The Silent and the Damned (aka The Vanished Hands) is the second novel in Robert Wilson's

Robert Wilson (crime novelist)

Robert Wilson is a British crime-writer currently resident in Portugal. He is the son of an RAF fighter pilot, and has a degree in English from Oxford. Wilson is the author of the Bruce Medway series, set on the Gold Coast of Africa, and the Javier Falcon series, set largely in Seville, Spain...

 critically acclaimed Javier Falcon series, set in Seville

Seville

Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...

. The novel won the Gumshoe Award for Best European Crime Novel in 2006 in the USA, where the novel was published with the title The Vanished Hands, and was also selected by January Magazine

January Magazine

January Magazine is a Web-based book-related publication. Founded by author Linda L. Richards and graphic artist/photographer David Middleton in 1997, January has added various sections and offshoot publications since....

as among the best crime fiction of 2004 http://januarymagazine.com/features/04bestofcrime.html.

Plot summary

Falcon, Sevillian Chief Inspector, works in the grinding July heat, with his reliable team, to investigate a series of local suicides. Suspecting that the first death could in fact be a murder, the team follow the links from deaths to political corruption, and abuse on an horrific scale. Hampered by the inevitable difficulties arising from international twists to his investigation, and the constraints of a restrictive hierarchy, Falcon and his fellow detectives nevertheless manage to follow his hunches and insights to ultimate success, showing that some criminals pay some debts, and saving the cousins from their self-destruction.

External links

• Publisher's interview with author on publication
• Review from Curled Up With A Good Book
• Review from MysteryInk