FICTION

The Sadness of the Samurai

by Víctor del Árbol
Holt. May 2012. c.400p. tr. from Spanish by Mara Faye Lethem. ISBN 9780805094756. $28. F
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Tiflos de Novela Award winner Árbol (El peso de los muertos) spins an intriguing story of espionage, sex, and betrayal over four decades. The plot begins in 1940s pro-Nazi Spain. Isabel Mola does not care about politics or the war—she only desires to be free of her abusive husband and run away with her lover. Unfortunately for Isabel and her sons, her fate is directed by her husband's right-hand man, Publio, a calculating and impressive murderer. Forty years into the future, ghosts of the violent past still haunt an ambitious lawyer, a corrupt congressman, and a kidnapped young woman. Someone has been quietly plotting revenge, and that individual's plan has almost come to fruition.
VERDICT As Árbol's first novel to be translated into English, this historical thriller does not disappoint. Readers who enjoy detective fiction, historical fiction, and psychological thrillers will find plenty to engross them.
Reviewed by Jennifer Funk, McKendree Univ., Lebanon, IL , Apr 01, 2012
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