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The Invisible Guardian

(Trilogía del Baztán #1)

Dolores Redondo

3.88 · Rating details · 14,533 ratings · 1,384 reviews

A killer at large in a remote Basque Country valley , a detective to rival Clarice Starling, myth versus reality, masterful storytelling – the Spanish bestseller that has taken Europe by storm.
Shortlisted for the CWA International Dagger

The body of a teenage girl has been found on the banks of the River Baztn the second in a month. Soon rumours are flying in the village of ...more

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Hardcover, 417 pages

Published April 23rd 2015 by HarperCollins (first published January 15th 2012)

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Mar 15, 2017 Jim Fonseca rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, spanish-authors

An excellent Spanish murder mystery with great local color of the landscape, towns and customs of Basque country. Young women, aged 15 to 18 or so, are being ritually killed and left by the side of rural roads. Although not all are sexually assaulted, their clothing is slit open; their bodies are positioned a certain way; a local fancy pastry is left on their bodies; their shoes point toward the body. Although this is small town/rural Spain, the modern world is here: these young girls are into s An excellent Spanish murder mystery with great local color of the landscape, towns and customs of Basque country. Young women, aged 15 to 18 or so, are being ritually killed and left by the side of rural roads. Although not all are sexually assaulted, their clothing is slit open; their bodies are positioned a certain way; a local fancy pastry is left on their bodies; their shoes point toward the body. Although this is small town/rural Spain, the modern world is here: these young girls are into sex, drugs, alcohol and sexting starting at 15 years old. Parents are oblivious.

There’s a touch of magical realism and a lot of superstition. Many locals blame the murders on the basajaun, a local version of Bigfoot, although he is supposed to be a kindly soul. They read tarot cards; hang silver thistle over their doors and cut crosses in bread to keep out evil spirits; women bring a stone from near their front door to a shrine in the woods to conceive. As one of the characters says, in effect: We’re modern, so you try all the modern stuff – psychologists, priests, police, doctors. When none of that works you are desperate enough to go back to the old traditions of leaving things as offerings to the spirits in the woods.

The main character is a young woman detective who has studied investigative techniques and criminal profiling with the FBI in the United States. She has to deal with a lot of anti-female bias with men in her department and with various male forest rangers and officials who disrespect her or feel she took the job of a man. Some are waiting for her to fail on this assignment and to be replaced by a man.

The murders are occurring around the town where the woman grew up and then abandoned for the big city. Her knowledge of the local area is partly why she was given the lead on this investigation. In the course of it we learn of her family history and, boy does this family have problems! She has two sisters, both of whom have disintegrating marriages; all three are trying to have a child but none of the three can conceive. The oldest sister is positively poisonous in her attitude toward her two younger sisters. Many women have some bad relationships in their families; some have bad relationships with their mothers; few have a mother who tried to kill her. Our heroine has to return to this world she left behind and she has to get back in it up to her neck: some of the evidence starts to point toward members of her extended family.

description

This is what I call an environmental novel: the weather – the constant rain, drizzle, chill and fog – is like a character in the novel and in that way it reminds me of The Shipping News by Annie Proulx and Snow by Orhan Pamuk.

We are treated to some very good writing. Of a murdered young girl’s friends at her funeral we read: “They had lost the natural brilliance of youth and the air of constant playfulness born of the confidence that they will never die. Death should have seemed a thousand light-years away for them, part of an unimaginable old age, but it had taken on a real and palpable presence. They were afraid, struck by the kind of fear that leaves you motionless and wishing you were invisible so death can’t find you, and left ashen faced and old before their time by its proximity.”

This is a really good read and it was a ‘5’ for me up to the very end where it seems that the author got tired of writing it and rushed it to its conclusion. Sure, we learn who the murderer was but there is no exposition of the various clues, leaving you to wonder how they fit in. One of the characters is shot in the head in the last few pages and a policeman says “I’ll take care of him,” so what happened? We have heard contradictory things about the main character’s mother being dead or alive and we still don’t know at the end. So, I give it a ‘4’ but it’s a ‘5’ if you don’t read the last chapter!

photo of Basque country from indioguide.com
...more

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Jul 02, 2020 Ken rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A gripping Spanish murder mystery with a hint of supernatural superstition, the first in a trilogy is a brilliant start to exploring the Basque region of the country.

