The Islands

A vet from the Falklands war turned hacker/detective is hired by a rich entrepreneur

"Argentina is an erect prick ready to breed, and the Malvinas, its balls. When we recover them, fertility shall return to our lands."

Felipe Felix is our protagonist who is trying very hard to forget the war but finds that the war is very much a part of his next case. He is hired to track down members of a pyramid scheme who were witnesses to the son of entrepreneur Tamerlán murdering someone by throwing them off the top of a office block. In turns scatologically surreal, a harrowing depiction of a senseless war and a missing person style investigation of a strange Buenos Aires peopled by broken characters all of whom are in some way connected with the show more war. Where Gamerro succeeds is in the “real”, where he fails is in the humour (although perhaps its just because its not to my taste – over the top absurdist and slapstick) and the surreal “naked lunch” style moments. Gamerro uses the book to muse upon the Argentine’s obsession with the war, the absurdity of the war and upon the Junta and its torturers.

Overall – There is a lot to like about this book but some elements for me just didn’t work which dropped it to an average rating. show less

Diez años no es nada, podría decir Felipe Félix en 1992. Felipe es hacker y también ex combatiente de Malvinas; la conjunción de ambos atributos lo vuelven la persona adecuada para una tarea en apariencia riesgosa, y en la práctica temeraria pues quien lo contrata es nada menos que Fausto Tamerlán, hombre del poder, multimillonario, alguien que ignora la palabra escrúpulos, padre de un hijo que ha cometido un asesinato. La misión de Félix es ingresar en los archivos de la SIDE, dar con los nombres de los testigos de ese crimen y salvar al hijo. No puede fallar, le va la vida en eso