Un beso de amigo

Un beso de amigo / A Friendly Kiss

Novel , 1980

Alianza

"Juan Madrid, along with Vázquez Montalbán, González Ledesma, Andreu Martín y García Pavón, is in the royal flush of Spanish noir. Un beso de amigo is the debut of investigator Toni Romano, retired boxer and connoisseur of Madrid crime. The author was a journalist at Cambio 16, the legendary investigative current affairs magazine, and has in-depth knowledge of actual murders and violence committed by the extreme right. He uses his experience to tackle topics including political corruption and terrorism. In this novel, Madrid (the writer) offers a stark and brutally honest portrait of the Madrid (the city) during la Transición—heaving with Francoists-turned-democrats, political abuse, prostitution, and drugs flooding the youth. Un beso de amigo opens with the search for a young woman, promiscuous for her age, and ends with the search for Otto, a German accused of stealing a number of letters which could compromise the position of an executive who’s involved in shady affairs. Everything is a search: For the lost innocence of others and one’s own. It’s hard-boiled and tender in equal measure. " Víctor del Arbol, Crime Reads