Product Description

Art imitates life. Or does it? One sleepy Sunday morning in Buenos Aires, the protagonist of Martinez's brilliant new mystery finds himself unexpectedly tangled up in the story of Luciana, a former authors' assistant whom he has not seen for at least ten years, and Kloster, a rival writer - only far more successful; bestselling, in fact. What he discovers will make him question everything he had always believed - taken for granted - about chance and calculation, cause and effect. Luciana is desperate. In the decade since she last had anything to do with either of the writers, nearly all her close family have died, in highly unusual circumstances. And Luciana or her sister could be next. Luciana's convinced that her one-time employer Kloster is behind the deaths, punishing her for her part in the break-up of his marriage in a murderous frenzy of revenge worthy of one of his own prodigiously successful crime novels. But which comes first, murder or novel? Clever and gripping, THE BOOK OF MURDER is a chilling crime story in which the line between fact and fiction suddenly seems blurred.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #285511 in Books
• Published on: 2009-03-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Review
** 'This is one of those fiendishly clever books in which you are never sure whether art is imitating life or vice versa, giving this chilling little story additional power' DAILY MAIL

About the Author
Guillermo Martinez was born in Bahia Blanca, Argentina, in 1962. He is a doctor of Mathematical Science and a writer. His novel THE OXFORD MURDERS was awarded the prestigious Planeta prize and has been made into a film starring Elijah Wood.

Customer Reviews

He says she says
Guillermo Martinez is one of those authors who likes to write a seemingly typical Agatha-Christiesque whodunnit, and then twist everything around.

And as he did in "The Oxford Murders," Martinez turns a seemingly ordinary tale of stalking and murder into a complex maze of smoke-and-mirrors in "The Book of Murder." Literary inspiration, madness, chance and the nature of revenge all intertwine around a bizarre series of deaths that may be tragic bad luck... or murder. If only he had ended it half so well.

Ten years ago, an Argentian writer of moderate success "borrowed" the secretary of the brilliant mystery author Kloster.

But now the woman, Luciana, turns up at his door with a bizarre and tangled tale. She says that after she inadvertently caused Kloster's wife to dump him -- which led to the death of his daughter -- he began taking revenge on her. He is systematically killing off her family and boyfriend, by a series of unrelated "accidents" over a period of many years. Now she's terrified for her grandmother and younger sister.

But the situation soon becomes complicated when Kloster gives his own account of what happened, portraying Luciana as a maddened, money-hungry opportunist, and rationally pointing out that her accusations are ludicrous. The writer is left between two similar -- yet strikingly different -- accounts, neither of which has proof. And after a fire which claims yet more victims, Kloster reveals a third -- and more sinister -- possibility...

Like Martinez's previous book "The Oxford Murders," "The Book of Murder" is a massive mind puzzle designed to throw people off the typical whodunnit trail -- there's no evidence, no proof, no easy answers. Just when you think you've figured out what's going on, Martinez suddenly twists the plot in an unexpected direction that may change everything that's come before it. He's pretty good at doing that.

In fact, the first hundred and fifty pages are devoted to the stories of Luciana and Kloster, with the occasional esoteric musings on random chance, the nature of revenge, and the power of literature. When Martinez isn't musing over coin-flips and the Biblical sevenfold revenge, he's citing Henry James, Italo Calvino, Thomas Mann and a host of other writers.

And he strikes a solid balance between the moments of strikingly evocative prose (such as the constant admiration of pretty women's necks) and the darker moments, such as Kloster recounting his nightmarish marriage and child's death. The writing reaches its creepy pinnacle when Martinez introduces a dark, vaguely supernatural twist to Kloster's tale... which is never really explored. Alas.

In fact, the ending is the weak point. Martinez has three possible explanations for the deaths.... and he just leaves it all hanging. Perhaps he wanted readers to decide for themselves what the answer is, but it feels like he wrote himself into a corner and quit before thinking up a clever twist.

The narrator is also typical Martinez -- rather passive, quiet and easily led by those around him, although his professional jealousy of Kloster gives him a bit more of an edge. The other two main characters are much more interesting. Kloster is a charismatic man who may or may not be a criminal genius, and may or may not be haunted by his own vengeful demons. And Luciana is either a woman driven to insane desperation... or just insane, period.

Aside from having a very intriguing title, "The Book of Murder" has a flimsy ending that derails an otherwise intricate, literate mystery. He said, she said.

elegant writing, clumsy ending
I thoroughly enjoyed the first 90% of the book, but the denouement was as flat as the proverbial pancake. However elegant the writing and well crafted the build up, sadly they can't compensate for the let down at the end. A real pity, as it promised so much more.

Fascinating, but tails away at the end
The unnamed narrator, a minor Argentine novelist, doesn't know what to think when his former secretary contacts him after ten years to tell him that a far more successful novelist is trying to kill all her family in an act of revenge after she accused him of sexual harassment and ended his marriage. Can it be true, or is the young woman mad?

Martinez constantly wrongfoots his reader over what and whom to believe -- what is real and what is fiction -- and the narrative races on compellingly until the last 20-30 pages, where it lurches into a dying fall, leaving this reader, at least, mildly disappointed.

Martinez is a very original writer; his prose, even in translation, is clear and elegant.