I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. I found this book incredibly interesting the author really kept me hooked until the end. very well written I highly recommend.

I could not get into this book, sorry. Trying to clean up my netgalley. I have previously shared my loved on my instagram page and didn't realize that I was forgetting to leave reviews on netgalley itself, My apologies.

Excellent, loved this mystery/thriller. A detective must find out if a series of new murders have to do with a serial killer sent to jail 20 years ago. Is he involved, framed, or is someone just copying his murders? The book takes place in Vitoria, Spain, so there was also so much fascinating information about this ancient city.

So, I did not think I was getting the digital copy and bought the book at the book store. The author is writing another book in this series. I did put in for that. I will see what happens.

Sure, these are just oversights and was fine with purchasing the book. I am going to send it to another friend to use. I love that this is a translated book, as these are hard to come by. Excellent Series.

Much thanks NetGalley, Eva Garcia Saenz, and Vintage Books for a copy of this book.

This book is long but very interesting! Very fast paced and complex at times. I appreciated the history of the city that was tied in with the mystery and crime fiction book.

A fantastic slow burn of a serial killer story, this has great characters and is blessed with an amazing setting, the Basque region of Spain. de Urturi does an amazing job of building the tension, setting the elements in place and building up to a great finale. The next book cannot come soon enough!

This is a translated work that I picked up on a whim. It is the first in a series, although it references an older crime and also a connection between the lead protagonist and the probable villain. During the course of the current narrative, a very (seemingly) random story of the past is unravelling. The language of the narration was a translation, which meant that parts of the story flow while the other parts seem a little abrupt.
We have a serial killer on the loose, and a man was jailed for the same offence a long time ago. The man in charge of the current case is someone for who the original conviction held a lot of importance. Then we have some complicated affairs of the heart. This section confused me a lot because the loyalties of the lead protagonist were never clear, given the details dropped during the different parts.
The plot was a little unique, gave insight into a whole new culture (for me), and involved many historical facts (some of which went above my head). I liked it as a unique reading experience (once again, for me), although I might not continue with the series. Some dramatic twists worked well, and I would have never reached the complete conclusion (I guessed a few things by chance).
If you are looking for a non-US/UK-based police procedural that tends to get a graphic during some intervals, this is worth giving a chance.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

I love crime fiction and detective stories but I had never read one set in he Basque country, so I was really intrigued to read this book. If I had to choose my favourite sub-genre it would be a serial killer thriller so the storyline was the perfect and I loved the additional history and insight into the region at the same time - it gave a different atmosphere to the genre that I hadn't experienced before.

The detective, Kraken, is investigating a series of murders that are very similar to a series of crimes committed twenty years earlier. With the killer of the original murders in jail, Kraken must work out if these new murders are the work of a copycat killer, if the killer had an accomplice or if they got the wrong man altogether.

Kraken is a fantastic character to read - equally brilliant and troubled - and the narrative is complex and multi-layered. I was thoroughly hooked in this page-turner of a thriller and am eagerly awaiting the rest of the trilogy.

I distinctly remember hearing about this book from one or two of the blogs I follow, but I can’t find your post so thank you to anyone who has recommended this book earlier in the year! I’m a big fan of mysteries and I’m always looking for more translated works, so this book appealed to me a lot.

The Silence of the White City is set in Vitoria, Basque (Spain), where a serial killer has re-appeared after twenty years. The complication: the man that was convicted of the first set of crimes is still in jail.

As a youth, Inspector Unai López de Ayala was obsessed with these ritualistic murders. Now, he’s in charge of investigating these new killings, and he’s convinced that the answer lies in the past. But will he work with the killer in jail, or will he find the truth by himself?

To be honest, the book and I got off to a rough start. The translation felt rather awkward and I felt like I was just given a lot of information. I think it’s because the book is written in first person, and a lot of the statements sound as though Unai is self-consciously telling us about what happening. Plus, there was a lot of backstory/explanatory narrative in the first chapter; for example, when we meet Estibaliz, Unai’s work partner and best friend, we’re told that they are working on following orders, that Unai turns a blind eye to “some of the addictions that still slipped into Esti’s life” while she looks the other way when he disobeys his superiors, followed by an explanation of what Unai’s speciality is (criminal profiling) and what Estibaliz specialises in. It is a lot of information, and it felt a bit awkward to be given all of that before we saw Unai and Estibaliz work the crime scene.

