January 13, 2014
Set in a dilapidated Rio de Janeiro hotel, Betto’s first novel reads like a satire of an English country house mystery, as interpreted by Pedro Almódovar. When the head of one of the hotel residents, an aging gemstone trader, turns up in a hallway with both eyes removed, the police summon bookish Cândido, who devotes much of his spare time to helping Rio’s orphaned street kids, for interrogation. Other suspects at the hotel include Diamante Negro, a flamboyant, cross-dressing transformista; Madame Larência, a retired prostitute turned pimp; and Rosaura dos Santos, who dreams of becoming a telenovela star. Betto, a liberation theologian and former political prisoner, provides the backstories for each of these characters and more, at times at the expense of narrative pace. Of course, the crime solving matters less than the book’s revealing look at the marginalized underbelly of Brazilian society.
February 15, 2014
In Betto's debut thriller, a killer is loose in a Rio de Janeiro residential hotel. "Rooms for single ladies and gentlemen. Family environment," announces the sign Dona Dino has hung outside the Hotel Brasil. And indeed her guests--political aide Rui Pacheco, aspiring telenovela actress Rosaura dos Santos, journalist Marcelo Braga, retired puta Madame Larencia, cross-dressing nightclub singer Diamante Negro--feel like family in their combination of community, reserve and selective dislike. But the family comes under attack when retired salesman Seu Marcal, who still peddles the odd gemstone, is stabbed to death and relieved of first his eyes and then his head. Delegado Olinto Del Bosco, head of the Delagacia da Lapa, can think of no better approach to police work than to arrest hotel caretaker Jorge Maldonado and beat a confession out of him. And retired professor Candido Oliviera, a hotel resident who's the logical candidate to serve as a more effective detective, is distracted by his long-running concern for the neighborhood's street kids, especially the glue-sniffing 11-year-old Beatriz, and his new professional collaboration with acclaimed anthropologist Monica Kundali, which would surely blossom into love if only he could beat back his schoolboy shyness. As it is, no one takes the investigation firmly in hand, leaving the "Lapa Decapa" free to move on to other hotel residents, though not before first-timer Betto has provided incisive back stories for each of them. Intertwines absurdly understated violence with a reflective portrait of the city and its types so anthropologically precise that you'll mourn each new victim--and that's a lot of mourning.
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March 1, 2014
Candido Oliveira, freelance writer and advocate for street children, resides at the Hotel Brasil in Rio de Janeiro. Troublingly, one of the other residents has been murdered; his severed head is posed mockingly on the corpse. Olinto Del Bosco, the investigating detective, is baffled, and after questioning everyone, makes an arrest that only makes the police look inept. Meanwhile, Candido's publisher hires him to work with a group of sexologists; the experience is uncomfortable but Candido is in love with one of the researchers. He also rescues a young street girl, and her plight becomes part of the story line, too. The residents feel safe in their hotel, and yet the killings continue. Del Bosco despairs of figuring out the motive, much less who the murderer is. VERDICT Betto, a Brazilian political activist and Dominican friar, has crafted an unusual, noir-infused novel, written in short bursts, staccato style. While not entirely successful in its execution--the ending drops off precipitously and the detective is absent for much of the novel--it is a refreshing piece of satire, with nods to Voltaire's Candide (and maybe to Sweeney Todd).
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