Red Queen - Juan Gomez-Jurado

Crime/Thriller

Rating: 9/10

Antonia is a reclusive genius with a gifted mind who refuses to go back to work for a clandestine crime solving unit after a case goes horribly wrong, turning her life upside down. Then one day, Jon, a disgraced cop on the verge of losing everything shows up on her doorstep and she can’t help being intrigued by the story he tells her.

Both find themselves pulled into the Red Queen project, a division of professionals in the field of crime solving that have skills that allow them to continually adapt in order to catch the bad guys. A division that has no hierarchy, no internal rivalries, no bureaucracy.  And no need to follow the letter of the law.

The author perfectly orchestrates this complex crime novel, switching narrative voices at just the right moment, layering in plenty of twists and turns and creating characters that keep the reader engaged. All the while ensuring the crimes are sinister and macabre, and not remotely simple for a regular reader of the genre to puzzle out.

I adored both characters, but especially Antonia.  The way the author describes how her brain works was fascinating. Her staggering intellect and Jon’s dedication to outing criminals no matter the cost to himself will draw inevitable comparisons to the lead protagonists in the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.  And that’s okay, because it’s the blend of those similarities and its rare uniqueness that make this a stellar crime thriller.

My thanks to NetGalley, St, Martin’s Press and the author for the advanced readers copy.

Book Pairing(s): Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson, Sunset Swing by Ray Celestin, Queen Of The South by Arturo Perez-Reverte