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Los asesinos lentos (Nuevos Tiempos nº 159)
Valle y Cáceres formaron parte en los noventa de un grupo de pop rock. Ensayaban juntos, tocaban juntos, se emborrachaban juntos. Llevan muchos años sin verse cuando se encuentran en un café. Allí charlan animadamente y recuerdan, entre risas, anécdotas del pasado. Después Valle le anuncia a su amigo que ha decidido matarlo y que lo hará pronto. El resto de la novela viene a ser algo así como la onda expansiva de esta primera revelación, a partir de la cual el relato avanza trepidante hasta un desenlace sorprendente y extrañamente lírico que dejará al lector sin aliento. El jurado del Premio Café Gijón destacó la «audacia narrativa» de la obra de Rafael Balanzá, «cuya trama se sustenta en una estructura muy bien construida que mantiene en vilo al lector, llevándolo a un desenlace ingenioso e inesperado».
- GenresThriller
160 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 12, 2010
2 people are currently reading
20 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 21, 2012
I can understand why this book doesn’t get any love round here. I assume it is because it’s in Spanish. However, I don’t know why it appears unloved in Spain and other Spanish speaking countries, for it’s a very good book.
It’s one of those short ones that have a middle age male narrator come across some person from his past which provokes some reminiscing and unrest.
Juan, the narrator, a fairly happy middle age pet shop owner, meets up with his old friend, Valle, with whom he was in a pop-rock band many years ago. It could’ve easily been another ‘The Sense of an Ending’ if it was for the fact that Valle, at the end of the meeting offhandedly mentions to Juan that he would kill him. That’s when we know, things are going to be a little more hard core in this one.
Juan is slightly taken aback by this confession (as he would be) and he does want to know wtf. Valle kindly offers an explanation which can be summarized this way: “Dear Juan, once upon a time you did that little shitty thing to me, remember? And, now, I am not saying that’s the sole reason my life has turned to mierda but the fact remains my life has turned to mierda, and in the modern world with its multitude of factors and influences, it’s rather hard to establish who is to blame for what, therefore, to keep things simple, I am going to symbolically blame you.”
There is not much you can say to that, is there? From then on things take a rather Kafkaesque turn. Juan can’t report it to the police because Valle did warn him he would deny everything. He also says he values little his own mierda life, he even goes as far as to suggest to Juan that the only way for him to stop him is to kill him (Valle) first (I got too many ‘hims’ in this sentence).
Juan goes from denial to paranoia, as his ‘happy life’ falls apart before his very eyes. The narrative becomes feverish and you could see traces of Dostoyevsky there and some Ernesto Sabato as poor Juan works himself into a corner. At some point he becomes obsessed with a certain elusive (fictional) writer (who weirdly resembles the actual author of this novella) and quotes an entire short story by him. That’s a very Borges-like trick.
That’s probably a bit too much name dropping for a tiny 150 page novella, but what can I say, it is very literary. If I were more well-read I would have been able to elaborate more on this.
It’s one of those short ones that have a middle age male narrator come across some person from his past which provokes some reminiscing and unrest.
Juan, the narrator, a fairly happy middle age pet shop owner, meets up with his old friend, Valle, with whom he was in a pop-rock band many years ago. It could’ve easily been another ‘The Sense of an Ending’ if it was for the fact that Valle, at the end of the meeting offhandedly mentions to Juan that he would kill him. That’s when we know, things are going to be a little more hard core in this one.
Juan is slightly taken aback by this confession (as he would be) and he does want to know wtf. Valle kindly offers an explanation which can be summarized this way: “Dear Juan, once upon a time you did that little shitty thing to me, remember? And, now, I am not saying that’s the sole reason my life has turned to mierda but the fact remains my life has turned to mierda, and in the modern world with its multitude of factors and influences, it’s rather hard to establish who is to blame for what, therefore, to keep things simple, I am going to symbolically blame you.”
There is not much you can say to that, is there? From then on things take a rather Kafkaesque turn. Juan can’t report it to the police because Valle did warn him he would deny everything. He also says he values little his own mierda life, he even goes as far as to suggest to Juan that the only way for him to stop him is to kill him (Valle) first (I got too many ‘hims’ in this sentence).
Juan goes from denial to paranoia, as his ‘happy life’ falls apart before his very eyes. The narrative becomes feverish and you could see traces of Dostoyevsky there and some Ernesto Sabato as poor Juan works himself into a corner. At some point he becomes obsessed with a certain elusive (fictional) writer (who weirdly resembles the actual author of this novella) and quotes an entire short story by him. That’s a very Borges-like trick.
That’s probably a bit too much name dropping for a tiny 150 page novella, but what can I say, it is very literary. If I were more well-read I would have been able to elaborate more on this.
March 19, 2022
Mooi maar Spaans
July 2, 2023
Empieza muy fuerte esta novela con el anuncio de un asesinato venidero. Esto hace que la trama mantenga el interés, por ver por dónde va a salir, en unas primeras páginas muy ilusionantes. Es, sin embargo, en el desenlace donde la trama se desinfla un poco al abusar de paisajes oníricos y decisiones un tanto caprichosas.
En todo caso, la prosa de Rafael Balanzá es vigorosa y en ningún momento la novela llega a aburrir. Lectura entretenida.
February 18, 2021
Me resultó muy interesante. No me enganchó desde el principio, pero cuanto más avanza la trama más esperas que pase lo inevitable. No es la típica novela negra y, aunque para algunos tiene relleno, en mi opinión, muestra perfectamente la evolución del protagonista y explica cómo llega a los acontecimientos finales. Es cierto que el final es un poco previsible, pero igualmente recomendaría el libro.
