This week, I’m recommending a thriller published by RBA, The Way Back (original title: El camino de vuelta), the debut novel by Patricia Manjavacas, a Cordoba-born author who currently lives in Germany and works as a teacher.
I’m pleased to say that this book has found a good imprint which has been a reference in crime and thriller novels for many years, having published authors like Francisco González Ledesma, Philip Kerr, and Harlan Coben. Therefore, the fact that they have backed this debut work is no coincidence.
The novel tells the story of the disappearance of a 12-year-old girl and strikes the perfect balance between mystery and action. It’s a worthy successor to The Girl on the Train or Gone Girl because it’s an engaging, fast-paced read.
On the afternoon of August 24, 1985, Paulina Giménez was last seen alive at the Pinar del Inglés campsite. The children playing with her that afternoon never knew what really happened. They had entered an abandoned house, and as part of a game, decided to lock her in the basement. That was the last place she was seen alive.
The lives of those spending their summer at that campsite were never the same. Twenty years later, Paulina’s body was found.
Twenty-five years after the traumatic incident, Néstor—the father of two siblings who were with Paulina in the abandoned house that night and the only person who continued to investigate the case even after the police closed it due to lack of evidence—passes away. Before his death, Néstor left clues for his children, Lidia and Daniel, urging them to continue the search for the truth. The siblings decide to pick up where their father left off, teaming up with their cousin, who was also at the campsite that summer. Together, they set out to uncover what really happened, who killed Paulina, and why.
Lidia must grapple with the weight of a tumultuous present. Married with a child, she faces harassment from her boss after an affair he refuses to let go of. Daniel, who was very young at the time and only remembers how Paulina manipulated his sister and drove a wedge between them, takes the lead in the investigation. Together with his friend Frankie, he is determined to uncover the truth about the killer—and in the process, discover more about himself. What neither of them expects is that their investigation will unearth an old case directly tied to Paulina’s death, a tragedy that could have been avoided.
An intense novel from the very first chapter, with an exceptional opening that sets the stage of a story filled with relentless intrigue and suspense. These traits are exactly what we seek in thrillers, making The Way Back deserving of a place among the top titles in this genre.
