Lorenzo Silva

Blacklladolid Prize 2023

A gripping thriller that combines the fast-paced action of films like Bourne and Taken with the literary drive of Lorenzo Silva, a best-selling author in Spain.

Púa is the code name of a former agent of the Company, a secret special unit set up to fight against terrorism. Now, no one would recognize him if they saw him in his new job as a bookseller in the provinces, under a new identity after dedicating the best years of his life to the corps. And he still doesn’t knowing whether he wasted them pointlessly or was making sacrifices to save lives.

When an old colleague asks him for help to protect his daughter Vera, caught up in the drug world and bad company, Púa has no choice but to return to action. It does not take him long to discover that Vera is in no way a helpless girl waiting for a knight-errant. Nonetheless, she has got herself into big trouble with a gang of corrupt police officers among whom there are former colleagues from the Company.

Forced to act outside the law again, using violent methods and in a race against the clock, Púa settles accounts with his past. In the Company, which has carte blanche to kidnap and execute its enemies, the recruits go through a testing training programme that pushes them to the limit, in search of operatives with a very unusual profile. People ready to give their all on dangerous missions, without flinching, and where there is no time to decide what is right and what is wrong. People like Púa.

“I believe that Púa will mark a before and after in his career. [...] In Púa, Lorenzo demonstrates the mastery of literary maturity in a story that is both powerful and meticulously crafted.” Dolores Redondo

“Púa is undoubtedly the best narrator of his own story: he exposes himself to the reader without judgment or excuses, allowing them to decide the verdict. However, he warns on the first page: there are no heroes in this novel.” Zenda Libros

“The plot and storyline, as always in Silva's work, are impeccably crafted; the architecture, meticulously constructed; and the moral implications, well presented.” El País

“Lorenzo Silva continues down the thriller path that has led him to success over the last quarter-century. Only he knows how to novelize and give identity, without personifying, to those souls who cross the red line.” La Sexta

“Púa is destined to be the thriller of the year.” Lecturalia

“A complex character, full of shades, very aware that ideology is mere chaff when it's not a charade. What matters in understanding what a man does or doesn't do is what activates those levers we all have inside, which can turn us, depending on the lever in question, into either a blessing or a calamity for others.” El Imparcial

“A masterful thriller about the human condition. Púa delves into the heart of the executioner and explores the irreversible life-changing effect of crossing boundaries.” La caixa d’eines

“Lorenzo Silva is one of the great figures in contemporary noir literature. Recognized for his detective novels, with this new thriller, he confronts the heart of the executioner head-on. He achieves something unprecedented: making the reader reflect on the double standards that some human decisions entail. Finally, he will raise new questions about guilt.” El Mundo

“When it comes to his style, I am particularly impressed by his natural eloquence in language use and his honesty in structuring his novels.” César Pérez Gellida, Director of the Blacklladolid festival