(Elisenda Domènech Investigations)
by Chris Lloyd
Today I am part of the City of Drowned Souls blog tour. I have read all three books of the series so far and will post the summary and a short review of each one below. However, I would like to start by talking about the series as a whole.
Chris Lloyd brings Girona to life and his characters jump from the page pulling us into their world.
The horror of the crimes the team have to face is in stark contrast to the beauty of the city in which they are committed. Half way into the first book I found that I could wander through the blend of traditional architecture and new buildings that make up streets of Girona, the delightful aromas of the local dishes on offer tantalising my taste buds. The distinctive thrum of the river flowing through the city a comforting sound, the shadow of the cathedral offering a reprieve from the midday sun... that is how vivid and memorable the authors descriptions are!
What I absolutely loved from the word go was that these are not books for lazy readers. To begin with, you need to work at remembering the names of the characters and the places as the books are all set in the Catalan city of Girona. Once I'd got to grips with that, and it wasn't hard, it just required a little bit of concentration, I fell in love with Elisenda and her city.
The crimes are macabre and shake our team of investigators to the core, challenging them to their limits... and us along with them. We never know more than the team investigating, although there are times when the author allows us to make a judgement moments before we turn the page and find the team have reached the same conclusion.
Truly gripping, the stories twist and turn as we gasp in terror at the evil in the world, grind our teeth with frustration with the obstacles bureaucracy and public apathy cause and sigh with relief when Elisenda and her team take the criminals down.
If you like crime fiction, you will love this series!
City of Good Death
A killer is targeting hate figures in the Catalan city of Girona – a loan shark, a corrupt priest, four thugs who have blighted the streets of the old quarter – leaving clues about his next victim through mysterious effigies left hung on a statue. Each corpse is posed in a way whose meaning no one can fathom. Which is precisely the point the murderer is trying to make.
Elisenda Domènech, the solitary and haunted head of the city’s newly-formed Serious Crime Unit, is determined to do all she can to stop the attacks. She believes the attacker is drawing on the city’s legends to choose his targets, but her colleagues aren’t convinced and her investigation is blocked at every turn.
Battling against the increasing sympathy towards the killer displayed by the press, the public and even some of the police, she finds herself forced to question her own values. But when the attacks start to include less deserving victims, the pressure is suddenly on Elisenda to stop him. The question is: how?
This book will make you question yourself.
When people who have caused nothing but harm are being murdered, is it still a crime?
As Elisenda, who isn't without her own troubles, is pulled deeper and deeper into the killers mind, you find yourself thinking over everything that you know, trying to put the pieces together on the board, hoping to solve the crime too! Sorry to disappoint but you won't!! The city's legends, the corrupt mind of a killer, the elaborate staging of the bodies and the prejudices of the average man on the street all come together to create a mystery that even the most genius of minds would struggle to solve.
The author captures the hustle and bustle of Girona perfectly, the combination of the traditional and the new that is currently changing every city in the world. The residents going about their business, alongside the tourists who come to absorb the traditions, perfectly written.
My favourite quote, which I see as incredibly relevant to us all today is,
"That's what our man is feeding on," Elisenda commented. "The pettiness of people who'd describe themselves as normal."
City of Buried Ghosts
Still recovering from the tragedy that hit her team, Elisenda takes on a new case. Except it’s not new. On an archaeological dig by the coast a body is uncovered, seemingly executed with a spike thrust through the base of the skull – an ancient tribal ritual. It soon becomes clear that this body is neither ancient nor modern, but a mysterious corpse from the 1980s.
Assigned to the case along with her team, Elisenda soon uncovers a complex world of star archaeologists, jealousy and missing persons. They find a dark trade in illicit antiquities, riddled with vicious professional rivalries. And even though she’s staying close to the crime scene, Elisenda is also never far from enemies of her own within the police force.
Just as the case seems to become clear it is blown wide-open by another horrific murder. Elisenda must fight her personal demons and office politics, whilst continuing to uncover plots and hatreds that were long buried. How far will she go to solve the crime? Is her place in the force secure? And can she rebuild her life?
A remarkable second installment in the series, this book finds Elisenda and her team battered and broken. Will they be able to pull themselves together enough to investigate another horrific crime?
After reading A City of Buried Ghosts I wasn't sure the author would be able to create another story with as grisly a crime, with as breathtaking a backdrop... but Chris Lloyd does not disappoint. If anything, you will find yourself falling even more in love with Girona and your emotional ties to Elisenda and her serious crime unit will strengthen as despite the fallout of the first book they battle on.
City of Drowned Souls
When a child disappears, the clock starts ticking Detective Elisenda Domènech has had a tough few years. The loss of her daughter and a team member; the constant battles against colleagues and judges; the harrowing murder investigations… But it’s about to get much worse.
When the son of a controversial local politician goes missing at election time, Elisenda is put on the case. They simply must solve it. Only the team also have to deal with a spate of horrifically violent break-ins. People are being brutalised in their own homes and the public demands answers.
Could there be a connection? Why is nobody giving a straight answer? And where is Elisenda’s key informant, apparently vanished off the face of the earth? With the body count threatening to increase and her place in the force on the line, the waters are rising… Be careful not to drown.
Book three is a masterpiece! The characters and the city of Girona are old friends and I quickly found myself immersed in yet another ghastly criminal investigation with more twists, spins and undercurrents than the river running through the city.
Elisenda, who by the way I would very much like as a best friend, finds herself forced to face her guilt and the visions that haunt her whilst investigating a crime that strikes painfully close to home.
If you think that this time, you might just get there before the team do... well, you'll have to read it and find out.
Oh and the epilogue will blow your mind!
Get your copies here:
City of Good Death
City of Buried Ghosts
City of Drowned Souls
Follow Chris Lloyd on twitter
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