Martin Solares

Don’t Send Flowers by Mexican author Martin Solares is a dark, violent story about a man who is hired to investigate the disappearance of a wealthy businessman’s daughter. The man is Carlos Trevino, an ex-policeman who is now on the wanted list of the police in the city of La Eternidad, actually the city of Tampico. He isn’t wanted for being a dirty cop, but for being an honest one.

While Trevino is hesitant at first to get involved, the offer is too rich to refuse so he returns to the show more city and starts to follow the trail that has been left by the kidnappers. Meanwhile, the chief of police, Margarito Gonzalez is preparing to retire on the fortune he has earned by working hand-in-hand with the cartels but before he goes, he has an old score to settle with Trevino.

Don’t Send Flowers is a gritty, messy story of murder, deceit and violence with a high body count and plenty of noirish atmosphere. The author captures the grim chaos and hopelessness of a country that is being overtaken by drug lords, smugglers and the sleazy politicos that they own. Not an easy read but very engrossing. show less

This is a book that makes American crime noir and the grittiest police novels look like child's play. La Eternidad is a city that makes the darkest corners of any big city seem safe. Between the police, the military, the local government, local businessmen, and the cartels, the only people honest about what they do are the cartels. Everyone else is owned or works for someone else. Nothing is what it appears to be. The kidnapping of the daughter of a local business leader brings retired show more detective Carlos Trevino into the picture. Trevino is pressured into helping find the girl. He left the corruption of the police force and tried to live in peace and is now dragged back into the world he rejected.

Martín Solares paints a picture of violence, brutality, and corruption that is plaguing Mexican cities. Solares' fictional La Etrenidad is near where he was born on the Gulf Coast. A dark book about what is now commonplace. Timely, violent and realistic.

Available August 24, 2018 show less

This book is like the mainstream version of Roberto Bolaño's 2666. It shares oddly similar plot points, including the mass murder of women (in this one schoolgirls are being murdered instead of the women in 2666), a mysterious German writer, a black pick-up truck, brutal policemen, corrupt politicians, etc. But it doesn't share Bolaño's scope and it neatly answers most of the questions it sets up. It's fun to read but it won't change your life.

From: Mexican Detective Cabrera Listens to Cumbia
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Justice is fickle in this fictional Mexican city on the East coast of Mexico in the state of Tamaulipas just south of the US-Mexico border. The Black Minutes by Martín Solares is a violent story of the search for a serial murderer in a fictional world of police brutality, corruption and government ineptitude. There are some comic scenes and there are moving and tranquil moments that lighten the reading, but the overall show more impact is one of grim reality.

Solares, in his first novel has provided some new insight into the violent history of the Mexican states along the US-Mexican border. But, if you read the novel, be prepared for a sometimes-frightening story in which there are no winners. This is fiction noir at its best.

The Black Minutes (Los Minutos Negros), Martín Solares (2006).
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