Inspector Amaia Salazar returns to her childhood home as she investigates a spate of killings.
Young girls are being found on the banks of the River Baztan, each being left in a certain way that sparks rumours of a serial killer.

The region also has it's own myths and legends with talk of Basajaun (a bigfoot like creature) stalking th ...more

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Jan 10, 2016 Paromjit rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, netgalley, crime-fiction, fantasy, thriller

This book is set in Spain, the Baztan valley, Navarra. The author has crafted a story infused with the myths, folklore, history, culture and magic of the Basque region. Its an atmospheric location amidst the wooded valley with grey skies, endless rain and mists. Bodies of young girls are discovered by the river and the hunt for the serial killer is a twisted one. It is led by Inspector Amaia Salazar, married to an American, who has a complicated past. She leads a team of men which is problematic ...more

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Sep 14, 2017 Magdalena aka A Bookaholic Swede rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-2017

I just want to say before I review this book that it's very handy to have all three books to read. Or perhaps as audiobooks as I did. Well, the first book did I have both as a paperback and audiobook, but I preferred listening to them. The narrator is fabulous! Anyway, they are so good all three, and it's like one book split into three parts. So, get all three!

In The Invisible Guardian do we get introduced to Amaia Salazar who will lead the investigation of the death of the teenage girl found on ...more

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Oct 05, 2015 Taryn rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016-release

I have been to Spain, the country in which The Invisible Guardian is set, but because I’m the kind of traveler who is more along for the ride than holding the map, I had to do some Googling to figure out if I had ever set foot in the Basque region. What can I say? This is what happens when you’re a homebody with an unlikely group of globetrotting, bilingual friends. Someone says, “Wouldn’t it be fun…,” you agree noncommittally, and two months later you’re eating grapes at midnight as fast as you I have been to Spain, the country in which The Invisible Guardian is set, but because I’m the kind of traveler who is more along for the ride than holding the map, I had to do some Googling to figure out if I had ever set foot in the Basque region. What can I say? This is what happens when you’re a homebody with an unlikely group of globetrotting, bilingual friends. Someone says, “Wouldn’t it be fun…,” you agree noncommittally, and two months later you’re eating grapes at midnight as fast as your gloved hands will allow, packed into a square full of people ringing in the new year in a language you don’t speak but gleefully enjoy being immersed in.

Anyway, the answer turned out to be no, I definitely haven’t been to Basque country. My short time in Spain was spent in Madrid, with a friend who lived there at the time, and in Seville, which is basically the opposite of Basque country, situated way down south, nearly kissing the tip of Morocco. Dolores Redondo’s novel takes place across the country, near the French border. And while I was a little disappointed to learn I couldn’t put a personal spin on the setting, I was also kind of okay with it, because The Invisible Guardian is a very, very creepy book.

On the surface, it’s a pretty standard police procedural. Inspector Amaia Salazar is called back to her small hometown, a place she left for very dark reasons, to investigate a string of murders. Someone is strangling teenage girls, arranging their bodies after death in a specific, grotesque way. Some of the locals blame the basajaun, a Yeti-like creature from folklore, and although Amaia is a staunch realist, the myth veils the investigation with a dense mist of uncertainty.

Amaia is a great character, mostly for all the ways she defies the stereotypical detective role. She has a haunted past, but she is a functional adult with a rock-solid marriage. She is deeply affected by the murders she’s investigating, but she maintains her professionalism and guides her team well, even when one of her more macho coworkers has trouble taking orders from a woman. She sets and keeps firm boundaries, refusing to be goaded by one of her sisters, an embittered manipulator who doesn’t have a kind word to spare for anyone. I’m glad The Invisible Guardian is the first in a trilogy, because I will definitely want to solve crimes alongside Amaia again in the future. Here’s hoping the next two books are translated into English with a quickness!

