In reading mode: the underside of the spy job

Deceased last September, the famous Spanish writer Javier Marías signs an ultimate little gem.  

First there was Berta Isla. A wonderful cobblestone that allows us to discover in what circumstances Berta and Tomás met and decided to spend their life together when they were still teenagers. But also why, many years later, their relationship ended up becoming particularly complicated. 

Recruited insidiously by the British secret services, Tomás had indeed very often to leave his wife and children to take part in a number of missions on the sly. And too bad if they had absolutely nothing to do with those of a James Bond or a Jason Bourne…

Dive back into the profession

As we can guess from the title of this new (and last) novel by Spaniard Javier Marías, it will now be Tomás' turn to tell. We will find him in 1997, in Madrid. Freed for some time from his obligations to MI5 and MI6, he has a cushy job at the embassy and sees his family regularly. And now London calls him back to order him to kill a woman from Northern Ireland who would be responsible for several bloody terrorist attacks. A task that will greatly displease Tomás, women must be protected according to him. Not killed.

There is a lot to say about this book, which borders on perfection. His digressions are as instructive as they are interesting (thanks to them, we learned a lot about Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen in particular), the story full of moral dilemmas is captivating and the writing, rich and generous, is a treat.&nbsp ;

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A simple investigator

In this fourth installment of the series dedicated to him, Commissioner Avraham Avraham's morale is really low. He is fed up with the suburbs of Tel-Aviv and its ordinary petty crimes. It will therefore be served the day he is informed of the disappearance of a tourist who had taken a room by the sea. An excellent, excellent thriller. 

The Case beautiful evaporated

On the evening of December 31, in the suite of Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, all the New Yorkers celebrate. But on the stroke of midnight, the body of a Broadway starlet will be found in the bathtub. Among the guests, the writers Dorothy Parker and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (the father of Sherlock Holmes) will join their efforts to unmask the assassin. Combining celebrities and fictional characters, a very nice cosy crime.  

Treating without breaking the bank

With the cost of groceries soaring, this book is a must. First, it offers recipes that can easily be transformed (for example, roast chicken that can be used to make Buffalo-style taquitos). Then, it brings together recipes that will help us no longer throw away ugly vegetables or old croissants. This is called combining business with pleasure! 

Let's talk wine let's talk well!

< p>There are tons of books on wine and the best ways to taste it. But this one is different. Not only because it places particular emphasis on all the words and all the phrases that are closely or remotely linked to wine, but because the historical aspect also occupies a large place in it (one discovers there, among other things, the ancestors of the barrel or the origin of the first bars). A big crush. 

Chills guaranteed

Obscuritas

In July 2003, after a football match between two junior teams in a stadium near Stockholm, the body of the referee was found in a very dirty state. While no one witnessed the murder, everyone could see Giuseppe Costa, the father of one of the players, openly attacking the referee earlier in the evening. 

For the police, there is no doubt: Costa is necessarily the culprit. Only Micaela Vargas, a young agent of Chilean origin, believes in his innocence. In his eyes, too many little things do not stick.

A new tandem of investigators

To help investigators see things more clearly in this case, Hans Rekke, a professor of psychology endowed with an exceptional intellectual acuity, will be invited to share his impressions. Like Micaela, he doesn't think Costa is guilty. But he won't be taken seriously and the investigation will drag on…until he agrees to team up with Micaela to start the whole case over from scratch. 

With this first part of the Rekke and Vargas series, the Swedish David Lagercrantz signs an interesting thriller.