Thankfully, I managed to settle into the rhythm of the book after a while and enjoyed it quite a bit. I think that the middle is a bit draggy (there’s basically one really big red herring that wasted a lot of time) but when the book hit the latter half, things moved pretty quickly and the tension quickly rocketed up.

As for characters, I didn’t particularly like or dislike any of them. I found the subplot involving Unai’s love-life rather inexplicable, but then again I’m generally not a romance fan so I probably missed out on a lot of cues about how the relationship was developing.

What I really liked about this book was the setting. It was clear that the translator tried his best to retain the atmosphere of Vitoria in writing, and I enjoyed the descriptions of the city and the festivals that occurred (even if they did feel like info-dumps sometimes). I also appreciated the fact that not everything was translated – words like cuadrilla, which from googling doesn’t seem to have a perfect English translation, were left as-is, which helped me to pick up what it meant from context (rather than from an imprecise translation).

Overall, this book was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I liked the setting of the book, and the mystery was rather good once Unai was on the right track, but the translation felt a little clunky and I took so long to get used to the book and for the mystery to pick up pace that I’m a bit hesitant to pick up the second book in this series.

Wow! What an epic journey! There is a serial killer in Vitoria, Spain, but who is it?

This book is filled with mystery, intrigue and twists and turns I didn't see coming! I am not familiar with Spain and there was a lot cultural references I was not familiar with. It took me a bit to get into the rhythm of the story. I was hooked instantly when I read the prologue, Definitely a book that I will remember!

I really enjoyed this mystery, set in the Basque country of northern Spain, and am looking forward to the sequels being released in English. What I probably enjoyed most was the setting and the air of mysticism about the mystery.

"Kraken", a detective in Vitoria, can remember when a serial murderer struck fear into the heart of the city twenty years earlier. Eight people were killed in pairs and then positioned in the nude with their hands touching each others' cheeks. Each pair was five years apart in age. The killings began with infants, which was especially gruesome, and then continued with five year-olds, ten year-olds and fifteen year-olds, before a suspect was incarcerated. That prisoner, a former celebrity archaeologist, is now about the be released, and the whole cycle seems to be starting up again with a pair of twenty year-olds found dead.

I'm honestly not sure that Kraken is a very good detective. I was more interested in the culture of the city, his relationships with his family, cuadrilla (friend cohort group), and possible romance. Also, it's clear that the killer is working off of some obscure medieval philosophy, and I'm very interested in medieval mysticism. Kraken goes to visit his grandfather in the country, and I was able to read about a centuries-old farm where the pace of life is slower and the scope of the day is smaller. I got to read about Spanish religious fiestas.

I'm not sure that you could solve the mystery with the clues provided. The book is more of a serial-killer thriller than a mystery. I'm not sure that Kraken has especially good judgement when it comes to people, even though he likes to think of himself as a good profiler. But I didn't mind the flaws in the characters, because the flaws seemed believable. It was a good ride, and I'm ready to continue with more books in the series.

Serial killers scare me to my bone! But I love to read crime novels about cults and serial killings. The Silence of the White City, first in the trilogy, originally published in Spanish is a hit among crime enthusiasts and translated fiction lovers like me. I read this just in time before the second book comes out in March, 2021.

The Old Chapel, 2016
Vitoria, Spain.
Officer Unai and his partner investigate a killing that is very similar in may ways to the serial killings that happened 20 years ago in Spain. But the killer was caught and just in time for his parole, killings start again. Did they capture the real killer? Is this killer a copy cat? Or does the killer have an apprentice? What do these murders have to do with rituals and historic places? - along with the detectives, the reader also paces to find the murderer/ritualistic serial killer!

Despite having a couple sleepless nights, I’m totally amazed by this book!! Just wow. I can firmly say True crime/Serial Killer enthusiasts would love this book. Its not just the killers & killings, we also get a psychological glimpse of what the detectives go through, their pov, their way of thinking! Its the whole package. Don’t miss this!

Thank you Knopf/double day for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

If you're looking for utter fantasy and a lack of realism in your mystery novels, then this is for you. The characters and their actions are all utterly over the top and unbelievable. The presence of Basque lore is far less than the blurb suggests, and the writing overall is cliched.

