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Repentance
On sale
4th February 2021
Price: £14.99
A FINANCIAL TIMES ‘SUMMER BOOKS OF 2021’ PICK
‘An accomplished, inventive detective novel thrumming with tension and family secrets’ Sanaë Lemoine, author of The Margot Affair
‘An astonishingly assured first novel, both funny and moving’
The Times Crime Club
‘Very impressive… Repentance is an evocative crime thriller with a likeable, self-aware protagonist, but also skilfully explores the darkest period in Argentina’s modern history’
Financial Times
‘A powerful crime novel … Opening old historical wounds that still strongly affect Argentinian society, this is a tale with many layers, many of them painful to evoke and a strong depiction of a country and a period that still simmers between the pages of history books and the crime novel is a perfect way of lancing the boil. Recommended’
Maxim Jakubowski, Crime Time
BUENOS AIRES, 1981.
Argentina is in the grip of a brutal military dictatorship.
Inspector Joaquín Alzada’s work in the Buenos Aires police force exposes him to the many realities of life under a repressive regime: desperate people, terrified people and – worst of all – missing people.
Personally, he prefers to stay out of politics, enjoying a simple life with his wife Paula. But when his revolutionary brother Jorge is disappeared, Alzada will stop at nothing to rescue him.
TWENTY YEARS LATER…
The country is in the midst of yet another devastating economic crisis and riots are building in the streets of Buenos Aires.
This time Alzada is determined to keep his head down and wait patiently for his retirement. But when a dead body lands in a skip behind the morgue and a woman from one of the city’s wealthiest families goes missing, Alzada is forced to confront his own involvement in one of the darkest periods in Argentinian history – a time of
collective horror and personal tragedy.
Alternating between two key moments in the life of a man and his country, Repentance is a noir with a difference, featuring an unforgettable character on a quest to solve a case that offers both a painful reminder of all he has lost and a last chance at redemption.
‘An accomplished, inventive detective novel thrumming with tension and family secrets’ Sanaë Lemoine, author of The Margot Affair
‘An astonishingly assured first novel, both funny and moving’
The Times Crime Club
‘Very impressive… Repentance is an evocative crime thriller with a likeable, self-aware protagonist, but also skilfully explores the darkest period in Argentina’s modern history’
Financial Times
‘A powerful crime novel … Opening old historical wounds that still strongly affect Argentinian society, this is a tale with many layers, many of them painful to evoke and a strong depiction of a country and a period that still simmers between the pages of history books and the crime novel is a perfect way of lancing the boil. Recommended’
Maxim Jakubowski, Crime Time
BUENOS AIRES, 1981.
Argentina is in the grip of a brutal military dictatorship.
Inspector Joaquín Alzada’s work in the Buenos Aires police force exposes him to the many realities of life under a repressive regime: desperate people, terrified people and – worst of all – missing people.
Personally, he prefers to stay out of politics, enjoying a simple life with his wife Paula. But when his revolutionary brother Jorge is disappeared, Alzada will stop at nothing to rescue him.
TWENTY YEARS LATER…
The country is in the midst of yet another devastating economic crisis and riots are building in the streets of Buenos Aires.
This time Alzada is determined to keep his head down and wait patiently for his retirement. But when a dead body lands in a skip behind the morgue and a woman from one of the city’s wealthiest families goes missing, Alzada is forced to confront his own involvement in one of the darkest periods in Argentinian history – a time of
collective horror and personal tragedy.
Alternating between two key moments in the life of a man and his country, Repentance is a noir with a difference, featuring an unforgettable character on a quest to solve a case that offers both a painful reminder of all he has lost and a last chance at redemption.
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Reviews
An accomplished, inventive detective novel thrumming with tension, family secrets, and the trauma of a violent military dictatorship. Seamlessly moving between the Dirty War and the economic crisis of 2001, Eloísa Díaz displays an acute understanding of Argentine history and politics. Repentance is both a riveting noir and a moving exploration of one man's search to repair the past.
An astonishingly assured first novel, written in English by a Spanish lawyer, that is both funny and moving
Admirers of Buenos Aires' impeccable stylishness will be delighted, as will seekers of new brands of fictional police work
This superbly written political conspiracy thriller shuns both sentimentality and cynicism
Repentance is an apt title for this very impressive debut which works on multiple levels. It is an evocative crime thriller with a likeable, self-aware protagonist, but also skilfully explores the darkest period in Argentina's modern history
A powerful crime novel ... Opening old historical wounds that still strongly affect Argentinian society, this is a tale with many layers, many of them painful to evoke and a strong depiction of a country and a period that still simmers between the pages of history books and the crime novel is a perfect way of lancing the boil. Recommended.
Repentance is a brilliantly plotted thriller that was impossible for me to put down. Set in a Buenos Aires roiled by political corruption and economic crisis, we're introduced to the charismatic Inspector Alzada who must unravel a murder mystery in the present that unearths painful secrets from the past. Eloísa Díaz is a fantastically talented writer, and her debut is easily one of the best crime fiction reads of the year
This impressive, multi-layered debut is both an evocative crime thriller and a journey back to the darkest era in Argentina's modern history
A thriller that proves what this genre is capable of
The criminal case takes a secondary seat as the author knows how to impressively transport the reader to the years under the brutal dictatorship and then the demonstrations of 2001, when the Argentine people rebelled against the economic crisis
The novelist Eloisa Diaz signs a beautifully mastered novel set in a tormented historical context where family dramas intertwine with a great national tragedy. And where neutrality has become poison
Díaz combines skilfully constructed moments of tension with a history lesson about the Argentine military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983
A dark political thriller guaranteed to satisfy fans of Andrea Camilleri, Donna Leon, and Leonardo Padura.
An outstanding debut... Aficionados of mysteries with a hard edge will welcome Inspector Alzada.