Filtrer
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''Brilliant'' The Times
Mario Leme is a low-ranking detective in the Sao Paulo civil police. Every day on the way to work he sets off early and drives through the favela known as Paraisopolis - Paradise City. It''s a pilgrimage: his wife Renata was gunned down at an intersection here a year ago, the victim of a stray bullet in a conflict between drug dealers.
One morning, parked near the place where Renata died, he sees an SUV careen out of control and flip over. The driver Leo is killed, but before his body is removed, Leme is sure he sees bullet wounds.
Leo''s death wasn''t an accident, he was murdered. Soon, his girlfriend turns up dead too. And if they were killed deliberately, perhaps Renata was too . . .
Leme finds himself immersed further and further in the dark underbelly of Brazilian society, as corruption seeps from the highest to the lowest echelons, and the devastating truth about Renata begins to
PRAISE FOR JOE THOMAS
''Brilliant'' The Times
''Feverish energy'' Guardian
''Wonderfully vivid'' Mail on Sunday
''Sophisticated, dizzying'' GQ
''Vivid and visceral'' The Times
''Superbly realised vivid and atmospheric'' Guardian
''Original'' Mail on Sunday
''A stylish, atmospheric treat an inspired blend of David Peace and early Pinter'' Irish Times
''Sparse, energetic, fragmented prose'' The Spectator
''Vibrant, colourful, and complex'' Irish Independent
''Stylish, sharp-witted, taut. A must for modern noir fans'' NB Magazine
''Definitive confident and energetic'' Crime Time
''Brilliant manic energy'' Jake Arnott
''Wildly stylish and hugely entertaining'' Lucy Caldwell
''Vivid, stylish, funny'' Mick Herron
''Gripping, fast-paced, darkly atmospheric'' Susanna Jones
''Snappy, thoughtful, moving'' John King
''Exciting, fresh, incredibly assured'' Stav Sherez
''Happy days!'' Mark Timlin
''Utterly brilliant'' Cathi Unsworth
''Had James Ellroy and David Peace collaborated on a novel they''d have written something like this'' Paul Willets -
''BRAZILIAN PSYCHO is a riveting and explosive masterpiece of political crime fiction that deserves to share the shelf with AMERICAN TABLOID, THE POWER OF THE DOG and A BRIEF HISTORY OF SEVEN KILLINGS, and confirms Joe Thomas as one of our very best contemporary crime writers.'' David Peace ''Complex and compelling, and shot through with moments of horror and beauty, BRAZILIAN PSYCHO is a magnificent achievement.'' The Times Crime Club ''Fans of Don Winslow and James Ellroy''s epic forays into the societal effects of systematic dysfunction and corruption will want to check this out'' Publishers Weekly Brazil, 1 January 2003: President Luis Inacio ''Lula'' da Silva begins fifteen years of left-wing government.
1 January 2019: Jair Bolsonaro is inaugurated, a president of the populist right.
How did it come to this?
A blockbusting novel of our times, Brazilian Psycho introduces and completes Joe Thomas''s acclaimed Sao Paulo quartet. Over sixteen years, a diverse cast of characters live through the unfolding social and political drama, setting in motion a whirlwind of plots and counterplots: the murder of a British school headmaster and the consequent cover-up; the chaos and score-settling of the PCC drug gang rebellion over the Mothers'' Day weekend of 2006; a copycat serial killer; the secret international funding of nationwide anti-government protests; the bribes, kickbacks and shakedowns of the Mensalao and Lava Jato political corruption scandals, the biggest in Brazilian history.
Brazilian Psycho weaves social crime fiction, historical fact, and personal experience to record the radical tale of one of the world''s most fascinating, glamorous, corrupt, violent, and thrilling cities.
PRAISE FOR JOE THOMAS ''Brilliant'' The Times ''Feverish energy'' Guardian ''Wonderfully vivid'' Mail on Sunday ''Sophisticated, dizzying'' GQ ''Vivid and visceral'' The Times ''Superbly realised vivid and atmospheric'' Guardian ''Original'' Mail on Sunday ''A stylish, atmospheric treat an inspired blend of David Peace and early Pinter'' Irish Times ''Sparse, energetic, fragmented prose'' The Spectator ''Vibrant, colourful, and complex'' Irish Independent ''Stylish, sharp-witted, taut. A must for modern noir fans'' NB Magazine ''Definitive confident and energetic'' Crime Time ''Brilliant manic energy'' Jake Arnott ''Wildly stylish and hugely entertaining'' Lucy Caldwell ''Vivid, stylish, funny'' Mick Herron ''Gripping, fast-paced, darkly atmospheric'' Susanna Jones ''Snappy, thoughtful, moving'' John King ''Exciting, fresh, incredibly assured'' Stav Sherez ''Happy days!'' Mark Timlin ''Utterly brilliant'' Cathi Unsworth ''Had James Ellroy and David Peace collaborated on a novel they''d have written something like this'' Paul Willets -
''As vibrant, colourful and complex as South America''s largest city''
Sao Paulo, 2013: a city at an extraordinary moment in its history.
Mario Leme, a detective in the civil police, has developed a friendship with a young English investigative journalist, Ellie. When she goes to meet a contact in central Sao Paulo, Mario observes from the street as she walks into a building and doesn''t come out. Inside, he discovers the dead body of a young man he doesn''t recognise, and Ellie''s phone lying on the floor.
Told partly from Leme''s point of view, partly from Ellie''s, Gringa takes us through five days during the redevelopment of the centre of Sao Paulo in the run-up to the 2014 World Cup. Ellie''s disappearance links characters at every level of the social hierarchy, from the drug dealers and civil and military police to the political class she witnesses the feral brutality of urban breakdown.
Gringa, with shades of Don Winslow and James Ellroy, is a portrait of Sao Paulo
in all its harshness and dysfunction, its corruption and social divisions, its kaleidoscopic dynamism, its undercurrent of derangement, and its febrile, sensual instability, executed with a deep knowledge of the city''s a
PRAISE FOR JOE THOMAS
''Brilliant'' The Times
''Feverish energy'' Guardian
''Wonderfully vivid'' Mail on Sunday
''Sophisticated, dizzying'' GQ
''Vivid and visceral'' The Times
''Superbly realised vivid and atmospheric'' Guardian
''Original'' Mail on Sunday
''A stylish, atmospheric treat an inspired blend of David Peace and early Pinter'' Irish Times
''Sparse, energetic, fragmented prose'' The Spectator
''Vibrant, colourful, and complex'' Irish Independent
''Stylish, sharp-witted, taut. A must for modern noir fans'' NB Magazine
''Definitive confident and energetic'' Crime Time
''Brilliant manic energy'' Jake Arnott
''Wildly stylish and hugely entertaining'' Lucy Caldwell
''Vivid, stylish, funny'' Mick Herron
''Gripping, fast-paced, darkly atmospheric'' Susanna Jones
''Snappy, thoughtful, moving'' John King
''Exciting, fresh, incredibly assured'' Stav Sherez
''Happy days!'' Mark Timlin
''Utterly brilliant'' Cathi Unsworth
''Had James Ellroy and David Peace collaborated on a novel they''d have written something like this'' Paul Willets