Yet another book that I’ve found due to Bookstagram! This is one police procedural mystery that had me guessing left and right, and of course wrong at every turn. From my understanding, it is a book translated to english though and I think that shows at some parts. Nonetheless, I still really enjoyed this book. If you love serial killer mysteries/police procedurals, I think you’d like this too!!

A complex and atmospheric read that reminds you what good serial killer mystery novels are made of.

The Silence of the White City follows Inspector Ayala and his partner Inspector Gauna as they find themselves heading up a new string of ritualistic murders that have restarted from their fame 20 years prior - just weeks before the supposed killer is being released on parole. The investigation quickly gets complicated and personal. As the reader you find yourself gasping at the almost suspects and untangling a complicated backstory that stretches decades.

It felt so great to read a truly multi-layered and well-written detective story again. Many recent mystery releases have seemed to rely on short chapters and intense build up without too much intricacy in character development, cultural significance and backstory. This read will keep you guessing until the end - even though a huge final event is revealed in the first chapter.

My only reason for not giving this book 5 stars was because I had some difficulty grasping and keeping track of the large amount of geographical locations and names. I completely understand and own up to the fact that this is because of my differing cultural experience. It certainly did push me as a reader to look up some terms and history, which I enjoyed! I also gave this 4 stars because I felt like the attraction and chemistry between Alba and Inspector Ayala could have been developed a little bit more rather than feeling like it came on suddenly.

Will definitely be interested in continuing this series!

Eva García Sáenz wrote a three-book series which became very popular in its original Spanish. A Spanish movie was made in 2019 based on the first book, “The Silence of the White City.” So far, this is the only book to have been translated.

As with series written in other languages, the writing cannot be separated from the culture in which it is set. García Sáenz’s book is set in the Basque region of Spain. She does a great job of presenting the Basque elements: the food, history, religion, icons, family and friend groupings. Sometimes, though — as with the famous books by Stieg Larsson (Sweden), Andrea Camilleri (Italy), Leonardo Padura (Cuba) — some equivalencies will be missing in translation. Unlike books written by English-speaking authors who place their books in foreign countries, these foreign books make no accommodation for people who do not know them or their country. The authors hop right into the storytelling. Sometimes editors or translators insert some explanations, but rightly so, we readers are mostly on our own.

I don’t know how much of García Sáenz’s style was preserved or how much of it is typical. For instance, American thrillers have a certain cadence, with a tough main character who is terse but sensitive, cynical but undeterred to right moral wrongs. This is a generalization, of course, but I think there’s a certain expectation that American thrillers follow a rapid-fire pacing with a tough/snappy/moral hero/heroine.

This is what García Sáenz’s style seems to me: Her hero, Unai Ayala, is emotionally wounded, tough yet tender, loyal and seemingly unforgiving of betrayal (but forgiveness is in his DNA), and smart (but you don't actually see him solve any clues). The pace is uneven because the action often pauses for romantic and personal excursions. That’s typical for American thrillers as well, but in “Silence,” the action sequences are spare and rapid, and the personal scenes in contrast are sometimes florid. Once the lengthy novel draws to a close, the pace quickens, the action pounds through, and a satisfying conclusion is reached.

This is a serial killer novel. Twenty years ago, in the city of Vitoria, several double murders occurred. The first victims were babies, a boy and a girl, posed naked with one’s hand caressing the other’s cheek. The next set were five-year olds and the next ten-year-olds. The last victims were the fifteen-year-olds. Archaeologist Tasio Ortiz de Zárate was arrested by his twin brother police detective Ignacio. When the present story begins, Tasio has been in prison for twenty years. Through mysterious tweets addressed to Unai, Tasio again declares his innocence and expresses his joy at his upcoming parole.

But then the murders begin again, starting with the twenty-year-olds. All the bodies, both twenty years before and now are placed at historical sites. What is the meaning of that message? Is it even a message or is it a quirk on the part of the murderer? (It appears that the murderer is giving the police a fair play way of figuring out where the next set of bodies will appear.) Is there a copycat murderer now, or is Tasio really innocent and the real murderer has lain low for twenty years? Maybe Tasio has an accomplice who is helping to spread doubt about his guilt? Ooo. Maybe it's Ignacio.

Unai and his partner Estíbaliz try to catch up with the case material from twenty years ago, predict what will happen with the next set of murders, and more importantly, profile the killer. García Sáenz weaves in elements of the Basque society, with its close family ties and the comfort of cuadrillas (friendship groups).

