By Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Translated from Spanish in 2009, this book is a prequel to The Shadow of the Wind which I did not know until researching this title. If the prequel is any indication then the bestselling Shadow should be wonderful.
David Martín is a young writer in Barcelona in the 1920s and 1930s. He writes sensationalist baroque novels but feels like he is not being true to his soul. David is approached several times by a mysterious man named Andreas Corelli who wants David to write a book with the power to change people.
Corelli wants a book about religion and he will do anything to persuade David, even release him from his contract with the publishers of his sensation novels in a mysterious and gruesome way. But David's demons do not always let him rest and focus on his work.
Soon David finds that there is something wrong with enigmatic Andreas Corelli. He also begins to investigate the former resident of his tower house who died under questionable circumstances and left a bloody trail of broken lives behind him...and may have been working for Corelli. But, while David investigates he himself is being investigated because everybody he comes in contact with meets a gruesome death...
This book is haunting and engaging and I had a hard time putting it down. The entire time I was thinking, 'If the right director got hold of this, the movie would be dark and magnificent and frightening.' You root for David while he battles his own thoughts and the dark house he lives in that holds many secrets. The plot takes unseen twists and turns and I loved every minute of it.
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