Javier Cercas: Terra Alta (Even the Darkest Night)

The latest addition to my website is Javier CercasTerra Alta (Even the Darkest Night). Cercas has now turned to crime novels – two more in this series have been published in Spanish. We are following a Spanish police officer – Melchor Marín – who had been a drug dealer for which he was sent to prison. When his mother, a prostitute, is brutally murdered and he reads Les Misérables in prison, he sees the light and, with help from his lawyer, is able to conceal his background and become a police officer. When he shoots four Islamic terrorists, it is decided to move him to a remote region – Terra Alta, where nothing happens. When something does happen – the richest man in the area and his wife are tortured and killed – he is on the case, and continues when his superiors have closed the case. Inevitably, things are not as they seem and, also inevitably, the Spanish Civil War creeps in. However, it is the colourful Melchor Marín that makes this book interesting.

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. Carmen

    I am confused, Terra Alta is not new, but The Darkest Night advertising as new book release in June 2022.
    I read him in Spanish and don’t see this release.

    1. tmn

      There are three Terra Alta novels in Spanish. Only the first has been translated into English under the title In the Darkest Night. The English translation first appeared this year – 2022

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