La paz de los sepulcros. (The Peace of the Graves)

Reviewed by Carmen Cusido, Union City, NJ -- Críticas, 3/15/2008

Volpi, Jorge.
Mexico: Seix Barral: Planeta. 2007. 167p. ISBN 978-970-74-9036-9 pap. $18.95. FICTION

Mexican-born Volpi, best known for En busca de Klingsor (Looking for Klingsor, 1999), in which he combines the world of Nazi generals and the history of physics, originally published La paz de los sepulcros in 1995 and rereleased it in 2007. Set against the backdrop of Mexico City’s corrupt political system, the story is narrated by reporter Agustín Oropeza. “Sometimes death immortalizes people,” reflects Oropeza as he investigates the murders of Mexico’s minister of justice, Alberto Navarro, and a decapitated body whom he soon discovers is that of his childhood friend, Ignacio Santillán. “Sometimes death does not lead to forgetfulness but to a substitution: the dead finds a new existence in the eyes of those who have seen him; then death brings to the world a new being,” he concludes as he tries to figure out what Ignacio was doing in that hotel room with the minister and who would want to kill them so brutally. Engaging from the very beginning, this novel is hard to put down. Recommended for bookstores and libraries alike.