How to dance sardanas fast and furiously

Use the lyrics from the album Main Festival of La Trinca as the common thread of a novel that could be the script for the next installment of Fast and Furious It's nothing short of genius. Edgar Cantero She answers with a slap in the face and a smile to all the self-important know-it-alls who wonder if Catalan "is ready to explain certain things" or who complain that Catalan literature "doesn't yet cultivate all genres." There's no need to hold a round table discussion to reflect on her: like in action movies, the answer lies in the facts.

And indeed she is. Gangsta Mayor, the continuation of Radio Free Camaco, which had already aroused our critical enthusiasm And for many more people, it's a direct, in-your-face hook: two hundred pages of adrenaline, humor, murder, and sardanas that couldn't go down better. Taking heed toAristotle —unity of place, action, and time—, the novel is set in the fictional town of Verri and focuses on a single day, the day of the town's main festival. The unity of action, however, is another matter, as the novel's protagonist would say, because there is plenty of action.

The story begins when a corpse appears on the church's bell tower and, even more seriously, a star-spangled banner. The police immediately suspect the Reaper of Verri, the protagonist who stole our hearts in Radio Free Camaco And while he's still a bit of a mess, things have improved somewhat, and he no longer lives in his car: he shares an apartment with a Pakistani hairdresser. While trying to cooperate with law enforcement (because he already served time during the Trial for gouging out a policeman's eye and has no desire to go back), he witnesses a crucial discovery: the relics of the Saint have also disappeared from the Church of Verri. And they weren't just four fingers; they might have included nothing less than the Holy Grail. No need to stoop to reading The Da Vinci CodeReading Edgar Cantero will be much more enjoyable, and you won't be treated like an idiot.

Everything fits, everything slides

The characters who will accelerate the story soon appear, always narrated with impeccable rhythm and style, perfectly suited to the narrative: Italian hitmen with slicked-back hair, orange-haired American heroines, bishops who mysteriously side with the protagonist, riot police who kill him, and a character who adopts the role of a little Watson, conducting online research to advance the plot at key moments: everything fits together, everything flows smoothly. Perhaps it no longer surprises us as much as the first book; perhaps the author has chosen to confine himself entirely within a genre (the noir (rural humor?), perhaps there are some questionable linguistic choices, but the result is more than satisfactory and practically begs for a television series adaptation. If we didn't have the hang-ups we have when it comes to treating our folk traditions for what they are – pure gold – without falling into the trap of being overly sentimental, there would already be more than one producer willing to pay for Cantero's return ticket from the United States, the country where he lives and where he has indeed reached the top of the charts.