Reading Report: The Good Suicides

Written by Antonio Hill
Crown Publishers, 2012; 352 pages

Publisher's Description:

After a team-building retreat in a remote country house, senior staff members at Alemany Cosmetics return home with a dark secret. They’ve each received an anonymous email with a disturbing attachment: a photo showing dogs hung from a tree near the very same farm they all just left. And now they're committing suicide, one by one. The connection between the shocking photos and the suicides remains a mystery -- one that racks Barcelona law enforcement and corporate think tanks alike, threatening a frightening end for everyone involved.

Deciphering the insular power structures of these new executives isn't easy, but Inspector Hector Salgado has his own ways of making them speak. Meanwhile, Barcelona is freezing, suffering from an unusual cold snap and Salgado's wife, Ruth, is still missing. Despite impossible odds, Salgado must try everything he can to bring the nightmarish events to an end, because for him it’s a matter of saving his city, and his family.

My Thoughts:

When I found Antonio Hill's The Good Suicides listed as an Early Reviewer book over at LibraryThing, I had my doubts about requesting it -- all the cover images seemed so unappealing and off-putting. But I'm glad I overcame that squeamishness, because the book inside those covers turned out to be one of my favorites so far this year. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a good, suspenseful whodunit with lots of twists to keep you guessing right up to that last page.

I haven't read the first Inspector Salgado book (The Summer of Dead Toys, published in 2011) -- as usual, I've jumped into an ongoing series with very little knowledge about any part of it. And I think reading them in order might be a good idea; at times, I was a little lost when I came across references to that first work. And the separate mystery concerning the disappearance of Salgado's wife is rather intricate and tends to slow things down a bit. But it certainly didn't spoil my enjoyment of this second installment. Definitely a four-star read.

Cover of the ARC

Disclaimer:
I received my copy of The Good Suicides through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program. No other compensation was provided, and no one influenced my opinion of the book.