Breathing Through the Wound

Starred review from March 30, 2020
Madrid portrait artist Eduardo Quintana, the hero of this twisted tale from Del Arbol (The Sadness of the Samurai), lost part of a leg 14 years earlier after a reckless driver struck the car he was riding in; the collision killed his wife and teenage daughter. Quintana remains deeply affected by his loss. His gallery owner friend, Olga
, who’s displaying some of his older work, informs him that Gloria Tager, one of the world’s most prestigious violinists, has sought out Quintana’s work in Olga’s gallery and is looking to hire him to paint a portrait. Quintana reluctantly agrees to meet the musician, only to learn that she, too, lost a child to a reckless driver—and that she wants him to paint a portrait of Arthur Fernandez, a drunk motorist who’s been able to work the system to get out of prison early. The painter’s choice to accept the commission leads to more violence. The reveals provide multiple gut punches that require readers to reevaluate their assumptions about the characters and plot developments. Noir fans will get their money’s worth.

April 1, 2020

Grief, remorse, and guilt bind characters together in this sprawling third novel from Spanish cop-turned-author del �rbol (A Million Drops). It's been 14 years since a car accident claimed the lives of Eduardo Quintana's wife and daughter, and the former painter still drinks himself into oblivion, getting by on ineffectual therapy and occasional commissions from a sympathetic gallery owner. She leads him to an unusual request from Gloria A. Tagger, a world-renowned violinist: to paint a portrait of the man who killed her son in a drunk-driving accident. That man, Arthur Fernandez, has just been released from prison and is reclaiming his position in the firm he still controls. At 688 sometimes ponderous pages, del �rbol's novel spends ample time delving into the tortured backstories of his three protagonists while introducing several important secondary characters, which includes a 21-year-old male prostitute calling himself Mr. Who and Fernandez's loyal cellmate Ibrahim. Eduardo's attempt to capture the essence of a murderer sends him into the Madrid underwold, where he begins to realize that his and his patron's tragedies are more connected than he thought. VERDICT As in A Million Drops, del �rbol proves he's adept at creating richly drawn characters and weaving their disparate stories, building to a shattering, violent climax.--Michael Pucci, South Orange P.L., NJ

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