Starred review from April 7, 2014
Rich, nuanced characterizations distinguish Hill’s impressive second thriller featuring Barcelona Insp. Héctor Salgado (after 2013’s The Summer of Dead Toys). Five months after Gaspar Ródenas, an employee of Alemany Cosmetics, murders his wife and infant daughter and then commits suicide, Sara Mahler, a laboratory technician at Alemany, throws herself in front of a subway train. Gaspar and Sara’s colleagues are convinced that one of their own is killing people connected to the cosmetics company and disguising the murders as suicides. Strangely, their terror is not strong enough for them to betray their loyalty to Alemany by disclosing their suspicions to Salgado, who investigates the supposed suicides. Meanwhile, the cop’s partner, Leire Castro, begins a secret inquiry into a cold case: the disappearance of Salgado’s estranged wife, Ruth Valldaura. Readers will feel both disgust and sympathy as the carefully manicured facades of the inspector and the employees crack under the pressure of the mounting death toll.