no one on this earth
no one on this earth is a crime novel written by the Barcelona author Víctor del Árbol. The work was published by the Destino publishing house in 2023. In Spain, literature is increasingly opting for a genre that they have begun to call country noir. This describes a type of crime novel set in rural areas, far from the luxury and opulence of large capitals and their outstanding architecture.
The favorite settings for del Árbol and other authors is the north of the Iberian Peninsula, especially Galicia, which is, in turn, one of the landscapes where this novel is set. This is a land in shadows, illuminated only by a few streetlights. Here everyone knows each other, they are aware of their mistakes, of their sins, of the deepest secrets kept under the stones and the alleys.
Synopsis of no one on this earth
The short gap between light and dark
Many times, the most beautiful dreams slip into nightmares, from which it is very difficult to escape. thirty years ago Julián Leal had to leave his native Galicia in the past because of a terrible mistake committed by his family.
Later, As an adult, he built a successful career in the Barcelona police force. However, recent times are unfavorable: the protagonist has been diagnosed with a incurable cancer, and, furthermore, he is accused of a crime that he did not commit.
The story takes place along two different time lines.between the 70s and the present. Likewise, the settings where the narrator moves the reader are very different: one rests in the great spheres of Barcelona and its power, and the other, on the coast of Galicia.
In our days, Julián Leal is summoned to trial for having beaten a child molester until he was almost dead. After taking time to visit the town where he was born, a series of corpses begin to appear that could be related to him.
A reckoning with present and past
After learning of the recent crimes, the superior of Julián Leal decides to blame him to take revenge for quarrels that they had some time ago. Unintentionally, but now with no way out, the protagonist and his partner Virginia are forced to participate in an extremely dangerous and deep investigation. This will lead them to understand that evil is lurking, and that if they are not careful, even their loved ones will end up hurt.
A story about the ancient battle
Although this is not a superhero novel, the protagonist possesses the heart of one. Despite his failing health, Julián Leal continues to risk his life every day to protect those who have no voice..
Despite what it may seem, the main character is not a perfect man, but a human with flaws and fears for those who have very little time left to live. At the same time, this subject must face the oldest of battles: good against evil.
What fight can be more worthy than this? Probably none. As Julián and Virginia get closer to the depths of the conflict, they find that everything is related to the underworld: drug trafficking, smuggling, abuse of power on the part of the high command, the desire to be superior...
Sounds like a familiar old scenario?: It is. Perhaps that is the most uncomfortable truth of all. no one on this earth tells a fictional story, but true.
The approach of true power
This Novelty by Víctor del Árbol makes a simple but brilliant essay on the true meaning of power. In the own words of one of the characters in the play:
“The ignorant believe that the powerful are powerful because they have money, and that the purpose of power is to earn even more money. But they are wrong, they do not understand the true nature of power. (…) Power does not just give you money, it gives you something much more important and useful: it gives you impunity, it places you above good and evil.”
With this phrase, Víctor del Árbol dusts off something that perhaps we all know, as if it were inscribed in our collective DNA, as we have seen and experienced it throughout the history of humanity: a chessboard made of people, where only a few have the reins over the rest. Nobody really has real freedom, beyond the mirage of independence. that the powerful want us to feel so we don't make noise about it.
A killer's preface
The reader knows immediately that the protagonist has not committed any of the crimes of which he is accused. In the first pages of the novel, the author offers a preface as told by the true perpetrator.
But why would the villain reveal his crime to the public? This is one of the most interesting questions raised in the play. It is through it that it is revealed that, many times, evil is not intrinsic.
"It's not me who should be telling this story. But I'm the one who can tell it. (...) I could have been good at writing and I would be a writer, singing and I would be a singer, or making clay ashtrays and keeping my mother happy, who collected them. But I kill people for money and in that I have found my way of being in the world”, says the narrator of the preface.
This opens another question: what happens when there are no options but to become a criminal to stay alive?
About the author, Víctor del Árbol
Victor of the Tree
Víctor del Árbol was born in 1968, in Barcelona, Spain. During his youth he lived in extreme poverty, together with his immigrant parents and his four siblings. The family lived in the Torre Baró neighborhood, near which the author studied seminary. Later, He entered the University of Barcelona, where he studied History. Later, he worked as a civil servant in the Generalitat of Catalonia.
Despite his past financial disadvantages, Víctor del Árbol began to become known for his novels, for which he has won several awards over the years. Some of his most important awards have been the Fernando Lara award (2008) and the Nadal award (2016). Spanish critics have praised his pen on several occasions, and his titles have been translated into dozens of languages.
Other books by Víctor del Árbol
- the weight of the dead (2006);
- the abyss of dreams (2008);
- The sadness of the samurai (2011);
- Breathe through the wound (2013);
- A million drops (2014);
- The eve of almost everything (2016);
- Above the rain (2017);
- Before the terrible years (2019);
- Father's son (2021)