I picked this up through Netgalley on a whim and thought it was pretty good. The pacing was a little off for me, but the characters were top-notch. Antonia and Jon were really well developed and Mentor was a treat unto himself. My lack of one star is 100% on the pacing and I thought it was a little too slow in parts. It could have been maybe 50 pages shorter if Gomez-Jurado pared down some of the needless details, but the story, the mystery, the reveals, it was all good.

Red Queen by Juan Gomez-Jurado unfortunately did not click with me.
There is nothing wrong with the characters or the plot of the story--and it's possible that it's more my mind state than the book itself.
Jon seemed like an interesting and flawed character but I never warmed to him and the main protagonist Antonia Scott had some interesting traits but (shrug). Perhaps it is a matter of translation but there just didn't seem to be any depth. The narrative voice just seemed a little detached.
I will probably return and re-read this book at a later date and see If my opinion changes.
Thanks to #NetGalley, #MinotauBooks and Juan Gomez-Jurado for the ARC of #RedQueen.

I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for a fair review.
Red Queen is the first of Gomez-Jurado’s series featuring Antonia Scott that has been translated in English.
Ms Scott like many great sleuths has a weighty past threatening to undo her, and this bedevils her boss of the quasi-secret crime fighting organization who recruited her for the intelligent think-outside-the-box skill set that has thus far brought them much success.

Our story begins with the travails of her soon to be partner and protector, a Bilbao police inspector who we find brooding over his latest screw up that will likely end his less than stellar twenty year career.

Jon Guiterrez has long been hampered by impulsiveness and a lack of intuition- and the fear of attracting the wrong attention, he’s a gay policeman with the massive build of a shot putter. And yet his most pressing fear now is that his latest screw up will send him to jail, and though he knows what awaits him there given his obvious vulnerabilities, it is the impact on his Mother dying of shame and guilt, that is uppermost in his mind, she “who had him at the age of twenty seven almost a virgin, right and proper”.

And so begins a partnership of compassionate opposites and the colourful characters inhabiting this thriller skillfully written with the wry humour and insight into the human condition that permeates Juan Gomez-Jurardo’s works.

I’d already read ‘God’s Spy’ enjoying it tremendously, and while I found this book and its characters enjoyable, the passages ruminating on the past thwarted the pace a bit.

An unlikely combination join forces in this exceptionally thrilling novel set in Spain.

A gay, rule-splitting police officer and an extremely intelligent woman involved with a shadowy organization where she is known as the Red Queen. Does that have your attention? It certainly grabbed mine and kept me interested until the end. If you are looking for complicated characters, evil villains and an enthralling story, please write this one down on your to-read list. Another new series to look forward to.

Highly recommended!

The Red Queen grabbed my attention from the outset and did not let go through its white knuckle ending. The plot is premised on the existence of a secret organization within the European Union at the core of which are a number of highly intelligent individuals. These agents, and those who are assigned to help them, solve crimes that are not solvable by ordinary means. A number of unsolved bizarre kidnappings and killings have happened in Spain. The Red Queen organization must step in.

Antonia Scott is Spain’s Red Queen. She is the daughter of an English diplomat and a Spanish academic. She may well be the most intelligent person alive but is crippled by grief over a husband all but dead from injuries for which she blames herself. She no longer is willing or able to perform her duties.

Jon Gutierez is an Inspector in Spain’s National Police but is currently in jail after he planted heroin on a pimp and was secretly recorded admitting to it. He is disgraced and headed toward a long prison term unless, somehow, he can induce Antonia to return from her self imposed exile to help solve the kidnapping-murders and save the still alive victims. Pressed by her English grandmother she agrees-for one night. Jon is assigned to help her.

The two, on the surface, could not be more different. Antonia lives a solitary life, spending all of her waking hours at her husband’s bedside and living in a completely empty apartment. She all but lacks any capacity for humor, sarcasm or irony. Jon is a single gay man who lives with his mother. He is looking for true love in a long term relationship but has been disappointed at every turn. A burly, somewhat out of shape cop he loves to cook. He is big hearted and the trouble he is in happened out of his desire to help a teenage prostitute. The two make a like-able
partnership bonded by a common loneliness and mutual affection.

The Red Queen delivers on plot and on entertaining twists and turns. But what makes the story rise above the rest is the relationship between the two partners. This tale was originally written in Spanish and is the first in what will be a series of books. If it is not translated immediately I’m going to have to learn Spanish in a hurry. I am already looking forward to sequels.

I am most appreciative of the opportunity to receive an ARC from the publisher St. Martin’s Press by way of Netgalley.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance eBook. This is not a paid review.
What can I say. This. Book. Was. Awesome! I read the soon to be released English language version known as Red Queen.
Great writing if the English translation was accurate to the author's intent. Antonia Scott is the next great thriller character. My only regret is that I don't read Spanish! Waiting for the sequels is going to be a long, hard wait.
Antonia Scott is part Lisbeth Salander and actually, Rain Man. Yeah, weird but it so works. Antonia is brilliant, she is probably one of the smartest people on the planet, and in so being is sometimes incapacitated by her brilliance. She is a a member of the Red Queen project who are the smartest of the smart and catch the worst of the worst. Antonia's superior is the enigmatic, Mentor.

