BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 ACCORDING TO GUARDIAN AND THE SPECTATOR

The final novel from one of the greatest writers of the past half century

'No-one nowadays writes prose like Javier Marías . . . If you're already a fan, you'll know what to expect and rejoice. If you're not, what a treat you have in store' The Herald

Tomás Nevinson, a retired MI6 agent, is working for the British Embassy in Madrid when his former handler, the sinister Bertram Tupra, offers to bring him back inside for one last assignment. His mission: to catch and, if necessary, kill a terrorist gone to ground in Northern Spain after bombings in Barcelona and Zaragoza. The trouble is there are three suspects – all women – and it may not actually be any of them. To find out, Nevinson must move incognito to the small town where the three women separately live, and become an intimate friend to each, in the hope of uncovering a clue . . .

A philosophical thriller with a climate of suspense to rival le Carré and a psychological depth that is purely Marias’s own, this is a novel that explores the deepest of human questions: in what circumstances can killing be called just?

Translated by Margaret Jull Costa

'The last word from a master . . . once you've been inside Marías' world, to spend too long outside is unbearable' The Sunday Times

'A twisting espionage tale shot through with slantwise humour . . . seductive and inescapably poignant' Observer