About the author: Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1936, and still lives there today. He has an academic background in philosophy and psychology, and is a full professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Published in 1996 when he was 60 years old, his first novel, The Silence of the Rain, was honoured in 1997 with the Nestle and Jabuti prizes - the two greatest literature prizes given in Brazil.
My thoughts: December Heat is the second novel in the Espinosa series set between the neighbourhoods of Copacabana and Peixoto in Rio de Janeiro. Running beneath this classic crime narrative is a story of a melancholy bachelor existence of a bookish and sandwich-eating detective who has a mind of a philosopher and a heart-felt yearning for love. The protagonist comes across as a sensitive man and at this moment in time, I do not quite know what to make of him as this is my first read by an author new to me but I have faith he will grow on me as time goes on. Here is what the author has to say about this character in a random interview:
Espinosa is a common man. He is not a hero, he is not always fighting against dangerous criminals, and he does not get all the beautiful blondes and brunettes that cross his path. He is a public employee, a middle-aged person, and a solitary man. He could be our neighbor. However, at the same time, he has a critical mind and a romantic heart; he feels he is an eccentric in the police world and out of place in general. He is a contradictory common man, if this makes sense. Above all, Espinosa is an ethical man. Two decades before the birth of the character Inspector Espinosa, Brazil was still under a military regime, which had ruled for a very long time, and the police were conceived as a repressive force and not as an investigative apparatus. Besides, several divisions were corrupt. Therefore, the image of Brazilian police at that time was not good, and that bad impression has persisted until the present time. Nowadays, after more than two decades of full democracy, we still have a police force contaminated by the past. With Inspector Espinosa, I intended to create a character that provided the image of an ethical policeman, not as a utopian ideal but as a real possibility.
The initial events - murders, assault, disappearances - that occurred are unclear and without any apparent motive for any of the individual attacks. There are lots of unanswerable questions which starts with an insignificant event and then goes on to be the beginning of a crusade. The insignificant event being the accidental find of a lost wallet by a street boy of Rio when on a hot and humid December evening, a retired policeman spends a typically alcohol-fuelled night out with his girlfriend who is a prostitute. When he wakes up the next morning, his wallet and car keys are missing, his girlfriend has been murdered and amnesia has conveniently set in. In comes Inspector Espinosa who thinks that the case is open and shut but also convinced that there is more here than meets the eye.
The beginning is terribly dull but it changes halfway through when it becomes more engaging as the pace starts to pick up. I will give you an idea of how dull it is for me using a passage from the book which I shall quote here:
The chief asked for his help in reducing the mountains of paperwork accumulating on his desk. It was a dull, strictly bureaucratic job, which is why he thought it matched his mood perfectly. They worked at neighbouring tables in the chief's office. His difficulties in concentrating on the work stemmed not only from his situation but from his fear that at any moment the door could open to reveal someone with a problem that had nothing to do with what he was reading. For the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon he worked through the piles, an activity as exciting as standing in line at the bank.
However, there are some good literary moments. First of all, what I find of interest is the author's take on the struggles the street children of Rio face in their daily existence albeit lightly and not in-depth. In our safe cocoon, it is sad to know that such a life exists for none other than young children who ought to have been getting an education and making the most of their childhood rather than ekeing a living out in the streets.
Secondly, hitting at me from almost every page is the exotic ambience of a city that I have never been to which the author has skilfully put across. Because it is impossible for me to travel to all the countries in the world in my lifetime, I have come to rely on books I read to transcend that kind of atmosphere and culture onto my imagination and mental faculties.
Thirdly, it is a different novel than the one I normally read in that there is no CSI, no guns and no action-packed thrills. Rather, the whole investigation is conducted at a mundane pace and is solved using good insight and wit. It is too refined to be classified as a cosy mystery and yet, this kind of book brings about a refreshing change from the persistent noir fiction.
The translation is as exact as it can be but I still wish I could have read it in its original language. Lastly, even though I have enjoyed reading this book but I do not feel that I will be rushing to read the others in the series (below). This book falls into the category of either you are drawn to it or you are not and I am afraid I am not particularly drawn to it.
Other novels in chronological order are Southwesterly Wind (2004), A Window in Copacabana (2005), Pursuit (2006), Blackout (2008) and Alone In The Crowd (2009). All have been translated into English from Portuguese.
Thanks to my local library for stocking this book.
Rating: 2/5
