Red Queen

Red Queen was written by the author in 2018 in his native Spanish language. It was translated into English by Nick Caistor in 2023. Gomez-Jurado is one of my favorite authors. In Red Queen he has moved away from his usual religious thrillers to a political thriller. While I loved his religious thrillers and wish he would continue to write them, Red Queen was a fabulous read.

The publisher's summary:  

Antonia Scott―the daughter of a British diplomat and a Spanish mother―has a gifted forensic mind, whose ability to reconstruct crimes and solve baffling murders is legendary. But after a personal trauma, she's refused to continue her work or even leave her apartment.

Jon Gutierrez, a police officer in Bilbao―disgraced, suspended, and about to face criminal charges―is offered a chance to salvage his career by a secretive organization that works in the shadows to direct criminal investigations of a highly sensitive nature. All he has to do is succeed where many others have failed: Convince a recalcitrant Antonia to come out of her self-imposed retirement, protecting her and helping her investigate a new, terrifying case.

The case is a macabre, ritualistic murder―a teen-aged boy from a wealthy family whose body was found without a drop of blood left in it. But the murder is just the start. A high-ranking executive and daughter of one of the richest men in Spain is kidnapped, a crime which is tied to the previous murder. Behind them both is a hidden mastermind with even more sinister plans. And the only person with a chance to see the connections, solve the crimes and successfully match wits with the killer before tragedy strikes again...is Antonia Scott.

Antonia Scott is a lovable investigator regardless of her personality quirks. She has been chosen to be Spain's red queen, a titled bestowed on one brilliant investigator in each European country. Antonia relies on pills that her Mentor gives her to help her filter outside stimuli so that she can focus on what she is seeing at a scene. The pills only work for an hour so she has to be selective about when she takes them. Red Queen is a crime fighting organization in Europe, similar to Interpol. Her sidekick Jon Gutierrez had been seriously wronged by a former employer and I couldn't help but root for him. This team of crime fighters work amazingly well together which is a good thing as Red Queen is the beginning of the Antonia Scott series. 

Despite Antonia and Jon's differences they quickly begin working on tracking down a criminal named Ezekiel who has slowly drained the blood from a man's carotid artery.  There was no blood at the scene nor was there any blood in the victim's body. Ezekiel then kidnaps Carla Ortiz, the daughter of the richest man in the world. I saw shades of Bill Gates here.  Ezekiel is an interesting character. He frequently tells himself "I am a good person." He also uses a line from Psalm 23 to add his signature to each crime scene:  annointing the dead person's head with oil.

The story had a super fast pace and was unputdownable. If you decide to read this book, make sure that you have time to finish it in one sitting. You won't be able to stop reading. It seemed that each chapter had a new twist to add to the story and this created alot of suspense. The short chapters also helped me keep reading because what's a few more pages before taking a break. Right?  

The Red Queen is a must read. 5 out of 5 stars.