Red April

Since the literary world started to go crazy for Roberto Bolaño, there has been a real resurgence of interest in South American writing - and on the basis of Santiago Roncagliolo's debut novel it's easy to see why. This tense political thriller is effortlessly written and breathes new life into that tired genre.

It is Holy Week in Lima, but the atmosphere on the streets is hellish. Peru is awash with assassination, bribery, intrigue, torture, and enforced disappearance; the crime rate is soaring and the country stand in the middle of a war between grim, ideologically driven terrorism and morally bankrupt government counter-insurgence.

In the middle of the maelstrom is Felix Chacaltana Saldivar, a hapless, by-the-book and unambitious prosecutor. His life has been unremarkable, touched only by the death of his mother and his love of literature. But when he is surprisingly put in charge of a gruesome and unsettling murder investigation. It's case that will take him to the brink of his own sanity, forcing Saldivar to confront what happens to a man and society when death becomes the only certainty.

Remarkable, erudite and utterly compelling, there is little wonder that Roncagiolo became the youngest ever winner of the Alfaguara Prize, one of Spanish most prestigious literary awards.