With regards to Atria Books and Netgalley for the review copy. On sale now!

More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com ...more

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Apr 28, 2015 Liz Barnsley rated it liked it

Shelves: translated-fiction, received-from-publisher, worth-a-look

**3.5 stars**

This was quite an intriguing read - the first in a series featuring Inspector Amaia Salazar, beautifully translated and a great piece of Crime Fiction.

My favourite thing about it was the mythology aspect - exploring local customs and legends in an area that I know very little about - I always find it fascinating when reading a novel set in a different culture and the author brings this to life in a really terrific way. There is also a historical element that was highly engaging.

As f ...more

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Sep 25, 2019 Rosa rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2019, books

I wish I would have liked this one more, I think this is one of this "it's not the book it's me" cases.
I loved Todo esto te daré, but this El Guardián Invisible didn't work for me the same way. The writing is good, but too slow at times. I think this one would have benefited of less pages. Sometimes it's a bit repetitive and the ending was, in my opinion, rushed.
I liked reading about Basque Conuntry mithology, it was fascinating, and even more because being Spanish I didn't know anything about ...more

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Apr 22, 2015 Raven rated it really liked it

Another slice of literary European crime, set in the Basque region of Spain. Although I did find a certain familiarity with the style of the writing, the historical and social detail of an area largely unknown to me, more than compensated for the more linear aspect of the plotting. I found the exploration of local superstitions woven into the plot incredibly interesting, and likewise the references to the Spanish Inquisition added another layer to the sometimes pedestrian characterisation of the ...more

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Mar 19, 2017 Angel 一匹狼 rated it it was ok · review of another edition

"El guardián invisible" tries to be too many things: a serial killer thriller, a 'paranormal' story, a family in crisis analysis, a study on motherhood... and fails on all levels (except, maybe, the 'paranormal'). The atmosphere, the mood of the book, is the best of the story, and it is what will keep the reader going.

There is a serial killer working in the valley of Baztán, in the North of Spain. He or she is killing teenage girls, leaving them in the woods, half-naked and with a sweet on their "El guardián invisible" tries to be too many things: a serial killer thriller, a 'paranormal' story, a family in crisis analysis, a study on motherhood... and fails on all levels (except, maybe, the 'paranormal'). The atmosphere, the mood of the book, is the best of the story, and it is what will keep the reader going.

There is a serial killer working in the valley of Baztán, in the North of Spain. He or she is killing teenage girls, leaving them in the woods, half-naked and with a sweet on their bodies. Inspector Salazar will be put as the leader in the investigation, she with all the studies at the Quantico premises in USA. The investigation will bring her to her hometown, her two older sisters and her own past.

And then, cue, lots of pages filled with nonsense. The mystery is non-existent and almost all the more than 400 pages of the novel are a melodrama about Salazar, her sisters and her mother, in a family where all seem to be deranged. I say so because the behavior of all of them is close to surrealistic, with so much anger and bitterness that there seems to be an undercurrent of craziness every time one of them appears (which, taking into account the heroine of the story is inspector Salazar, is almost all the time).

If the over-the-top family story was not enough, there is a persistent message about motherhood, the need to be a mother, the 'way' in which women's lives are fulfilled through bearing children... which is terribly reactionary (or it may the author was not very good at conveying her message, another possibility). But to me, it came as if she was telling the reader women need to be mothers.

Last but not least, the writing style is puerile, something that could be accepted in a high school competition for a first time writer, but not in a novel from an award winning writer (a novel also adapted to the cinema). Redondo use of words (poor), sentence and paragraph construction (risible) and dialogues (blah) are below average.

The best of the story is the 'paranormal' elements, which give it a nice atmosphere of mystery and myth. Redondo uses stories of the region, about witches or other creatures, and teases the reader with the possibility of them being real. It all is a little bit childishly presented, but it gives some body to the story.

