Southwesterly Wind, by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza

Fun, lots of fun. I'm a fan of Garcia-Roza's and got five of his books as a gift in one shot. Since then I've been reading them one by one and discovering that the quality of the writing and the imaginative plots don't waver. This book tells the story of a man who, according to a "prophecy" made on his previous birthday will commit murder within the year. The prophecy took a life of its own when finds the ears of an unsteady, impressionable subject and gravitates slowly towards the inevitable. Before any crime is committed, the would be murdered approaches the police and warns Inspector Espinosa of what may come to happen. What follows then is an excursion in the weaknesses of man in the face of fate with side trips into Freudian theories and religious fanaticism visiting some of my old haunts in the wonderful city of Rio de Janeiro. Even though I, once again, spotted some of the elements of the ending from far away, the details that come with the printed word came as a big surprise. I hope Garcia-Roza keeps writing more and more of these fun books.