The usual unfolding of John Banville and his pseudonym Benjamin Black comes with this novel to a kind of synthesis with a work that, under the signature of his alias, offers a double reading of historical fiction or black genre. Thus, the Irish writer summarizes that double plot line that separates his creations, prioritizing, yes, the noir aspect and thus opting for the Black label.
It is a crime novel displaced to a more or less rigorous past scenario, in line with an open trend in recent authors such as Cecilia Ekback and her Dark light of the midnight sun. It cannot be denied that the undertaking of marrying black and historical genders can also be interesting. The criminal has always been murdered and has always been sought out in any minimally civilized society, from the Greek polis to the American CSI ...
The only problem with this type of hybrid novel is that they require a process of historical documentation so that the thing does not squeak in anachronisms and other goofs. In the wolves of Prague, Banville places us in the twilight of the sixteenth century, right on the horizon of a new century that traditionally have awakened all kinds of beliefs and myths. And without going into it as an argumentative foundation, the borderline temporal location between epochs serves the author to give a more misty touch if possible.
Christian Stern is the essential protagonist of a plot centered on a transcendent crime. It is not the same that someone from the plebs died in a brawl than the appearance of the body of a wealthy young woman. Stern planned to make a new life in Prague, they hold each other in high esteem and he thinks that this ancient city can elevate him as the great man of science and wisdom. But once installed under the auspices of Rodolfo II, who has claimed him for his more underground projects around alchemy and the elaboration of surprising meccans, the case of the still hot body of the young woman confronts him with an investigation to prove his worth.
Stern is clear that this attack that ended with the beheading of the young woman without stealing anything, points to a sinister conspiracy that may threaten her integrity. But stuck in flour, he will do everything in his power to unveil the case in a city like Prague staged by the author in tune with a government of Rudolph II, subjected to lurid chiaroscuro.
You can now buy the novel The Wolves of Prague, Benjamin Black's new book, here: