Luis. A book review: Memento Mori

Last year, when I was still living in Valladolid, I discovered a novel which now I bring to this blog. It is the first part of a trilogy whose author is César Pérez Gellida, a brave man from Valladolid, who quit his job in order to devote himself to his writing career. The first fruit of this is Memento Mori.

Let me tell you a little about the story. There’s the seemingly typical police inspector, Sancho, and a murder to investigate. A corpse has been found, horribly mutilated, next to a note with a poem. We could expect a police thriller, like many others with these ingredients, but this would be a big mistake, because "Memento Mori" contains several details that make it different and innovative from its beginning, including the foreword by Michael Robinson.

The story is told alternating the points of view of the two main characters: Sancho, the investigator, and Augusto, the murderer. We see the perspective of the antagonist very closely. We know his identity from the very first page, but the plot does not lose interest because of this early revelation. On the contrary, after ending the novel, the feeling is that Augusto is the engine of the story.

Sancho is a tormented inspector, dealing with ghosts from the past, whereas Augusto is psychologically complex. Not only do we perceive their fears, their strengths and weaknesses, but also we go on a tour through the streets of Valladolid while they try to beat each other. An extremely interesting route filled with monuments, famous streets, as well as pubs and restaurants.

There is room for constant literary references, like Kafka; many of them are the inspiration of Augusto for his murders.

His musical preferences are also the key to understand his behavior. So for the novel’s soundtrack, which is available on the author’s website, songs by Héroes del Silencio, Placebo, Rammstein and Depeche Mode, among others, appear during the development of the plot.

In short, Memento Mori is a different reading experience and you will easily devour its pages. However, a calm reading is recommended in order to enjoy each page better, and, of course, you must have Youtube at hand as the songs complement the story. It’s a novel to read as well as to listen to. When you finish it, you will probably be looking forward to reading its sequel, “Dies Irae”.