3.5/10

(Original Spanish, cough Castilian, Version) ...more

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Nov 08, 2017 Bridget Vollmer rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Wow this was such a mind bender. I loved the blurred lines of reality mixed with mythology. This book had me questioning what was real and what was not and if someone is born evil or if evil acts committed are a result of one’s upbringing - nature vs nurture

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Dec 25, 2018 QHuong(BookSpy) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: not-up-to-par

This book took me forever to read. It started real strong with a horrible gruesome murder, and continued with more similar ones, which gave rise to a new serial killer that needed to be stopped. That premise was seen in many crime procedurals, so I expected more of the execution of the familiar synopsis. I knew that procedurals do not only center around solving mysteries but also focus a lot on the main detective’s private life and mentality, we are told about what they thinks, how they feels an ...more

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Feb 08, 2020 Esperanza Navas rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I watched in Netflix but as always a lot better the book. Audiobook in fact and the performance was also amazing.Thriller with magical point. Characters well presented and developed. I enjoyed it. Highly recommended.

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Apr 23, 2020 Mike Finn rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1-in-a-series, crime, crime-series, audio-book, translated-into-english

A memorable, original, well-written book that snagged on a genre boundary inflexibility that I didn't know I had.

I used to add a tagline to my stories:

'What you read is not what I wrote. I provide the text. You provide the meaning.'

So I thought I understood that a book isn't just the text that the author puts on the page, it's also the expectations assumptions and preferences that the reader brings to the book.

Except, as reading 'The Invisible Guardian' showed me, I hadn't applied this know ...more

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Jan 25, 2020 Mariana rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: public-library, read-in-pt

3.5*/3.75*

Enjoyed a lot the mythology part, the inspector's past and the story overall were also good, but at some points I felt a little bored. Some parts dragged a bit, although it's a good story, a different version of crime novels, actually.
I was just hoping I would've liked it much more. Maybe it wasn't the right time for this book. ...more

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Sep 12, 2019 Stefani rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: macedonian-translation, antolog

Review to follow.

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Mar 13, 2016 Cheryl rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is the first book I have read by this author. Sometimes with international authors there is a bit of a language barrier that can come across in the book. Yet I did not experience any issues like this with this book. I got into this book right from the beginning, yet I admit that then after the first four chapters I started to loss a little interest but this passed quickly and I was in for the whole journey from the beginning, middle and the ending. Which the ending was a good one. Worth the ...more

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Jul 12, 2016 Malcolm Frawley rated it really liked it · review of another edition

My first foray into Spanish crime fiction. Serial killings, a family saga, & a flutter of magic realism made it a very satisfying read. P.S. I read it in English.

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Jan 11, 2021 Birdy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-fiction

This book was a mixed bag for me. On one hand, I was thoroughly captivated by the murder mystery, folklore, and Amaia’s past. I was so captured by the plot that I read the book in two days, and I will probably read the rest of this trilogy. However, I felt like many aspects of The Invisible Guardian fell into the “telling not showing” trap. As a result, the story was missing a sense of atmosphere and the procedural aspects of the mystery felt wooden. For example, instead of using dialogue or ima ...more

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May 22, 2017 Paige Gardner rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

English title - "An Invisible Guardian"

What started as me innocently picking up a book in a Half Priced Book Store and being intrigued enough to spend the $5 turned into one of the best books I read this year. It did not drag, and every scene felt as though it had a purpose. Dealing with a serial killer in a small Spanish town, I felt myself unable to guess what would happen next and who was responsible. Amaia was a strong and wonderful female lead, and I found her it to be an accurate portrayal ...more

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May 28, 2019 Karen Wellsbury rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, european, mystery, spanish, thriller

very atmospheric, seeped in cultural references with a great female protagonist.
The crimes themselves take almost secondary place to the exploration of Amaia and her relationship with her family, as she comes back 'home' to investigate a string of murders bringing her US husband with her.
This was not what I was expecting, I thought this would be more procedural, but this was a great read, I got a real sense of basque culture from this.
Onto book 2 ...more

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May 21, 2020 Anetq rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: crime_fiction, a-woman, lang_spanish

