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A review by travisantoniog
Death of a Nationalist by Rebecca Pawel
2.0
This is an interesting novel which is in the form of a detective story/ murder mystery set at the conclusion of the Spanish Civil war in 1939 where the nationalists under General Franco came to power. The novel follows in the footsteps of the Tejada; an officer in the Guardia Civil (Police) as he investigates the death of a colleague.
The novelist has st a touch challenge for herself by having the protagonist be a policeman representing a totalitarian and Fascist regime. Given in our current context where the role of police is being heavily condemned, makes it even more so difficult have sympathy for the character where the novel opens with Tejada killing in cold blood someone who happened to be at the scene of the crime and which sets the novel in open
Leaving that aspect aside, the novel is well paced and as new characters are introduced, the reader is kept guessing as to who might be the the true perpetrator of the crime. I also felt with respect to the setting of the novel where hunger and fear are commonplace while living in a bombed out Madrid as well as Tejada's detective work which seems to rely alot on pure luck and alot of mistaken identities, felt very realistic and believable.
While you don't need to have a deep understanding of the Spanish Civil war to follow the plot of the novel, you might miss some of the more subtle references and I personally would have liked to see more exposition about these in the novel.
The ending was quite unexpected though felt it was a bit rushed and some of the loose ends seemed to be resolved a bit too neatly.
But apart from that its an interesting read for someone who likes mystery novels
The novelist has st a touch challenge for herself by having the protagonist be a policeman representing a totalitarian and Fascist regime. Given in our current context where the role of police is being heavily condemned, makes it even more so difficult have sympathy for the character where the novel opens with Tejada killing in cold blood someone who happened to be at the scene of the crime and which sets the novel in open
Leaving that aspect aside, the novel is well paced and as new characters are introduced, the reader is kept guessing as to who might be the the true perpetrator of the crime. I also felt with respect to the setting of the novel where hunger and fear are commonplace while living in a bombed out Madrid as well as Tejada's detective work which seems to rely alot on pure luck and alot of mistaken identities, felt very realistic and believable.
While you don't need to have a deep understanding of the Spanish Civil war to follow the plot of the novel, you might miss some of the more subtle references and I personally would have liked to see more exposition about these in the novel.
The ending was quite unexpected though felt it was a bit rushed and some of the loose ends seemed to be resolved a bit too neatly.
But apart from that its an interesting read for someone who likes mystery novels