A powerful Catalan author gives us a penetrating story of meaningless deaths and personal isolation, set in the heart of one of Spain's most beautiful, vibrant places.
In sleepy Vidreres, a Catalonian village suffering a deadening recession, prostitutes sit along the highway and two teenage boys have just died a horrible death. After attending their funeral, a banker named Ernest heads out to the spot where their car collided with a tree. Trying to come to terms with the accident, he meets a brutish trucker named Miqui who takes him to two sweet whores. So begins Ernest's journey into the dark depths of this unfathomable loss. Meanwhile, Miqui has his own plans, which involve a striking young woman and his senile father's shotgun.
Long recognized among Catalonia's leading authors, Toni Sala is at his dark, mischievous best, delivering a sinister, fast-moving tale laced with labyrinthine meditations worthy of Javier Marias. From Internet hookups and face transplants to tense standoffs, sexual fantasies, and the loss of the ones we hold most dear, Sala offers us a frighteningly contemporary vision of how alone we are in an age of unparalleled connectivity.
