Red Queen is a masterfully macabre murder mystery, bursting with brutality and brilliance. Featuring Antonia Scott, a protagonist that should draw comparisons with some of the greatest fictional detectives, Juan Gómez-Jurado crafts a compelling plotline with the perfect balance of psychological torment and physical danger. There is a reason this book has sold millions of copies in his native Spain.
After being suspended for framing an abusive pimp, Bilbao police officer Jon Gutierrez finds himself blackmailed into the hardest job he’s ever taken on… convincing Antonia Scott to return to the field for a highly secretive and sensitive investigative unit. After a personal tragedy befalls her, Scott has chosen to live an almost hermetic life, barely leaving her apartment other than to make her nightly pilgrimage of penance.
When the body of a wealthy teenage boy is found ritualistically drained of all its blood and displayed in one of his family’s homes, Scott’s handler has no choice but to force her out of her self imposed retirement. What started as a single murder investigation soon turns darker when a billionaire’s daughter, and heir apparent, is kidnapped. The sinister rationale for the kidnappings will force Scott and Jon to use all of their mental and physical skills to locate the woman before time runs out.
The first in a trilogy, Red Queen should be read by fans of the Sherlock Holmes and Lisabeth Salander series. With some similarities to enhanced capabilities seen in The Dark Fields/Limitless by Alan Glynn, Gómez-Jurado puts his own unique stamp on the concept in this series.
How good is this book? Well it made me want to learn Spanish so I can read the remaining two books in this trilogy. They cannot be translated and released fast enough for my liking.
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Purchase Red Queen
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Barrington Books
Chapter 2 Books
Murder By The Book
Once Upon A Crime
The Book Dragon
The Poisoned Pen