I found the Basque elements very interesting and looked forward to when García Sáenz would talk about them. Unai’s personal life I found less compelling, with the exception of his relationship with his grandfather and brother. Estíbaliz was mostly a cipher until part of her personal life became pertinent to the case.

I mostly have positive feelings about this book, but there were parts I was tempted to speed through. It’s a very emotionally wrought and sincere book.

"This is where your hunt ends and mine begins."

Although this book has been on my TBR list for some time, I have been burnt out by crime thrillers recently and had skipped past it until I found myself on Goodreads one evening. I was checking out reviews for the titles on my shelf when I came upon one for this novel that mentioned that there was a Netflix film of the same name. Now, I'm a sucker for movie adaptions based on books I've read, and I almost always insist on reading the book first. In this case, however, I went to the television and watched the film -- I really didn't want to tackle a book with about 500 pages if it didn't grab me. And what a sucker punch of a serial killer thriller that was. I started the book that same night and I've been savoring it over the last couple of days.

This is definitely one of my favorite reads of 2020. I'm not sure if it was the setting, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Alava, Spain, or if I was captivated by the complicated story line, but once I opened to the maps at the start and met the characters -- I was hooked. The premise: Inspector Unai Lopez de Ayala (Kraken) and his partner, Inspector Estibaliz Ruiz de Gauna (Esti), of the Criminal Investigation Unit are looking into a series of ritualistic murders that have just begun again after a hiatus of 20 years. The immediate problem for the partners is that the man who was found guilty of those previous kills is still in prison. NO SPOILERS.

There was so much to love and nothing was lost in translation as this takes off and keeps a fast pace that doesn't let up. Included with the beautiful descriptions of the country and culture are myths and legends of the Basque country. The characters were well-developed personalities that were easy to like and relate to as they case alters their lives in many ways. I cannot wait for the second book in this trilogy to be released in English early next year -- THE WATER RITUALS. The complex plot is surpassed only by the skillful way that the author dangles the breadcrumbs of clues as the inspectors chase the truth. I was thoroughly entertained and totally satisfied.

As to whether or not you should read the book first or see the movie, that's up to you, but I'm very happy with my atypical backward approach as having already "visited" the setting and "met" the characters gave me a much deeper appreciation for all the details one can't get from a film.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard) for this e-book ARC to read, review, and highly recommend to all mystery and thriller fans.

The white city that the devil played in was 1893 Chicago. The white city that is silent in this mystery thriller is Vitoria, the capital of the Basque Country of Northern Spain. Although it would not be a reach to say that a devil is playing in Vitoria as well. His play certainly makes for a compelling mystery and an edge-of-the-seat thriller.

In spite of the fact that the police thought they knew who that devil was. But they were wrong. Or were they?

Twenty years ago a series of murders rocked Vitoria. Someone, obviously a sick, psychopathic someone, terrorized the city and weirdly highlighted its history at the same time. The victims were found in couples, one male and one female, posed nude, each with a hand cupped on the other’s cheek. The victims were placed at scenes important in Vitoria’s history, in chronological order. As the locations moved forward through history, the ages of the victims also ratcheted upwards. The first victims, at the oldest site, were both 5 years old. The second victims were 10, the third 15.

Then the murders stopped. The police tried and convicted the killer, Tasio Ortiz de Zárate, after evidence was found linking him to the crimes. That evidence was found by his twin brother, Ignacio, the police investigator assigned to solve the crimes.

But that was in 1996. As this story opens, it is 2016. Tasio is due to get out of prison on parole in a few weeks. But he is definitely still incarcerated when the story opens.

And the murders begin again.

Tasio has an ironclad alibi for the actual killing of two 20 year olds, even though the murder follows his old pattern, right down to names of the victims. Both have double-barreled surnames local to the Avila region.

As does the inspector assigned to solve the case. Inspector Unai López de Ayala, who is now 40 and in the line of possible victims. Just as he was 20 years ago. But 20 years ago he was a young man just starting out. Now he is the police department’s most successful criminal profiler.

It’s his job to profile this killer, in order to find him before he chalks up another string of victims.

