La resurrección de los muertos: La primera investigación del detective Brenner

Por Wolf Haas

Humor negro y misterio conviven perfectamente en la nueva serie protagonizada por el detective austriaco Simon Brenner.
«No es fácil ­encontrar tanto entretenimiento, sabiduría y suspense juntos.» Der Standard
En la apacible localidad alpina de Zell am See, en Austria, la vida transcurre más lenta que en el resto del mundo. Allí no se mata a tiros, sino congelando a las víctimas. Ésta es la suerte que corre una pareja de acaudalados norteamericanos que, en una gélida mañana de invierno, es encontrada muerta en un telesilla. La policía pronto se estrella contra el muro de silencio de los lugareños. Sólo una persona podrá arrojar luz sobre este caso: el ex policía Brenner, a quien su desquiciante lentitud le ha valido perder su puesto. Ahora, como detective privado y sabiendo muy bien cómo las gastan en esta provincia austríaca, deberá resolver este caso.

• Idioma: Español
• Editorial: Siruela
• Fecha de lanzamiento: 29 feb 2012
• ISBN: 9788498418859

Wolf Haas

Wolf Haas nació en Maria Alm am Steinernen Meer, cerca de Salzburgo, en 1960. Después de cursar estudios de Lingüística ejerció durante dos años de lector en la universidad de Swansea, en Gales. A continuación trabajó como redactor de textos publicitarios en Viena. La resurrección de los muertos es su primera novela, que le valió el fulminante ascenso a la «primera división de autores de género policiaco en lengua alemana» (Facts). Muchas de sus novelas han sido galardonadas con el Premio Alemán de Novela Policiaca. Actualmente reside en Viena.

Comentarios para La resurrección de los muertos

[bcquinnsmom · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Simon Brenner is a 44 year-old ex-detective inspector ("or whatever his rank was") who has recently left the police after a nineteen-year career. He's on the same case he was working when he left, the strange affair of two elderly Americans found frozen to death in December on a chair lift in Zell am See, a popular ski area in the Austrian Alps. As the reader learns in the first two chapters, Brenner solved the case only after three-quarters of the year had gone by, not for the police, but for Vienna's Meierling Detective Agency, contracted by the Americans' insurance company. The police case had stalled in January; by March, as a PI for Meierling, Brenner was back. Suffering from pounding migraines, he works his way through this case with no evidence or leads; all he has is a seemingly unshakable alibi of one of the suspects given by a man who's just been released from a mental hospital. So far, this may seem like a typical outing in the world of crime fiction, but it most definitely is not. If the author were to go straight from point A to point B with the case, the investigation and the solution, a) there would certainly be less pages in this book and b) it wouldn't be nearly as interesting or fun. The unique narration style strikes the reader immediately. It's as if he/she is being addressed by a sardonic someone who's sitting around in a bar, looking back and telling the story, complete with comments to "you," and the normal digressions a storyteller might make in such a situation, complete with character observations. As just one example of a meandering path in this book, in describing how Brenner took a taxi ride hoping for information from a talkative cabbie, the narrator turns that into a discourse on the sport of curling, rich tourists and poor tipping, as well as the way Brenner eats a sausage on a bun. Yet hidden among this often darkly humorous, tangential material are not only clues essential to solving the crime, but there is a lot of insight into Brenner's character, the issues faced by the permanent residents in this tourist mecca, and the ugly past of this otherwise outwardly postcard-perfect area.Since I've already read the author's Brenner and God, it's pretty obvious that in this book he's just getting started on developing Brenner's character, but that's usually the case in a first series novel. The crime, once solved, proves to be cleverly plotted and I didn't guess the who or the why. I also happened to enjoy the quirkiness of Haas' writing style, but I can see how it might not be everyone's cup of tea. The story digresses and the meandering may be a little off-putting for a reader who's in this solely for the crime. However, for patient readers who are willing to take a chance on something very different in the crime-fiction zone, while it takes some initial bit of getting used to, Resurrection turns out to be a very good and quite satisfying read, punctuated here and there with bits of dark humor keeping it lively. Recommended.