The Irish Times: "A work that is by turns tender, farcical, explicit, bombastic and never less than engrossing."

In this novel the Colombian writer Santiago Gamboa takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride, criss-crossing from the Americas to Italy to Israel and pulling the reader along at such a pace that there is hardly time to draw breath. In the company of a lesser writer the reader could experience literary vertigo, but Gamboa manages to introduce his parade of characters – some of dubious reputation and some of overweening ones – safely through the ruse of an international conference in Jerusalem. With no little black humour, it is a murder committed in a city at war that provides a focal point for Gamboa’s eclectic mix of writers, evangelists, porn stars and journalists. It is testament to Gamboa’s ability as a storyteller that they mix together very believably in a work that is by turns tender, farcical, explicit, bombastic and never less than engrossing.

--Pól Ó Muirí