Some Clouds

Excelente novela policiaca, la detallada descripción te transporta a la época del México post revolucionario. El lenguaje es muy particular de los habitantes de la Ciudad de México.

Although I always enjoy the internal pondering of Tabio's detective, this short novel started off well and just meandered to it's ending. I found something about this particular story line undeveloped and therefore disappointing. That said, it still had enough good moments to be worth reading.

Excellent mystery -- & Feliz Cumpleaños to Taibo II ! (January 11, 2003)

Sitting in Mexico on an unseasonably cloudy day, I picked up my newly-purchased copy of Some Clouds, feeling a certain amount of order in the cosmos, along with happy anticipation. Then I discovered that today (as I'm writing this) is Paco Ignacio Taibo II's birthday. Then I discovered that Some Clouds, the third in his Hector Belascoarán Shayne detective series, seemed to have an undeservedly low number of Amazon-stars. (The Spanish version has -- at the moment -- one more star than the English, which is plain strange. Not only are both versions excellent reading, but William I. Neuman, who translated this volume into English, is really brilliant. I think that show more Spanish-to-English translators of contemporary Mexican literature could probably use Algunas Nubes/Some Clouds as a sort of how-to text.)

So on this serendipitous day for me and natal day for the author, and having just finished this excellent, many-layered mystery, I wanted to highly recommend it -- and the wild and edifying series that features Basque-Irish-absurdist detective Hector Belascoarán Shayne, presenting the city of Mexico in such an authentic and ironic light. While the series hardly needs to be read in any sort of order, I believe the chronology for titles is: (Días de Combate), An Easy Thing, Some Clouds, No Happy Ending, Return to the Same City, (Amorosas Fantasmas), Frontera Dreams, (Desvanecidos Difuntos), (Adiós, Madrid)-- with those yet-to-appear-in-English in parentheses.

!http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2008/02/04/index.php?section=cultura&article=a12n1cul show less

Hector Belascoaran Shayne is not named after the gunman of the famous western 'Shane' but he is like him in that he is up against a gang of pure evil and corruption that is quite powerful. He also knows that the police are behind about seventy six percent of the serious crime in Mexico so it is hard to find any one to wear the white hat. It is a hard job but he is going to do it. He plans to avenge the brutal attack on a childhood friend and hopes to live to tell the tale.
The odds are not in his favor.

How I liked this crime book :-) It has been living on my TBR-shelf for quite some time, but now I've finally read it.
From the text I had no idea that this book is part of a series. Haven't noticed flash backs to earlier adventures. That doesn't mean they're not there, just that it didn't disturb me reading them.

A good story. Interesting beginning that got me on the edge of my seat immediately. Not because it was so eerie, but because I was curious what decision Hector would take and, when he did, ho it would turn out. Not difficult to read, although I hardly know a thing about Mexico, its culture and the people living there. It was such a nice and interesting read, that I read the book in one day.

Not much to tell about the contents show more that isn't on the back cover without ruining it for people who might be interested in trying this book. Hector is interesting, as are the other characters that are walking around in this story. If you like a nice detective story with a bit of violence, but not too much: this is your book. show less