Needle in a Haystack by Ernesto Mallo

 

Ernesto Mallo, born 1948

A military dictatorship ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983, marked by ruthless human rights violations, including abducting people from their homes or workplaces and taking them to secret camps where they were tortured and murdered without the benefit of a trial. Additionally, the military controlled all media and news outlets.

Needle in a Haystack is a scathing indictment of Argentina under the military dictatorship, where, as noted on the novel's cover published by Bitter Lemon Press, absolutely no one is innocent. Author Ernesto Mallo writes from first-hand experience, as he was a former member of the anti-Junta guerrilla movement.

In the opening pages, Superintendent Lascano, a detective working under the current military regime, is sent to investigate the murder of two individuals. However, upon arriving at the scene, Lascano discovers three bodies - two brutalized victims of the Junta and a third, unrelated murder victim, which draws his attention for further investigation.

Needle in a Haystack possesses a propulsive energy from the first page to the last, with an unrelenting narrative drive fueled in two distinct ways. First, the entire novel is written in the present tense, giving readers the feel that we're right there, witnessing the events as they unfold. “Lascano wakes up feeling like this today, as he has every day since his wife’s death.” Secondly, Ernesto Mallo employs a compressed style of dialogue - each exchange is written in paragraph form and italicized. Is it loaded? It should be. The two kids were executed, but this one’s different. I thought so too. Hello big guy. Are you going to tell me your secrets?

The novel is under 200 pages and can be read in two or three sittings. However - and this is a key point - each character is so fully drawn, and the connections between these men and women are developed with such sharpness and precision, it feels as though we’re reading a much lengthier saga.

The unfolding plot is best left to each reader, so I’ll segue into what could serve as a trailer for the novel - perhaps fitting, since Ernesto Mallo's book, first published in 2006, is currently being adapted into a film in Argentina.

Lascano, One – The detective dearly loved Marisa, his wife of eight years, but, alas, a traffic accident some months ago ended darling Marisa's life. “At first the shock had stunned him, left him disorientated, detached from reality. Then a blind fury awoke in him, directed at everyone and no one, but mainly against himself. Then her absence became a knife to the chest, twisting deeper by the day.” Lascano continues to sense Marisa's ghost in his apartment, most especially at night when he attempts to sleep.

Lascano, Two - Fortunately, Lascano had a friend to help him through his darkest period - Fuseli, a forensic doctor. Fuseli knew Lascano was on the verge of suicide and asked if he could stay in the detective's apartment for a while. "With perfect patience, Fuseli brought him from the depths of despair back to the surface where life, absurdly, continued." Oh yes, Fuseli gave Lascano something to live for: making the world a fairer place, even if only a little fairer.

Lascano, Three - As part of his investigation, Lascano encounters Eva, a militant on the run from the dictator's death squads. Events transpire that lead Lascano to bring Eva back to his apartment, creating one of the most appealing, charming, and provocative parts of the story. Given Eva’s age, appearance, and movements, she is, without question, a second Marisa. The resemblance is so striking that Lascano is driven into a madness we can only call love.

Elías - There’s a substantial backstory for moneylender Elías Biterman. As a young boy, he was crammed into a train with hundreds of fellow Jews, watched over by SS soldiers with machine guns, en route to Auschwitz. Eventually, Elías escaped, joined a group of bandits, and headed south, pushing a wheelbarrow (a perfect prop for safe passage) as he crossed through Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Austria. He then became a stowaway on a ship and, five years later, reached Buenos Aires in search of his mother. With Elías Biterman, we see an example of the many tough, battle-scarred men and women residing in the Argentine city.

Maisabé - The wife of Major Giribaldi, a task force commander and key player in the unfolding drama, desperately longs for a child of her own. Sadly, despite her and Giribaldi's efforts, they are unable to conceive. Giribaldi arranges to adopt a baby boy, and once he brings the child home, what transpires with Maisabé - especially after her visit with a particular priest - highlights the crucial role the Catholic Church played in the lives of thousands of individuals of strong faith enduring the horrors of el Proceso from 1976 to 1983.

Needle in a Haystack is both a crime fiction novel and a compelling historical documentation of the Argentine dictatorship, during which any citizen, as noted above, could be rounded up and taken to one of the many military prisons scattered throughout Buenos Aires to be tortured. Ernesto Mallo is a first-rate storyteller, and I look forward to reading the second novel in the Lascano series, Sweet Money.