In the particular acronym of Moroloco we find the perfect alias for the nuclear character of this novel. A leader of the underworld in a Campo de Gibraltar where one of the great black markets of hashish in the world proliferates.
And the author of this novel knows about it well, a Louis Stephen whose performance as commissioner of the National Police in Algeciras gives history the perfect dose of verisimilitude. To end up composing a scrupulous detective novel with methodology in a plot that could well be a case of recent investigation.
We are recently enjoying the incorporation into the black genre of authors such as Luis Esteban himself or of Victor of the Tree. And in that knowledge of criminal or criminal spheres, these writers are able to contribute that knowledge at street level of psychological profiles and very specific situations to transfer to that fiction that so often falls short.
And so, as soon as we enter this story about Moroloco, we get that feeling of maximum tension due to the proximity between both spaces of reality and fiction, which is the same as an overwhelming realism in a frenetic action.
We already know that the almost morbid taste of this type of literature resides in the reflection of the worst in our society. It's like taking a walk on the wild side, singing by Lou Reed.
From Moroloco we draw the heartbreaking map of influences and paid favors, of corruption and coercion. Nobody like a kingpin of this style to corrode the pillars of power. And thank God no one like a policeman confident in his mission to stop this assault that threatens to corrupt everything and give traffickers carte blanche.
To fill the plot, Moroloco, known for his close ties to power, ends up being tempted by his country's intelligence services to assume a role closer to espionage.
This is where Gabriel Zabalza could go. The faithful commissioner of the National Police, always behind Moroloco's shadow, has him marked in such a narrow way, even drawing on external resources to the official, that he will soon suspect that the powerful criminal whom nobody knows or can stop his feet, is also immersed in a kind of mission that will carry even more dangers than his own dedication to enrichment with narcotics.
You can now buy the novel Moroloco, the new book by Luis Esteban, here:
The novel explains in detail the functioning of organized crime in southern Spain. It escapes the clichés of the crime novel and plunges us very realistically into the sewers of drug trafficking. Very good.
Without a doubt, a great novel.