The Vanished Hands

Rating:
Summary: (4.5 ) Sex, lies and videotape
Review:
Wilson is a master of convoluted suspense, where each detail is critical and nothing is as it appears. Falcon drops into the lives of residents of Santa Clara after a questionable murder/suicide and quietly begins his investigation. The main characters are deeply flawed, but living in great comfort, the past only a heartbeat away. In a mix of murder, wealth and sex, this plot takes mystery to another level, rife with ambiguous clues and the potential for more violence. Once Falcon resolves one crime, there is another to complicate the landscape of clues.

Writing with the characteristic skill of The Blind Man of Seville, Javier Falcon returns to his investigative métier after a difficult case that has left him with considerable psychological damage. A thorough investigator, an honest man with an incisive mind, this is a man who refuses to accept the obvious. Experience has taught Falcon about the subtleties of human nature, the public vs. the private face of humanity.

In the exclusive suburb in Seville, Santa Clara, Rafael Vega is found sprawled facedown, dead, as is his wife, upstairs in her bedroom. Is this a murder/suicide or something more ominous? In the rarified atmosphere of this rich development, most neighbors are isolated in their luxurious, air-conditioned homes, while outside the intense heat presses like a vice upon the city. One of these neighbors is Consuela Jiminez, an attractive woman from Javier's previous case; the Inspector is not unappreciative of the lady's charms, in spite of the tragic circumstances of her widowhood.

Choreographing each detail, Wilson manipulates a complicated plot, drawing on a variety of individuals, from an actor to a photographer/voyeur/seductress to the CIA and the Russian mob. When more "apparent suicides" occur, Falcon strips away layer after layer, revealing a potential for scandal and depravity that may lead to important persons, those who prefer to remain out of the public eye.

Expect to be transfixed by the elegant storytelling, lush detail, sensuous women, rough-hewn men and an abundance of lies. Falcon has returned with a vengeance, a little more tattered psychologically, but ever the intrepid detective, consumed by curiosity, unruffled by reality and with an astute eye for the untoward event. It is Falcon's capacity for compassion that makes him a beloved figure in a world often gone mad with its own compulsions. Luan Gaines/2005.


Rating:
Summary: "We're defined by what we hide from the world."
Review: In Robert Wilson's new book, "The Vanished Hands," Inspector Jefe Javier Falcon, the chief of the Seville homicide squad in Spain, has a particularly nasty case to investigate. A wealthy businessman, Rafael Vega, and his wife, Lucia, are found dead in their luxurious home. At first glance, it looks like a straightforward case of murder/suicide, but Falcon has his doubts.

Rafael Vega worked in construction and he had ties to the Russian mafia. He was suffering from anxiety and panic attacks, and his wife was an emotional wreck. The couple's marriage had been deeply troubled for a long time. Could Vega have killed his wife and then himself? As Falcon's inquiries continue, he learns that Rafael Vega was hiding many ugly secrets that could have ultimately led to his death.

Robert Wilson's textured writing makes "The Vanished Hands" an intriguing and tense psychological thriller. Wilson effectively explores the weaknesses and vulnerabilities that cause people to act in self-destructive ways, harming not only themselves but also those closest to them. This book has an aura of melancholy, since it deals with such weighty themes as child abuse, political torture, and infidelity.

Wilson has a deft way with characterization, and this book has quite a cast. Javier Falcon is a man of tremendous integrity, who is willing to lay his career on the line to see that justice is done. His ex-wife, Ines, is engaged to Juez Esteban Calderon, a duty judge who is also a known womanizer. Falcon's therapist, Alice Aguado, helps to keep Falcon on an even emotional keel and she also assists Javier with other cases that he is pursuing. One of Rafael Vega's neighbors, Consuelo Jimenez, is a well-to-do and beautiful widow to whom Javier is attracted, but he has always been unlucky in love. Finally, Marty and Maddy Krugman are an odd couple who may know more than they are telling about the deaths of Rafael and Lucia Vega. Marty is almost two decades older than his voluptuous wife, who reflexively comes on to almost every man she meets.

"The Vanished Hands" is about coping with psychological pain and trying to find contentment in a flawed world. It has a layered and complex plot, engrossing characters, and profound insights into the workings of the human mind. Wilson is an author who is comfortable with ambiguity, and, unlike lesser writers, he offers no easy answers or pat solutions to all of life's problems.


Rating:
Summary: an excellent read
Review: Inspector Jefe Javier Falcon of the Seville Homicide Squad is back in another tautly paced and intricate mystery, "The Vanished Hands." Compelling and haunting, this second installment in the Inspector Jefe Falcon series proved to be an absorbing and riveting read, and one that lingered in the mind long after I had finished the book.

In an exclusive suburban neigbourhood, Inspector Jefe Falcon is called in to investigate what looks like a murder-suicide of rich businessman Rafael Vega and his neurotic wife, Lucia. It all looks very cut and dried: Vega suffocated his wife while she was sleeping and then consumed a litre of drain cleaner, thus killing himself. Vega even leaves a cryptic suicide note, all pointing to the fact that he was a very disturbed and depressed man. But something about the scene disturbs the investigating officer, Falcon. For instance, why would a man obsessed with security to the extent that he had a state of the art system, leave the front door merely closed instead of locked up? Reluctant to make any snap jugements, Falcon and his team begins an investigation into Vega's past and business affairs, as well as that of his neigbours. What they discover is a man with a fake past, few friends and echoes of a previous case involving a pedophile ring. But this time, Falcon who has almost recovered from the traumas he faced in the previous case ("The Blind Man of Seville") is determined to get the result he so earnestly desires...

While I'd categorise "The Vanished Hands" as a must read, I have to admit that having a good memory of what happened in "The Blind Man of Seville" or else being able to intuitively grasp what happened in the previous book from what is revealed in this book, is quite essential. That one critisim apart, this was a really excellent read. With good pacing and splendidly intricate plot, plus a chief inspector that is intelligent, engaging and completely likable, "The Vanished Hands" was an easy book to loose oneself in; each revelation added to the suspense and complexity of the mystery at hand. So that all in all, I'd classify this as a read not to be missed, and a series to keep an eye out for!

Rating:
Summary: Smart thriller
Review: It's a wonderful book - I won't write a review, I just want to point out that I think it was released previously (in Britain?) under the title "The Silent and the Damned". I know two people who tell me they bought this book thinking how very prolific Mr. Wilson has been lately, only to discover they'd already read it. But Wilson is terrific and I love the way his hero Falcon manages to be emotionally layered and macho at the same time. It works as a police procedural too, but a remarkably complex and satisfying one. I'd give it five stars except I loved his earlier, "A Small Death in Lisbon" even more.

Rating:
Summary: Lush setting, great food, improbably entertaining
Review: Set again in Seville, featuring the late-blooming homicide detective Javier Falcon, this mystery novel covers most of the bases: art, the CIA, missing witnesses, the Russian Mafia, police corruption, a pedophile ring, a nun turned cop, a fancy suburb, not a few murders and lots of wonderful food. Improbably entertaining.