Los que no regresan

Twenty-five years in the profession behind him, "his heart hardened by life", constantly wrapped in a blue cloud of Ducados smoke and with a glass of Lagavulin always within reach, Ben Vargas is a long-time detective; an old dog who, despite himself, embodies the cliché of the investigator. At the end of 1987, he thinks he has seen it all, and the visit of the wife of a wealthy real estate developer who has recently disappeared does not seem to be the start of an unusual case... But the woman brings with her a cassette tape whose contents will be shipped Vargas in an investigation very different from the previous ones. Esotericism, mystery and class struggle, the crude reality of the street and the pompous trompe l'oeils of high society: despite the apparent incompatibility of the underworlds that coexist in the melting pot of the big city without communicating with each other, everything ends up intertwining in Madrid wintry and hostile character of the novel, which has nothing to do with the festive and mythical image of the eighties. With the wicks of classic noir, Alburquerque has managed to build a vibrant, pure story, made of smoke, cynicism, black humor, mists and contrasts.