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December 05, 2009

Advent Calendar: December 5th

Dog If your nearest and dearest embarrasses you by insisting on reading Dan Brown while you wish they would give their attention to someone a tad more literary then might I suggest you wrap a copy of The Colour of a Dog Running Away and pop it under the tree for them this Christmas?

Imagine The Da Vinci Code re-written by Carlos Ruiz Zafon after he has been overdosing on Murakami and The Magus.

Sort of.

Richard Gwyn's debut novel has all the thrills and spills of one of Dan Brown's potboilers but is a better piece of writing by a long chalk. I lost myself in it when I read it a few years back and recommended it to anyone who would listen at the time. 

Lucas comes home to his flat in Barcelona to discover a postcard pushed under his door - a Miro painting on one side, a date and time on the other. Intrigued, he visits the Miro Foundation, standing opposite that very painting at the alloted time. There he meets a rather attractive woman and embarks upon a remarkable adventure involving the mysterious roof people of the city, being kidnapped and taken to the Pyrenees, obscure Cathar sects, fire-eaters and a rather intense love affair.

People who bought the book on Amazon also bought titles like 2666, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Angel's Game which gives you an idea of where it is pitched.

Page-turning literary thriller. Every Christmas needs one.

Posted at 12:01 AM in Advent Calendar, Books |

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