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Reynaldo Sietecase Argentina
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Reynaldo Sietecase was born in
The protagonist of Un crimen argentino (“An Argentine Crime”), Mariano Márquez, is a character with two
sides: he is both lawyer and assassin at the same time. Since his divorce, he’s
far more interested in the latter. He devotes himself to underhand deals that
end up landing him in prison. Here Mariano begins to work out what is to be his
perfect crime, which will guarantee his financial independence. His plan is to
demand a ransom from the family of his already chosen victim. As he can’t be
charged in the absence of a corpse, he dissolves the body in sulphuric acid.
But in spite of having thought of everything, he is detained. The murderer’s
confession is obtained with brute force. Despite the illegality of such a
method, Márquez is sent to prison. Sietecase creates a character with enormous
potential in this book who is also one of the protagonists in his latest novel.
In the long tradition of the Argentinean crime novel, Reynaldo
Sietecase creates a previously unexplored variation: the combination of
politics and thriller.
Tomás Eloy
Martínez
In A cuántos hay que matar (“How Many Should Be Killed”), he tells the
story of an abduction that ends in tragedy. In theory, El Gitano, Hugo and
Patricio had planned a quick and clean kidnap. Handing over the money should
have been equally uncomplicated with Alejandro Bauer, the son of an Argentine
industrialist, due to be released within a few days. On receiving the first
call from the kidnappers, Bauer, the father of the victim, gets in contact with
the police who advise him not to pay the ransom yet. Bauer, however, starts to
negotiate because he has no faith in them. The criminals demand half a million pesos
in ransom, thrown from a train window at a precise location. As it turns out, a
group of scrap dealers find the ransom before the kidnappers. The police,
alerted by Bauer, make an unsuccessful attempt to capture the criminals, who in
turn are spurred on by vengeance, having been done over. What had initially
seemed so easy and quick ends up complicated and transforms into a great
tragedy, in which the life of Alejandro continuously hangs in the balance.
In the course of the novel,
the reader delves into the intimate lives of the three delinquents, getting to
know their worlds and the problems they face. By the end, the reader almost
feels pity for the kidnappers, relentlessly persecuted by the victim’s father
who transforms his pain into hatred and vengeance against both the criminals
and police. Sietecase relates the story of this kidnapping with extreme
attention to detail, questioning the rules of victims and delinquents.
Reynaldo
Sietecase is one of the strongest and most original voices of contemporary
literature in the Spanish language. Using the detective novel as a narrative
framework, his fiction thoroughly and subtly explores the social issues after
Argentina's military dictatorship, where not only the ethical, moral and
political values underwent an intense transformation, but also the conventions
of daily life. The apparent violence in Sietecase's fiction is mirrored in his
sharp and witty style that continually hints at Celine thanks to his literary
command and also toward Heinrich Böll in his treatment of theme and
psychological intensity.
Alberto Manguel
This book fits
best into the thriller genre, with elements of suspense. The intelligent
structure successfully blends the past and present in continuous motion.
Noticias
Sietecase’s
most brilliant stroke of genius in these books is that he captures, with a fine
and alert sensitivity, where exactly the imagination of the irritated masses is
going, anchoring the plot in the sore spot of this map of hatred.
Beatriz Vignoli,
A
disturbing radiography of society.
Veintitres
Original editions and rights sold:
Novels:
Un
crimen argentino
Buenos Aires: Alfaguara 2002, 234 p.; pb punto de lectura 2010
Italy: Baldini Castoldi Dalai 2011
A
cuántos hay que matar
Buenos Aires: Alfaguara 2010, 214 p.
Italy: Baldini Castoldi Dalai
Stories:
Pendejos
Buenos Aires: Alfaguara 2007,
155 p.
No hay tiempo que perder
Buenos Aires: Alfaguara 2011,
253 p.