Santiago,
Chile - setting for Ramón Díaz Eterovic's dark tale that turns murkier
and deadlier as it winds deeper and deeper into the horrors of the past.
"With
a bit of patience, I had managed to get through my first fifty years - a
late age to change professions in a country where the passing years
weighed like a criminal conviction upon anyone looking for work." So
reflects the novel's narrator, a shamus by the name of Heredia.
As
any avid fan of the genre knows, a detective novel narrated in the
first person by the sleuth is all about voice. Great news for all you
bloodhound buffs - Ramón Díaz Eterovic has created a PI right up there
with Philip Marlow. I wouldn't say our Chilean ink slinger writes at the
level of Raymond Chandler, but it's close.
And that's not all.
If Latin American fiction seasoned with hefty helpings of history and
politics is to your taste, you've come to the right place. As Juan
Gabriel Vásquez has Antonio Yammara from The Sound of Things Falling
dig into Colombia's recent past revolving around drug lord Pablo
Escobar's reign of terror, so Ramón Díaz Eterovic has Heredia
investigate a possible killing which leads him to unearth, step by
painful step, cases of torture, murder and other sordid atrocities
during Chile's military dictatorship in the years 1973 to 1990.
Fortunately,
Ramón Díaz Eterovic lightens up his tale with whimsy, banter and dry
humor throughout. Please keep this in mind as I fire off a round of Dark Echoes bullets:
Bookworm
- Not only does Heredia share Phil Marlowe's quick wit, sturdy body,
tendency to wisecrack and down the occasional whisky, our Santiago
flatfoot prides himself on being a lover of literature. Heredia owns a
bookcase full of novels and poetry and continually references what he
reads: Dashiell Hammett, The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins, A Shadow You Soon Will Be by Osvaldo Soriano, to note just three. As a booklover myself, I found this side of Heredia most appealing.
Savvy
Feline - Heredia engages in an ongoing dialogue with his pet cat
Simenon (named after the great writer of detective novels, Georges
Simenon). Simenon usually comes up with a bit of wise advice for his
owner. Now most North American readers will probably think Heredia is
simply mulling over possibilities in his own mind while he ponders his
silent cat. But could Simenon, via the power of telepathy, really be
sharing his own cat thoughts with the detective? After all, keep in mind
we are in Chile, land of Isabel Allende and the Latin American
tradition of magic realism.
Dude from Dreamland - Heredia has
an unnamed writer friend who dedicates himself to writing novels based
on the stories Heredia feeds him. Of course, Heredia speaks of the
novelist as if he's a real flesh and blood character. But we might ask
if this scribbler possesses any more substance than the advice our
narrator receives from Simenon. In other words, might not we be dealing
here with a second helping of magic realism? My guess: a Latin
American author just can't help himself.
Brutal Backstory - Out
on the street, the detective relates; "My attention was drawn back out
to the sidewalk, where a boy pulled on his mother's sleeve in front of a
store that sold used toys and clothing. I came up beside him and saw
him point at a discolored astronaut that was missing an arm. Beside the
astronaut was a doll with matted hair and a bear with a split stomach. i
remember the kids i had shared my childhood with in the orphanage and
felt rage bubbling up in my guts. The little boy was like so many
children who have to learn to accept their lack of privilege. Kids
condemned to misery, to run-down schools, and later to poorly paid jobs
and a life without any meaning beside pure animal survival." Heredia
spent his boyhood as an orphan - this to say, he knows the grimy
consequences of social injustice from firsthand experience.
Local
Color - In the course of his investigation, Heredia pays a visit to the
Cultural Center of the Americas, which leads him to witness a
funa. In the country of Chile, a "funa" takes the form of a march
whereby a group of protesters will expose someone, usually a political
or military leader, who has escaped punishment in the law courts. Nice
touch, Ramón Díaz Eterovic! Thanks for giving readers, especially North
Americans, a unique taste of your country's culture.
The Case -
Here's what gets, to use an overused cliché, the whole ball rolling:
Griseta, Heredia's girlfriend, brings the math teacher she had back in
high school, a woman by the name of Virginia Reyes, to Heredia's office.
Ms. Reyes explains the police failed to give the proper attention to
the fatal shooting of her brother, Germán. Germán was shot and killed on
the sidewalk right outside the lumberyard where he worked. The police
wrote the murder off as a robbery but, Virginia Reyes continues, don't
you believe it.
As a first step Heredia examines Germán's room
and meager possessions. What he finds leads him to the next step and the
next and the next. Along with way, the detective deals and sometimes
wheels and deals with a host of individuals from all strata of society.
And herein lies author Ramón Díaz Eterovic's artistry: we come to know
these women and men and their role in Chile's society and history. This
is the beauty of Dark Echoes, a first-rate detective novel that
captures the vibrant city life of Santiago along with an important part
of the country's viscous, cold-blooded not so distant past. 
Chilean novelist Ramón Díaz Eterovic, born 1956
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