A simple murder…an explosion…terrorismA core review easily writes itself when the heart and style of the author is familiar to the reviewer. Take into account the reviewer never having read any previous books in the series, then the story should stand on its own. The Hidden Assassins does this and more. Meet Inspector Javier Falcon, the chief homicide detective. Add the sensitive subject of terrorism, bombs and religious factions and you have a forward motion of tension and suspense. Granted the plot takes a while to come into play but the characterizations and scene development allows a reader to dive right into Wilson’s fictional world. The author’s style is similar to Stephen King’s in the way he first connects the reader to key players in several beginning chapters. Some of the shady and ‘unshady’ characters you’ll come across in The Hidden Assassins are: Ines, Inspector’s Falcon’s ex-wife; Manuela, the complete opposite of Falcon and his sister; a past lover, Consuelo; the mysterious mutilated and faceless murdered man, and Cristina Ferrera, an ex-nun…just to name a few who will play their part as the plot develops along with our trusted CIA, and some anti-terrorist groups. Paced to satisfy any suspense/thriller reader, clues discovered by the forensics team and surprise twists glues you to the book. But the hint of a mosque within the rubble of the explosion that crumbled a building gives the reader the intense and sensitive story to develop.Wilson has the gift to bring his characters to life, to give them their own identity in order to bond and move along every obstacle tossed at them. Layers of interconnecting subplots and the persistent investigative progress by Detective Falcon gives this thriller a psychological nerve-gripping edge to prove that Robert Wilson indeed has what it takes to dish out a riveting international mystery. The only draw back was the slow forward motion to develop a solid plot amongst all the subplots and individual happenings to other players, and the amount of names one needs to remember. However, having said that, these insights eventually tie in to most of the storyline, offering a better understanding of their motivations and movements. For those who love to dive into a complicated, twist after twist, intense mystery storyline, The Hidden Assassins will satisfy that craving.
På dansk: Mordere i skjulDet er et skarpt og politisk godt tænkt plot. Religiøs terrorisme, politisk opportunisme og populisme går hånd i hånd med almindelige borgeres frygt. Politi og efterretningsorganisationers manglende gennemsigtighed og evne til at skabe overblik efter en bombe springer i et boligområde i Sevilla er det centrale plot. Herudfra udskiller der sig adskillige sidehistorier, der både har korruption, ligestilling, medierne og magtens uhellige alliancer, nordafrikas geopolitiske rolle og Andalusiens historie som temaer. Bestemt en læseværdig thriller der formår at holde spændigsniveauet gennem alle 608 sider.Hvis der er noget at udsætte på Wilsons trejde Falcón-thriller er det, at der er ret mange bifigurer og institutioner at holde styr på. Det er muligvis en selvstændig pointe i beskrivelsen af terrorens og efterretningstjenesternes/opklaringens væsen, men det gør at man næsten skal halvvejs før forvirringen letter.Og så har bogen altså et mystisk forhold til kvinder. Den eneste nogenlunde normale af slagsen er en frafalden nonne (sic!). Ellers befinder kvinderne (der alle er arbejdsmæssigt succesrigesige)sig mellem på-grænsen-af-sammenbrud, psykisk og fysisk voldsoffer og (virkelig) femme fatale. Lidt anstrengende.
What do You think about The Hidden Assassins (2006)?
The pace of this thriller does not stop. The setting: Seville, Spain. The beginning: a mutilated corpse is found on a rubbish dump. The first turning point: an explosion at a block of flats turns out to be a terrorism attack on the mosque in the basement. Or is it? Detective Javier Falcón is swept along by the media circus and political panic as fear of a widescale attack on Andalucía grips Spain.This is the third of Robert Wilson’s four-book series about Falcón and the story twists and turns relentlessly. The plotting is excellent, I challenge you to work out the answers. As Javier unravels the knots you don’t know what to believe and neither does he.I am fascinated by the insight into Falcón’s life provided by glimpses of his cooking. His housekeeper leaves his food in the fridge for him to prepare in the evening. He is something of a cook. “Encarnación had left him some fresh pork fillet. He made a salad and sliced up some potatoes and the meat. He smashed up some cloves of garlic, threw them into the frying pan with the pork fillet and chips. He dashed some cheap whisky on top and let it catch fire from the gas flame. He ate without thinking about the food and drank a glass of red rioja to loosen up his mind.” And then he goes out to work again. It is 10pm.I will not give away the plot details, but there are sub-plots too involving characters who featured in books one and two: Javier’s ex-wife Inés and her husband the judge Esteban Calderón, his ex-girlfriend Consuelo, his sister Manuela. As always, Seville is an additional character. Its streets, the heat, the lifestyle. It makes me want to go there now.
—Sandra Danby
The early report: Third in the trio of Javier Falcon policers, this one took a little while to hit its stride. Good news is that I'm loving it right now and I'm less than a third of the way through. Keep hope alive.The late-night news: Funny, I ended up really having to push my way through this one. Many reviews by fans of author Robert Wilson have used the unfortunate term "needlessly padded" when discussing this one, and I've got to agree. The final chapters, in which the baddies are pressed hard in police interrogation rooms, turn up the excitement -- Falcon and his hard-edged side-man Ramirez are experts at applying pressure, and the dialogue rings true. However, it all comes a little too late to salvage a long, dull journey for such a meager conclusion. I pray that Wilson does not fall into the pattern that has so many Henning Mankell fans ticked off these days -- that of over-politicizing every book with heavy-handed, preachy plot lines meant to "enlighten" the readers. Keep it simple, stupid. Otherwise, yecch.
—Kurt
I am now addicted to Robert Wilson...this is the quintessential mystery novel for the post 9/11 age.Wilson captures the the dark underbelly of the lust for power that is attached to every so-called ideology,secular or religious, and asks the hard questions: who profits? who is a stakeholder? what do people really mean when they talk about "belief" and how many layers are there to any given action? Our protagonist, Javier Falcon, is just as driven and introspective as ever and the larger terrorist plot that he tries to decipher is so complex and ambiguous that it demands a sequel(which I have already ordered.) I believe there is only one more in the Falcon series, which saddens me. This is prose with a relentless, pulsating force and an author who sees human beings as complex,neither entirely good not bad, but always evolving.I suspect Mr. Wilson had many novelistic surprises up his sleeve.
—Pat
