Who hasn’t enjoyed a good scary-story time around a bonfire? I am a scaredy-cat, but at the same time I like to feel this feeling of anguish in my stomach from time to time, and I know that most people do too, because horror or anguish movies triumph and books with this peculiarity have always had a wide audience. Xavier Gual, who won the 2017 Ramon Muntaner Prize with LA NOIA DE LA CARAVANA, which was already a novel with a lot of intrigue, presents a new novel, where the character of Laura, who was already in the first one, is once again the protagonist, and this time, she and a group of friends will celebrate Christmas holidays sneaking into their high school. The excuse will be to film a horror short movie and have a good time. However, they do not suspect that a heavy snowfall will complicate their plans. As the night falls, they’ll start to doubt if they’re really completely alone or if the most chilling legends can become reality.

Gual accomplishes, again, getting young people hooked on this kind of feeling between fear and suspense, which he masterfully controls, and that the novel ATRAPATS follows the path of LA NOIA DE LA CARAVANA and encourages teenagers to read, who always have a hard time finding books they actually enjoy. Therefore, I congratulate Xavi for two very well achieved goals: to reach a young audience in a solvent way and to create a perfect setting so that both adults and young people can enjoy a fast-paced reading, which I think can also work very well on screen.