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Top of the pile
80
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
67/100Critics
77/100Scholars
97/100Author:
Francisco Goldman
Publisher:
Grove Press
Date:
April 21, 2020
Known in Guatemala as "The Crime of the Century," the Bishop Gerardi murder case, with its unexpectedly outlandish scenarios and sensational developments, confounded observers and generated extraordinary controversy.
What The Reviewers Say
Goldman gives us the anatomy of a crime while opening a window to a misunderstood neighboring country that is flirting with anarchy. More, he offers an overdue indictment of brutal war criminals who were not just behind the one killing, but also contributed to a generation of atrocities.
Goldman’s book is described on its jacket as belonging to the genre of ‘true crime’. But that somewhat demeaning classification can’t begin to encompass its scope. He provides not only a measured and compelling account of the murder, its investigation and aftermath, but also a rich and detailed portrait of the country where it happened.
Faced with this extraordinary melange of ingredients, Goldman could have been forgiven for slipping into the narrative liberties of magical realism. Instead, he has produced a piece of well-researched non-fiction that explores the political conspiracy to murder Gerardi in detail that seems irrefutable.
The product of seven years' research, The Art of Political Murder develops into a multi-layered real-life whodunnit and quest for justice. Forensic and chilling, with an eye for the absurd, it suggests with sombre hope that courage and decency can prevail against the darkest forces, albeit at terrible cost.
