illumbe trilogy
La illumbe trilogy is a series of self-contained novels written by the Basque author Mikel Santiago. The entire collection was published by Ediciones B, the first title being The liar (2020), followed by In the middle of the night (2021) and Among the dead (2022). Despite being able to be read independently, these works were brought together in this way thanks to the subtle relationship that one title presents with another: places, characters, and situations intertwine the stories, however, they do not interfere with each other.
Likewise, each of the volumes is set in Illumbe, a fantastic town located in the Urdaibai estuary, on the basque coast. The books are framed within the thriller, a genre that has endowed its author with great distinction. Santiago has used spectacular landscapes and special music lists to present the right atmosphere for the various plots of the trilogy.
Synopsis of the illumbe trilogy
The liar (2020)
The start of The liar is drawn as follows: one night, in an abandoned factory in the town of Illumbe, a young man named Alex wakes up. Pain floods her head, and memories of her are becoming more and more diffuse; however, she is not alone. Next to him lies a corpse.
The character stands up, feels all the tension of that moment. She doesn't understand how she got there, or who the dead person lying next to her is, but you must get out of that place before someone else sees you.
However, Álex does not plan to sit idly by. The boy he needs to get an answer to why he was in that lonely factory, and also to how it is that he does not remember the events that occurred hours before. Poco a poco —while gathering clues and evading police questions and suspicions— discover some secrets of the people of his town, which appear to be getting bigger and darker.
In the middle of the night (2021)
In 1999 there was a terrible accident who was accompanied by the disappearance of a girl called Lorea. The only thing the investigators found was her dress, which appears some time later.
Apparently the young woman was at a concert organized by her boyfriend's rock band, Diego Letamendia. The latter wakes up in the middle of a hospital in Illumbe, confused and unable to remember anything that happened, because he is drunk and drugged.
After an introduction about the rock scene in the town, Mikel Santiago takes the reader to 2020. Twenty years have passed since Lorea's disappearance. Now, Diego lives in Almería. One day, he receives a call from his mother, who tells him that his best friend has passed away in a strange fire. It is at that moment that the man decides to return to Illumbe.
After returning he meets his old band again. The days passed, Diego discovers that his deceased partner had insights about the disappearance of his girlfriendTherefore they begin to suspect that his death was not accidental.
Among the dead (2022)
The novel follows Nerea Arrutti, the Intendant of the Ertzaintza —judicial police of the Basque Country—. The woman just spent the weekend involved in an intimate and illegitimate relationship with Kerman Sanginés, the town coroner of Illumbe.
After their meeting, they decide to return to their respective homes., but on the way something stops them: have an accident. In a place like Illumbe, a forbidden relationship coupled with a car accident can unleash devastating storms.
However, nothing happens, because the couple is lucky that they ran aground near Arruti's car, who goes to him on foot while his lover calls XNUMX to pick up his vehicle. They both thought that the story ended there, that they would not have to face problems, but the situation becomes complicated. The tranquility of the protagonist goes down when an unfortunate event plunges her into a plot of criminal pacts, secrets and veiled relationships.
Looking forward: Is the Illumbe series going to have other titles?
To present his latest novel —Among the dead (2022) -, Mikel Santiago gave an interview for The Aragon newspaper. In it, the author reveals how his stories are built. In the same way, it allowed the public and his faithful readers to know his new projects. Among them, he made it known that he is willing to expand the universe of the illumbe trilogy, which was not a big surprise, since the series has been so successful that fans want more.
Subsequently, Santiago added a fact that did pleasantly surprise those present and readers of the newspaper: that was in talks to bring the trilogy to the cinematographic format. In exact words, we quote: "There are audiovisual projects of illumbe's saga underway, we'll see if they come to fruition”.
About the author, Mikel Santiago Garaikoetxea
Michael SantiagoMikel Santiago Garaikoetxea was born in 1975, in Portugalete, Biscay, Basque Country, Spain. He is a Spanish novelist who has impressed the world with his fantasy, thriller, and black novels. The author obtained a degree in Sociology from the University of Deusto. In addition to his passion for writing, Santiago is a member of a rock band, which shares his heart with the computer universe.
Mikel became known as a writer after publishing stories and books over the Internet, thanks to a digital platform for independent authors that allows publishing and distributing material in publishing houses such as iBooks and Barnes & Noble. Over there self-published and posted titles like Story of a perfect crime (2010) The island of a hundred eyes (2010) the black dog (2012) o Night of Souls and other horror stories (2013)
After this, he managed to appear on the list of the 10 best-selling books in the United States with three of his works.
Other books by Mikel Santiago
stories
- The footprint (2019)
Novels
- The last night at Tremore Beach (2014);
- The bad way (2015);
- Tom Harvey's strange summer (2017);
- The island of the last voices (2018)