A thriller needs a good location. I had the traditional Holy Week from Ayacucho, a really scary celebration representing the Death and Resurrection of Christ. During one night of Holy Week, everyone turns off all the electric lights in the villages. Among the only light of thousands of candles, a naked and blood-bathed image of Christ is taken all around the city, as if it were slowly floating in the dark. And that is just one night. Holy Week was the perfect place to convey the Catholic myths of eternal life as well as the Andean concept of eternal return, two versions of death, and triumph over death. Any psycho would love to work there. –Santiago Roncagliolo

Plus, he is a fan of David Fincher’s Seven and Allan Moore’s From Hell.

Why, oh why, can’t I instead have a proclivity for obsessive lipstick purchasing like a good little whore? Lipstick takes up much less space.

*Sighs in defeat and stomps over to Amazon*

This is also the story of the investigation in to a series of brutal and ritualistic killings. Roncagliolo has a knack of presenting the evidence and clues in a way that doesn’t telegraph the ending. Every new development had me reformulating my theories, and at times I was left simply dumbfounded.

I’m sold. The words brutal, ritualistic killing, gore, and shrine to dead mother got me.

Another great review, Lazlo. Thank you!