But Unai is caught up in his own personal web of secrets, lies and misdirections, just added to the weight of the previous investigation. He is all too easily manipulated, by his own griefs, by the mounting tension of his affair with his boss, his fractious relationship with his police partner and by the charismatic prisoner who claims that he is innocent of the heinous crimes that he was convicted of.

And he just might be right.

Escape Rating A+: I picked this up because this was a book that the publisher was absolutely over the moon for when I wrote the Library Journal Crime Fiction (mystery/suspense/thriller) Preview earlier this year. It looked fascinating as a mystery, as a work in translation, and as a book that was a bestseller in its native Spain (there’s even a movie!) but that hadn’t caused a ripple over here – but looked like it should.

And it definitely should. I was hooked from the very first page and didn’t emerge until I turned the last page, gasping in shock and with a horrible book hangover. This is a story that is suspended on that knife edge between mystery, suspense and thriller and it cuts deeply with all three blades.

But in the end this feels like a mystery, because the thing that haunts the entire story is very definitely whodunnit. Or to be even more grammatically incorrect, who done them?

We see most of this mystery from inside the head of the lead investigator, although there are these bits and pieces from the past that at first don’t feel part of Kraken’s narrative but do feel part of the story. Even if we’re not sure how they fit.

What we have in the present is more than compelling enough. On the one hand, it feels familiar, a police investigator who is beguiled by the charisma of a serial killer. And on that shaking other hand, while Tasio is charismatic, he also has a point. He can’t have committed the current crimes because he’s locked up. He does have followers on the outside, as exemplified by the internet communications he’s just not supposed to have, but there’s no one in his orbit who would be committing crimes on his behalf just in time to mess up his parole.

He manifestly does not benefit. So who does? And that’s where the trail gets exceedingly complicated – and also extremely cold. Like that saying about how revenge is best served. But who is it serving?

Along the way, we have all the stresses of a police investigation that seems to be going nowhere fast, along with all of the strains of modern life. Kraken is a widower, having an affair with his new boss – who is very much married. His police partner has a history of, let’s call it pharmaceutical flirtation, courtesy of her abusive childhood and her brother the former drug dealer.

Meanwhile, someone out there is ritually killing people, and Kraken and his friends and family are all in the target circle. He’s motivated to find the killer – but he’s just not having any success. Until he suddenly does, and it’s all worse than he expected.

The reader rides along in Kraken’s head, and is just as stressed and just as lost as he is. Until the house of cards finally comes together – and nearly comes apart – as the stories all connect up with a lot of whimpering and a huge bang.

I loved this for its immersion in the life of a place and a culture that was completely new to me, while also surrounding me with all the familiar trappings of a police procedural. One that introduced me to the family of birth and choice that makes the best mystery series so compelling.

The crimes, in their combination of history, ritual and revenge, reminded me a bit of a combination of The DaVinci Code – albeit with much more emphasis on the actual crimes than the ritualist nature of them as well as Antoine Marcas series by Eric Giacometti and Jacques Ravenne – which I loved.

That The Silence in the White City is the first book in a trilogy makes this reader very happy. That the second book in the trilogy, The Water Rituals, will be published in English early in 2021 makes me even happier. I hope the third book follows as shortly as possible!

Eva García Sáenz's The Silence of the White City is a twisty page-turning thriller set in Vitoria, a city in the Basque Country in northern Spain. The novel begins with Inspector Unai López de Ayala, and his partner, Inspector Estíbaliz Ruiz de Gauna, investigating a double murder at the Old Cathedral. These murders are eerily similar to a series of ritualistic murders that occurred twenty years earlier. Inspector López de Ayala must determine if celebrity archaeologist, Tasio Ortiz de Zárate, was wrongfully convicted of these murders or had an accomplice, and stop the serial killer terrorizing Vitoria. This fast-paced thriller will keep readers guessing until the final reveal.

The Silence of the White City is the first in a trilogy and I am looking forward to reading the next book, The Water Rituals, expected to publish in the US in 2021.

ok, this was a thrilling thriller, to say the least.

I don't often read thrillers as I am easily spooked but when I do I love them!

this was a serial killer thriller which was eery and gripping and just all-round suspenseful.

totally recommend

I liked this book okay. Sometimes the protagonist couldn't hold my attention. I almost would have preferred his female partner to be the main character. Also his relationship with his supervisor felt forced they had no chemistry. Again, his partner would have been a more interesting love interest. The scenes from the past and the central mystery were the best parts.