April 17, 2019
Me resulto entretenido pero no lo recomendaría especialmente.
July 8, 2023
La premisa es un tanto descabellada, pero vaya, que el mundo está lleno de locos. El libro entretiene muchísimo al principio pero llega un momento que me recuerda a uno queriendo hacerse un largo de piscina buceando después de echarse tres pitillos. Llega al final boqueando, desfallecido y haciendo un papelón frente a los espectadores.
November 21, 2020
Inicia bien, pero es lo único bue o que puedo decir de él. La primera mitad es rescata le, pero luego la historia pierde fuerza y esta llena de relleno. Pudo haber sido un buen cuento breve, pero al final es una novela fallida llena de inconsistencias y poco verosímil, desde mi punto de vista.
December 10, 2017
Novela entretenida, sobre todo en la parte de los enredos y desgracias del protagonista, pero floja en desarrollo y con un final algo decepcionante. Para pasar el rato sin más pretensiones.
July 10, 2019
Lo leí hace mucho tiempo pero es sobre más o menos un tío que pierde la cabeza y quiere matar a otro y al final es el otro el que acaba ido una especie de Quijote de novela negra
Want to read
August 11, 2016TO READ: [UB?]
Knga:
I can understand why this book doesn’t get any love round here. I assume it is because it’s in Spanish. However, I don’t know why it appears unloved in Spain and other Spanish speaking countries, for it’s a very good book.
It’s one of those short ones that have a middle age male narrator come across some person from his past which provokes some reminiscing and unrest.
Juan, the narrator, a fairly happy middle age pet shop owner, meets up with his old friend, Valle, with whom he was in a pop-rock band many years ago. It could’ve easily been another ‘The Sense of an Ending’ if it was for the fact that Valle, at the end of the meeting offhandedly mentions to Juan that he would kill him. That’s when we know, things are going to be a little more hard core in this one.
Juan is slightly taken aback by this confession (as he would be) and he does want to know wtf. Valle kindly offers an explanation which can be summarized this way: “Dear Juan, once upon a time you did that little shitty thing to me, remember? And, now, I am not saying that’s the sole reason my life has turned to mierda but the fact remains my life has turned to mierda, and in the modern world with its multitude of factors and influences, it’s rather hard to establish who is to blame for what, therefore, to keep things simple, I am going to symbolically blame you.”
There is not much you can say to that, is there? From then on things take a rather Kafkaesque turn. Juan can’t report it to the police because Valle did warn him he would deny everything. He also says he values little his own mierda life, he even goes as far as to suggest to Juan that the only way for him to stop him is to kill him (Valle) first (I got too many ‘hims’ in this sentence).
Juan goes from denial to paranoia, as his ‘happy life’ falls apart before his very eyes. The narrative becomes feverish and you could see traces of Dostoyevsky there and some Ernesto Sabato as poor Juan works himself into a corner. At some point he becomes obsessed with a certain elusive (fictional) writer (who weirdly resembles the actual author of this novella) and quotes an entire short story by him. That’s a very Borges-like trick.
That’s probably a bit too much name dropping for a tiny 150 page novella, but what can I say, it is very literary. If I were more well-read I would have been able to elaborate more on this.
Knga:
I can understand why this book doesn’t get any love round here. I assume it is because it’s in Spanish. However, I don’t know why it appears unloved in Spain and other Spanish speaking countries, for it’s a very good book.
It’s one of those short ones that have a middle age male narrator come across some person from his past which provokes some reminiscing and unrest.
Juan, the narrator, a fairly happy middle age pet shop owner, meets up with his old friend, Valle, with whom he was in a pop-rock band many years ago. It could’ve easily been another ‘The Sense of an Ending’ if it was for the fact that Valle, at the end of the meeting offhandedly mentions to Juan that he would kill him. That’s when we know, things are going to be a little more hard core in this one.
Juan is slightly taken aback by this confession (as he would be) and he does want to know wtf. Valle kindly offers an explanation which can be summarized this way: “Dear Juan, once upon a time you did that little shitty thing to me, remember? And, now, I am not saying that’s the sole reason my life has turned to mierda but the fact remains my life has turned to mierda, and in the modern world with its multitude of factors and influences, it’s rather hard to establish who is to blame for what, therefore, to keep things simple, I am going to symbolically blame you.”
There is not much you can say to that, is there? From then on things take a rather Kafkaesque turn. Juan can’t report it to the police because Valle did warn him he would deny everything. He also says he values little his own mierda life, he even goes as far as to suggest to Juan that the only way for him to stop him is to kill him (Valle) first (I got too many ‘hims’ in this sentence).
Juan goes from denial to paranoia, as his ‘happy life’ falls apart before his very eyes. The narrative becomes feverish and you could see traces of Dostoyevsky there and some Ernesto Sabato as poor Juan works himself into a corner. At some point he becomes obsessed with a certain elusive (fictional) writer (who weirdly resembles the actual author of this novella) and quotes an entire short story by him. That’s a very Borges-like trick.
That’s probably a bit too much name dropping for a tiny 150 page novella, but what can I say, it is very literary. If I were more well-read I would have been able to elaborate more on this.
September 30, 2014
Me gustó mucho las 2/3 partes del libro. Pero el final, mmm no, para nada, no me lo he creído.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews