‘Even the Darkest Night’ by Javier Cercas

Published by MacLehose Press,
22 February 2022.
ISBN: 978-1-52942-164-4 (HB)
Translated from the Spainsh by
Anne McLean

Present day Spain, and in the Catalonian Terra Alta, 200km inland of Barcelona, the community is rocked by the horrific murders of the area’s main employer, along with his wife and their maid. Outsider cop Melchor Marin is detailed to the case, but it seems to be going nowhere...

This crime novel begins with the call to the police station and Melchor’s arrival at the murder scene, and the reader’s given a lengthy chapter on this which establishes the characters and the relationship between them: Melchor and his partner, Salom, the police from the Territorial Investigation Unit who’re elbowing out Melchor’s boss, Sergeant Blai, and, at the end of the chapter, Melchor’s happy relationship with his wife and young daughter, Cosette.

The second chapter shifts to Melchor’s past, still told in the third person centred on Melchor, and this past/present switching continues throughout the novel, taking us into Melchor’s difficult upbringing, the tragedy of his mother’s death and his decision to join the police. His fascination with the character of Javert from Les Miserables becomes crucial in the final stages of the book, where Cercas’s gift for atmosphere and his ability to get inside his characters is given full rein.

While solving the crime is pivotal and there’s a general sense of police procedures, the main focus in the book is on the journey within Melchor himself, and this is sensitively done, though I couldn’t totally go along with applauding some of his violent actions because they were in the cause of justice. The sense of place is vividly done, the sleepy town where everyone knows everyone, the middling-violent plot is fast-moving in the police sections, and there’s a good twist at the end.

A Spanish-set police novel with a vividly evoked main character whose life and past draw you into his story.
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Reviewer: Marsali Taylor

Javier Cercas was born in 1962. He is a novelist, short-story writer and essayist, In the 1980s he taught for two years at the University of Illinois, and since 1989 has been a lecturer in Spanish Literature at the University of Gerona. He is a regular contributor to the Catalan edition of El Páis. Even the Darkest Night is his first mystery.

Marsali Taylor grew up near Edinburgh, and came to Shetland as a newly-qualified teacher. She is currently a part-time teacher on Shetland's scenic west side, living with her husband and two Shetland ponies. Marsali is a qualified STGA tourist-guide who is fascinated by history, and has published plays in Shetland's distinctive dialect, as well as a history of women's suffrage in Shetland. She's also a keen sailor who enjoys exploring in her own 8m yacht, and an active member of her local drama group.  Marsali also does a regular monthly column for the Mystery People e-zine.

Click on the title to read a review of her recent book
A Shetland Winter Mystery

www.marsalitaylor.co.uk