After a personal trauma that has left her husband in a coma, Antonia has refused to work in quite awhile, but not for lack of Mentor trying.
Enter disgraced, gay, police investigator, Jon Gutierrez. He's a big guy with a heart of gold who has made a mess of his career trying to protect a prostitute. Mentor throws him a lifeline. All of the mess can go away if he can get Antonia to work again.
What starts is an unlikely pairing of the two investigating a shocking crime scene of a ritualistic murder and the subsequent kidnapping of one of Spain's wealthiest men's daughters, who will become a victim herself if her father doesn't do as the creepy Ezekiel has asked, something that he just can't bring himself to do.

There are twists and turns and surprises, and great chemistry between two unlikely people. Red queen is everything a thriller should be.

A female Sherlock Holmes - Antonio Scott, a woman with an amazing forensic mind that solves baffling murders. When Antonio teams up with suspended police officer Jon Guitierrez, the fireworks begin. His job is to convince her to come out of her self-imposed retirement to help solve a terrifying case. A criminal mastermind has committed two bold crimes and has left behind no real clues. The only chance to figure out what is happening is in Antonio's skills - along with Jon's help and protection. So well done - thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and Juan Gomez-Jurado for this fabulous read!

If you're a fan of Criminal Minds and books or shows in that vein, this may be a good pick for you.

I can definitely see why this was such a runaway hit in Spain and other parts of the world before it ever got translated to English. I would read more books in this series. The plot was compelling, if it a little slow at times, and I couldn't wait to get to the answer. I read a lot of thrillers, but I was barely staying ahead of the main characters as I tried to figure out the answer.

This is a darker style of thriller. Things aren't sugar-coated or glossed over, but the grittiness is is part of the story and I don't think this book would work with out.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.

Very good, but with a huge number of ratings and reviews already out there for this 2018 publication on Goodreads, I'll just recommend it to thriller fans.

I really appreciate the free review copy!!

I have just read Red Queen by Juan Gómez-Jurado.

What great characters, story, settings and a start to a trilogy of books!

I must say that this was a book that I just could not put it down once I got started.

The story starts off with Jon Gutierrez, who is a police officer in Bilbao, getting into some deep problems.

It is refreshing to find a thriller that takes place in wonderful cities like Bilbao and Madrid, both that I have visited and love, plus that have very different and interesting main characters.

I can not wait for the second installment of this trilogy to become available in English.

Thank you to NetGalley, Author Juan Gómez-Jurado and St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books for my advanced copy to read and review.

5 STARS!!

#NetGalley

Juan Gomez-Jurado has written a large number of books and “Red Queen” is the first English translation that I have come across…and this book was GREAT! From what I have seen, “Red Queen” is the first of a series and I cannot wait for what follows.

Antonia Scott and Jon Gutierrez are an unlikely pair to work together but eventually they become a team, each feeding off and to the other to complete the mission. Good old deductive thinking gets the crimes solved in a surprising way.

If you are an avid reader, then The Red Queen by Juan Gomez-Jurado, is so enjoyable. This is a literary thriller, with fresh ideas, snippets of foreign language, poems, and an unusual richness not normally found in crime novels.

Juan takes us into the lives of a very elite team of crime fighters who have worked to solve crimes that are complex and would be above most regular law enforcement. The team is unusual in so many ways, even the way they communicate is obtuse.

Our main characters Antonia and Jon are unlikely partners. Antonia is a rare female and one I hope to see more of. She has extraordinary senses and is extremely smart while having many personal problems. She and Jon are put together to solve several impossibly difficult crimes without having a long history of working together.

There so are many twists and turns, and if you have nothing to do, I highly recommend reading this in one sitting. It is truly hard to put down.

The Red Queen was a fantastic surprise. Well written, quirky characters and an excellent mystery. I recommend it

I love reading mystery/thrillers from foreign authors because I feel like I get to read my favorite genre from a different approach and I learn a little about another part of the world, in this case Spain. I was excited when I first heard this series was going to be published in English after being a huge hit internationally, It didn't disappoint! Excellent action and intrigue, and I enjoyed the unique duo. There is an overweight, gay, sarcastic police officer discharged to drag a brilliant but humorless automaton from her home where she has been holed up after a traumatic accident. It is refreshing to read about a police investigative duo that are NOT a couple, and never will be! Thank you.

This book is astounding and captivating. Antonia is a heroine for the ages, and I loved every page. I can’t wait to tell everyone to read this, and I’m jonesing for the next novel to be translated. What a sensational thriller.

I am grateful to NetGalley, the author and St. Martin’s Press for providing access to this digital ARC.

This was a strange book. The translation made it feel distant or detached, which is an effect I often perceive in translations. . . not a bad thing and maybe not particularly obvious to others. . . just my opinion. That detachment, though, impacted the characters and the plot. The story follows a current style of dribbling out back story a bit at a time. It can be confusing, especially if it is meant to build tension and suspense—and it didn’t do that for me.

I persevered in reading although I wasn’t particularly engaged with the characters. The action scenes were very fast paced and tense, which is fun. . . but it also means that the tension needs to build throughout the story so it becomes difficult to sustain. That doesn’t bode well for the next volumes in the series.

In the end, our heroine and her reluctant, rather dim (but well-dressed) male partner do find a way to get around the bureaucrats who block their way. She does this weird Dune-esque “mentat” analysis to determine the evil plot, and needs some kind of really nasty meds to help her come back down to earth. The bad guys get their come-uppance, some of the good guys get fried as well. We have many loose strings of people with whom we’ve bonded, like Carla, and it would be nice to find out her next steps, without waiting for the next book.

The weird historical precedents were kind of a snooze, maybe because I’m not familiar with Spanish history from that era. I did not feel that the heroine was comparable to Lisbeth Salander. I felt most sorry for the horse.

3 stars, being generous.