Review: The Ignorance of Blood

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POSTED: 25 JULY 2009

Robert Wilson, The Ignorance of Blood

(HarperCollins; 432pp paperback; $32.99)

Psychopathic killers, callous kidnappers, savage mafia thugs, soulless sex slave traffickers, sleazy extortionists, crazed terrorist organizations, corrupt judges and bureaucrats, twisted and amoral secret service agents ... they are all there in Robert Wilson’s latest thriller, The Ignorance of Blood, with Inspector Jefe Javier Falcon the man in the hot seat.

When Falcon is called in to investigate a gruesome road fatality which accidentally exposes a Russian mafia turf war, there are tantalizing hints of a link to a bombing attack in Seville a few months earlier. Falcon and his team of professionals follow the clues and links, exploring lines of inquiry and gradually narrowing in on possible solutions.

Why are we besotted with this genre? Millions of sales each year say we are, even when the setting for such terror and bloodshed is a favorite holiday destination in sunny Spain. You would think we’d be avoiding tales that disturb and upset our desire for the safety of “normal” life, but no, we like them ... and I loved this one!

The attractive character of Javier Falcon has much to do with this ... a thoroughly humane and rounded man who has matured through his experiences (The Blind Man of Seville, The Silent and the Damned). Falcon is intelligent, thoughtful, resourceful, honorable and persistent — his commitment to track down those bombers from the third novel in the Falcon series, The Hidden Assassin, continues unabated.

His reestablished relationship with Consuelo Jiminez and her eight-year-old son Dario is further evidence of a renewed emotional depth and stability, and the pressure applied by a threat to Dario’s life, which exposes Falcon to tormenting and challenging decisions, makes for great reading.

And this is another significant factor ... Robert Wilson’s excellent writing. Characters are drawn with a chunk of reality that makes them always believable, and intricate plots are woven in a way that is credible, while imaginative and suspenseful.

Finally, the resolution of the tale is satisfying, most likely the main reason for our ongoing obsession. Let’s hope that Wilson’s plan to make this the last of the series is just a threat, and we see Javier Falcon return to extend our enjoyment of this admirable hero beating back the forces of evil.

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