Progenie / Progeny

A bold novel that gives no breathing space to the reader while delving into one of the major themes of our times: a reflection on motherhood, and with it, on family models and on still existing social demands imposed on women.  All through a mosaic of plots and characters, of conscious and forced motherhoods, non-motherhoods, of parenthood, of rearing and caring, of rights and obligations, and, in short, of a thousand and one ways of being a family. Or not being one.  But above all it is a captivating thriller and a powerful way of telling a story that is much more than just the plot and the characters, such as the issue of artificial fertilization and genetic manipulation. Susana Martín Gijón offers a spectacular coup de theatre in the novel that will leave no-one indifferent.

Seville, in the grip of a heat wave. Whoever can, dashes for the beach. But not Camino Vargas, the unexpectedly-appointed and temporary head of the homicide group since the shooting that left inspector Arenas in a coma. And neither do the criminals. Someone has deliberately run over a woman and fled. This fact will become the focus of media attention when a disturbing piece of information is leaked out: the murderer left a pacifier in the mouth of the victim before escaping. All the clues point to the ex-partner, a psychological abuser who made her life impossible. The statistics are not good: there have already been fifty fatal attacks of gender-based violence this year. However, when the autopsy reveals that the victim was pregnant, things will no longer be so clear. And when other murders begin to happen following the same modus operandi, the entire city will be shaken to the core. This harsh and rather awkward inspector will have to handle the toughest case of her career, helped by the few members of her team that remain in the city. In an exercise of literary maturity, the author reaches a perfect balance between the subject and a gripping and absorbing thriller what with the big unknown that generates high tension in the whole city: has Seville become a dangerous place for women? Who and why is committing such brutal murders?