The adventure genre is always a good space in which to develop fascinating plots comparable to the most magnetic crime novels. It is true that this genre towards the knowledge of our world lived its greatest moments of glory long ago.
I mean the days when the Earth was still a place mapped with basic systems, rather than with the precision of satellites and the development of all kinds of technologies. A technification that makes practically any place in the world an already known space (except perhaps an abyssal zone that, from Jules Verne with his submarine Nautilus, few fiction narrators have returned to address with similar reader interest).
But the efforts of authors like Fernando Gamboa and its overwhelming success in its beginnings of independent publication, goes to show that the pull of adventure is still there as a reading passion.
The question is to surrender to that story of discovery from the own experience of travel, from the knowledge of the most fascinating corners of our world. A world to which we insist on denying its capacity for surprise with the maddening ethnocentrism, but which can still open up as a wonderful discovery.
Mysteries of yesterday and today. Voyages in galleons in search of glory and conquest or more current approaches to tribes that still today continue with their millenary references. Each of Gamboa novels They reach that point of ecstatic discovery in the midst of plots that at times sway in suspense or lead us towards the most unexpected enigmas.
Top 3 recommended books by Fernando Gamboa
The last crypt
In the heart of the Caribbean, in Honduran waters, is the island of Utila. And that's where Gamboa takes off with this great plot that combines a transcendental mystery with a modern odyssey (precisely the protagonist is called Ulises Vidal).
Because the discovery of a bell under the waters near Utila will change Ulises' life. Especially as he delves into the nature of such a bell and what it means to be in contradiction to known History.
Supported by infallible medieval connoisseurs, he will understand that the finding of the bell in that place makes no sense whatsoever and, knowing how we are getting to know the good old Ulises, we understand his intrepid journey to any place in the world where he can discern some light about the enigmatic bell.
On a journey with archaeologist Cassandra Brooks, who will not be able to resist the challenge of fitting together the strange clues that point to a complete transformation in the development of our civilization, we will go from one continent to another.
Dangers in the old way, when the adventurers delved into the most recondite and mysteries of our days, encrypted or hidden perhaps interestingly. In the end, holding our breath, we will approach a new reality narrated with a certainty that turns the reading experience into an exercise in total avoidance.
Redemption
Fiction is also a good space in which to exorcise fears or from which to try to find resilience in the face of the fatality of an attack. Perhaps we were not used to this type of issue being approached in Spain as a fictional plot.
In the United States, however, we discovered how 11/XNUMX perfectly served the cause of total empathy with what happened on that occasion when the towers of Manhattan collapsed in the face of the most unsuspected air attacks.
On this occasion, the sinister case of the Ramblas on that August 17, 2017 serves as a connection point with a thriller that starts from our most ominous recent reality.
The focus of the story moves slightly away from the events to focus on the character of Nuria Badal. Above Nuria we discover a sword of Damocles that seems to oscillate waiting to fall in her most sinister execution.
The young woman's situation leads us through a disturbing mystery bordered by the most intense fear, that which points to total conflict, human animosity, hatred and war.
It will be Nuria who will trace a parallel advance towards the discovery of the underground after the attack on the tourist area of Barcelona. Because evil always has an impossible justification, a twisted reason to manifest itself with such forcefulness ...
No man's land
He previously pointed out that the adventure genre found in the XNUMXth century and even the middle of the XNUMXth century a time of splendor. Perhaps this little novel is part of a tribute to Stevenson and Verne purely Spanish version, yes.
Because few life adventures greater than survival in the middle of the Civil War. And if also in the middle of such a dark stage it is possible to turn on some light thanks to characters rescued from other major novels of the author, such as Riley or Alcántara, the subject, the adventure, acquires a special look that summarizes humor, adventure and love in the synthesis and precision of the briefly narrated.
A story that is read on the fly and that serves as the perfect starter to discover new adventures of Riley.
But if it has been rescued in this third place on the podium, it is because of its almost quixotic appearance, clearly Iberian. An adventure of the picaresque and survival in a country where survival was quite an adventure.
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