Red Queen by Juan Gómez-Jurado

RED QUEEN by Juan Gómez-Jurado received a starred review from Booklist and I was avidly recommending this fabulous international best-seller before I even finished it. This is a suspenseful, action-packed thriller featuring Antonia Scott, an extraordinarily intelligent and perceptive women who solves crimes with an elite unit. In this case (set in Madrid, Spain), she is partnered with a disgraced cop named Jon, and each struggles with some personal issues while they seek to discover who has killed a young boy, kidnapped an heiress, and threatened prominent business leaders. The killer is ruthless and Gómez-Jurado provides plenty of unexpected twists to stymie Antonia and Jon. The two gradually bond, however, as Jon thinks, “Yes, Antonia Scott is unbearable, secretive, bossy, and has terrible taste in food; she’s unpredictable and probably as mad as a hatter, or damn close to it. But.”… “The creed Jon Gutierrez is a devotee of – with candles, genuflections, and prayers – is Our Lady of Nobody Messes with My Partner.” The fast pace is aided by short chapters and the humorous comments help balance some dark events. Overall, RED QUEEN is excellent and I am eagerly waiting to see the translation of the next in this trilogy (and the forthcoming streaming version from Amazon)!