstances to recompose a brilliant puzzle only for minds eager for high-flying suspense...
Yosemite National Park, February 2016. College student Jennie Johnson disappears into the park without a trace. Ranger Nick Carrington will be in charge of investigating the case. The strange circumstances of his disappearance lead him to write a book in which he records the most important findings after realizing that his life is in danger.
Las Vegas, April 2019. Professional poker player Sarah Sorrow discovers the identity of her father after several years of searching. Unfortunately, Nick Carrington has died while investigating the disappearance of a young woman. Moved by curiosity, Sarah decides to pull the string and find out the truth that connects both events, unknowingly entering a puzzle that will get more and more complicated.
“Immediately she was absorbed again by all that mystery that surrounded her father: his disappearance, Jennie's… his past. She had to accept that she would always have those doubts and the desire to know wherever she was, that she could not let it go completely until she discovered what was hidden behind that story that linked her father to Jennie » .
The girl in the blue dress
Martina has just arrived in Treviu, a small mountain town where she has spent the summer all her life. She needs to flee Barcelona and there, surrounded by memories of her childhood, she feels safe. Once installed, she finds out that someone has desecrated three tombs in the old cemetery, one of them belongs to a girl of unknown identity who died more than thirty years ago on the Malpàs bridge and that everyone remembers as "the girl from the blue dress". Everything indicates that she committed suicide, but her death has always been a mystery.
When Martina decides to investigate what happened to the girl, she unknowingly sets in motion a series of events that will lead her into a dangerous adventure, in which she will have to face someone willing to do everything possible to prevent the secrets from being revealed. of the past come to light.
A rural noir, completely absorbing, that immerses the reader in the life of a small mountain town, full of endearing people, but also of secrets and dangers.
“Things were not supposed to be like this. The story of the girl in the blue dress had to be an excuse to inspire me, a way to connect with the past of this town that is part of my childhood, and therefore of my way of being. But then the threat came…and I didn't take it seriously. I guess deep down I was never clear that the girl in the blue dress committed suicide, but now it seems clear that someone I know had something to do with her death, someone without any scruples who is capable of killing to protect their secret ».
The Durroway case
A corpse floating in the Canal de la Robine. A detective removed from the case of his life. A captivating and lonely Englishman with a dark past. And the burning of a mansion full of secrets that will be a key piece in solving a complex puzzle.
Narbonne, 1972. After being removed from the case of his life, Inspector Louis Sherade is forced to investigate the strange circumstances of the death of Mrs. Durroway, an eccentric old woman who lived isolated in a mansion on the outskirts of the city. But the veteran detective is not one to give up easily and he risks investigating the case that has been taken from him in parallel. A decision that will lead him to question how far the tentacles of power reach in the underworld of the city, an unexpected reunion with his past and the invaluable discovery of the secrets hidden in the old mansion.
With a style that pays homage to the great mystery classics, The Durroway Affair immerses the reader in a mystery that brings together elusive suspects, a multitude of contradictory clues and false leads that lead to a surprising ending.
Other recommended books by Laia Vilaseca
the island of silence
A certain aroma of those real cases, gruesomely true, that happen from time to time to make up the black history of a place and even a country. Under the appearance of a story extracted from reality, this novel takes us between times with that strange connection, linkage of time that strangely, seen in perspective, offers its imperfections towards the most unsuspected truth.
The disappearance of a young teenager disrupts life in a small town in the Pyrenees.
1982. The town of Sant Jordà is shocked by a triple murder on the island of Silence. Luckily, a few months later the authorities manage to arrest the culprit, Víctor Vallès, a boy who worked at the hotel where the victims were staying.
1997. Nil - son of one of those responsible for Víctor's arrest - decides to make a documentary about the crimes, but disappears without a trace. The authorities say it is a voluntary disappearance, but Emma, his best friend, believes they are wrong.
2024. A private detective appears in the town to investigate the car accident in which the person responsible for the arrest of Victor Vallès has died. Emma finds help to finally find out what happened to Nil and bring him justice.
