The Visible Darkness
A gripping and twisted thriller by Mexican author Norma Lazo set in the 1940s where the disappearance of a young woman unearths a series of gender-based murders, forcing a haunted city to confront the darkest corners of misogyny and power.
Mexico City, 1942. Alicia Sierra, a chemistry student and the daughter of a prominent general, vanishes without a trace. The only clue points to an outstanding graduate student who was tutoring her. He claims to know nothing, but something in his demeanor gives him away. The investigation takes a sinister turn when the remains of several unidentified women are discovered in his garden.
While the police celebrate capturing the killer they had been chasing for months, another body turns up. The press and law enforcement are thrown into a desperate race to solve the case, under mounting pressure from the post-revolutionary government’s top brass. On one side: veteran reporter Haghenbeck and rookie photographer Manuel “El Pollo” Artigas. On the other: agents Ana Terán and Leticia Ordóñez. One shared goal: to unravel the mystery.
In this new novel, Norma Lazo recreates a city shrouded in scheduled blackouts, setting the stage for a historical event that will shake the meaning of the word “hatred.” The result is an equally fascinating and haunting thriller.
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SPANISH (World) | Lumen/PRH Mexico
Film Rights
Audiovisual rights sold.
Reviews
"Norma Lazo is an exceptional writer: obsessive and brilliant, unafraid to venture into the shadows of our lives to make us feel inhabited by demons. Much more than a historical or crime novel, The Visible Darkness is a fascinating metaphor of the enduring hatred against women in our society and of the narratives used to justify this obstinate cruelty.” Fernanda Melchor, International Booker Prize shortlisted author of Hurricane Season
