by Paula Rodríguez (Translated by: Sarah Moses)
SYNOPSIS
A train crashes in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, leaving forty-three people dead. A prayer card of Saint Expeditus, the patron saint of urgent matters, flutters above the wreckage.
Hugo, a criminal on the run for murder, is on the train. He seizes his chance to sneak out of the wreckage unsuspected, abandoning his possessions - and, he hopes, his identity - among bodies mangled beyond all recognition.
As the police descend on the scene, only grizzled Detective Domínguez sees a link between the crash and his murder case. Soon, he's on Hugo's tail. But he hasn't banked on everything from the media to Hugo's mother-in-law getting in the way.
REVIEW
Urgent Matters opens with the aftermath of a train crash. Hugo doesn't know if he will make it out alive but then he finds a prayer card of Saint Expeditus and sees this as a sign to make a quick escape. The problem for Hugo is that he is wanted by the police in relation to a murder case - if everyone believes he died in the accident it would solve the problem for both him and Detective Domínguez, who has his homicide clearance rate to think about. On the other hand, Hugo has his partner and daughter to think about, who have been left to deal with the fallout of his actions. This one decision sets in motion a series of event that build momentum and eventually spiral out of control for everyone involved.
The focal point of the story is Saint Expeditus, a Roman centurion who was martyred and became the Saint of getting things done promptly with no procrastination. However, in Urgent Matters it was the cast of female characters who stood out to me as the ones who took matters into their own hands and were basically running the show. I don't remember the last time I read a book with such a strong set of women who were the main driving force behind the events of the story.
An unbelievably pacey read, the story was quite blunt in places and showed the female characters in a different light to the way they are portrayed in many other novels but it had a really cinematic style and was quite unusual. This is the first time I've read Argentinian Noir and it definitely had a different vibe but the translation was incredibly readable and interesting, I was fully transported into a place that I actually don't know anything about, but now feel like I am very familiar with.
If you are looking for a different take on crime fiction or want to expand to reading crime fiction from different parts of the world, Urgent Matters should be top of the list!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR & TRANSLATOR
Paula Rodríguez is a journalist, editor, co-founder, writer, comedian, ghostwriter, and feminist activist. She has worked for twenty-five years in magazine editorial. Urgent Causes is her first novel. Sarah Moses is a writer and translator of French and Spanish. Her work has appeared in various publications including Brick, Event, and Harper's. She co-translated Sos una sola persona by Stuart Ross and Die, My Love by Ariana Harwicz, which was longlisted for the International Booker Prize, among other awards. Her translation of Agustina Bazterrica's Tender Is the Flesh was published by Pushkin Press in 2020. Sarah divides her time between Buenos Aires and Toronto.
Thanks to Kate Wilkinson - @KAWilko and Pushkin Press - @PushkinPress for the opportunity to read and review.
Genre: Crime Fiction / Argentinian Noir
Publisher: Pushkin Press
ISBN: 978-1782278139
Pages: 240pp
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