I really enjoyed this: Our investigator is forced to go back to her home town in a remote valley in the Basque Country, which she has avoided for years - to hunt a serial killer of young girls, who poses them in innocence and cake. The crimes, the work and the family business and trauma all take their toll - but luckily the local mythology is on her side.
This is a great series start, and while it has all the classic ingredients: The haunted detective, the dark past, woman in a man's world etc - ...more

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Jul 11, 2018 Kim rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Setting: Basque region of Spain; present day. This is the first in a series of crime novels featuring Inspector Amaia Salizar. As with most literary detectives, Amaia has her own dark past which is brought to the fore by her assignment as lead investigator in a series of murders of young girls centred around the village of Elizondo, where Amaia was born. Amaia's two sisters, Flo and Ros, still live in Elizondo - Flo runs the family's bakery business which Ros has just left after a fall-out with ...more

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Jul 29, 2016 Siddhartha rated it did not like it · review of another edition

It so difficult to read this book. Can not understand how it can be short listed for many prizes as claimed. It really fails as a mystery and ends up like some kind of family drama with a mystery at the end. What poor victims are outside family though. Failed to reward the effort put in reading at any moment.

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Sep 11, 2018 Redfield Reads rated it did not like it · review of another edition

DNF- I just found this incredibly boring, the murder at the start although different it just didn’t really take off. It kind of comes off as more of a soap drama with murder thrown in and from the description and the reviews I was hoping for something dark and gritty.

I don’t care if the main characters sister is a baker with a new TV show coming out.

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Dec 23, 2015 Kate~Bibliophile Book Club rated it liked it

3.5 stars maybe?! Review to follow on www.bibliophilebookclub.com on Jan 29th! ...more

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Apr 28, 2020 Catalina in cuvinte added it · review of another edition

Won't rate as not to spoil the general score
Even if I like the murder mistery style and Alias Grace was I think on my read list in the last month, I just couldn't see or read the hype of this series. It kept trying to decide between describing, murdering and family drama. And that's fine... Just... I don't know, learning new things about the Basque Country like:
-txantxigorri- a local speciality made to a traditional recipe
-Aizkolari is the Basque name for a type of wood-chopping competition.
+ B ...more

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Feb 11, 2019 Karen Barber rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: owned-physical-books

Inspector Amaia Salazar has secrets, and when she is forced to her home town to investigate a series of murders it doesn’t take long before she has to confront some of her demons.
There’s a killer in the town. Preying on young girls there’s a ritualistic element to the killings. Days into the investigation there’s little headway being made.
A strange feel to this one with a definite focus on the unexplained. Relying heavily on old stories and superstitions, some of this was quite hard to follow (I ...more

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Apr 08, 2018 4cats rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own

Set in a remote Basque area of Spain where myth, superstition and reality blend into one. A ritualistic killer is on the loose, and so Inspector Amaia Salazar is asked to head the investigation, causing a rift between her and a male colleague. She returns to her childhood home to hunt the killer, however childhood memories start to surface causing flashbacks which torment her during the investigation.

Featuring a strong female lead, this crime novel interweaves superstition, myth and the horror o ...more

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Oct 12, 2020 Andy Weston rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: spain, crime, translated

Read while travelling through the Basque Country with a night over in Elizondo, which wasn’t quite as peaceful and rural as Redondo describes it.
She does tell a good story though. The plot is very much second to the place and it’s culture, which is a good job too, as any concentration on the killing of the teenage girls and associated detail is unpleasant and distasteful.

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Jun 01, 2017 Ann-Marie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: crime, magical-realism, 2015-2019

Oh yes! I really liked this one. A story of murder, myth, family and old secrets. Also a story of police-work, forensic science and psychology. And all of it set in a interesting beautiful region.

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About Dolores Redondo

Dolores Redondo

1,301 followers

Dolores Redondo Meira nació el 1 de febrero de 1969 en Donostia-San Sebastián. Estudió Derecho y restauración y durante algunos años se dedicó a los negocios.

Comenzó escribiendo relatos cortos y cuentos infantiles. En 2009 publicó su primera novela, Los Privilegios del Ángel - (Eunate Editorial) y en marzo de 2013 se publicará El guardián invisible , primera novela de la trilogía del Baztán .

Actua ...more