As I grow older, my perception of things changes; my way to look at life. I guess it’s normal but I’m worried about becoming more and more critical, more demanding and even more pessimistic. I don’t understand many things: injustices, abuses, violence. I’m sure it has always been this way but we just didn’t notice; the news didn’t bring up certain subjects. Moreover, the youth makes you believe that things can change and that it’s not too late to make a difference. Today, I must confess, that I didn’t lose hope but sometimes I look around and it upsets me. I think that evil is ethereal and lives among us.

As it happens with Genís Marfà’s book, settled in the Germany of 1932, when Hitler is on the verge of seizing power, the Republic of Weimar agonizes. Berlín is a boiler of emotions and intrigues. In the Barcelona of 1962, under the Franco’s regime, the murder of the young Amelia takes place. A brilliant detective would have to catch the murderer and discover the mystery that links the terrible crime to the German city. Meanwhile, the presence of an enigmatic Baron projects the shadows in every corner of the story. Who is he, this shadow? I would call him “the evil”.

Hijos de Berlín, the first novel by Genís Marfà, published by Adaliz, is a historical thriller with all the necessary ingredients to build a great crime novel, with a social background that seeks to stir consciences and awaken our historical memory. More than a crime novel, a surprising debut set in two convulsive periods of Europe: the Nazi Germany and the last period of the Spanish Dictatorship. Everything starts with a murder will get blood over many characters of the book.

A fast-paced plot, with plot twists, with brilliant dialogues and very detailed descriptions. Autobiographical notes where we will recognize spots of the Germany and the Barcelona of that period, that take protagonism in the story. With great characters, social conflicts, armed conflicts, intrigues, depression and despair. Year after year, the same story is repeated; age after age, human beings struggle to make it up for their mistakes but we seem to be condemned to repeat them. Darkness seems to be everywhere, although, perhaps, the shadow is the only place from which hope can germinate.  A book that will not leave the readers of the genre indifferent.