Tokio año zero

Autor: David Peace
Tokio ha sido gravemente dañada por los bombardeos aliados, la población se muere de hambre mientras los vencedores, déspotas y brutales, ocupan el territorio. En medio del calor y del caos, el inspector de policía japonés Minami se dirige sin mucha convicción a la escena de un crimen. Una mujer joven aparece estrangulada en un parque de la ciudad y Minami intuye que es cuestión de tiempo que más mujeres aparezcan muertas. Adicto a los calmantes y sumido en las redes del señor del crimen local, Minami se esfuerza por averiguar el origen de estos crímenes complejos y escalofriantes, cada vez más convencido de que su propio pasado y sus más oscuros secretos están ligados a los del asesino. Basada en el caso real de un asesino en serie después de la segunda guerra mundial en Japón, David Peace, cuyo estilo parece «un cruce entre Murakami y James Ellroy» (Publishers Weekly), ha escrito un retrato expresionista de una época y lugares angustiosos.

Frankenstein

Autora: Mary Shelley
Victor begins by telling of his childhood. Born into a wealthy Geneva family, Victor and his brothers, Ernest and William, are encouraged to seek a greater understanding of the world through science. As a young boy, Victor is obsessed with studying outdated theories that focus on simulating natural wonders. When Victor is four years old, his parents adopt an orphan, Elizabeth Lavenza, with whom Victor later falls in love. Witnessing a lightning strike on an oak tree inspires Victor to harness its power for his experiments. Weeks before he leaves for the University of Ingolstadt in Germany, his mother dies of scarlet fever, creating further impetus towards his experiments. At university, he excels at chemistry and other sciences, soon developing a secret technique to reanimate dead tissue, which eventually leads to his creation of the Monster. Because of the difficulty in replicating the minute parts of the human body, Victor is forced to make the Creature roughly eight feet tall. As a result, the beautiful creation of his dreams is instead hideous, with yellow eyes and skin that barely conceals the muscle tissue and blood vessels underneath. Repulsed by his work, Victor flees. Saddened by the rejection, the Creature disappears. Victor falls ill from the experience and is nursed back to health by his childhood friend, Henry Clerval. After a four-month recovery, he returns home when he learns of the murder of his brother William. Justine, William's nanny, is hanged for the crime after William's locket is found in her pocket. Upon arriving in Geneva, Victor sees the Monster at the crime scene, leading him to believe the Creature is responsible. However, he doubts anyone would believe him enough to stop the hanging. Ravaged by grief and guilt, Victor retreats into the mountains. The Monster locates him, pleading for Victor to hear his tale. Now intelligent and articulate, the Creature tells how encounters with people led to his fear of them and drives him into the woods. While living near a cottage, he grows fond of the family living there. The Creature learns to speak by listening to them and he teaches himself to read after discovering a lost satchel of books. When he sees his reflection in a pool, he realises his physical appearance is hideous. Despite this, he approaches the family in hopes of becoming their friend, but they are frightened and flee their home. The Creature then burns the cottage in a fit of rage. The Monster then demands that Victor create a female companion like himself. He argues that as a living being, he has a right to happiness. The Creature promises he and his mate will vanish into the South American wilderness, never to reappear, if Victor grants his request. Fearing for his family, Victor reluctantly agrees. Clerval accompanies him to England, but they separate in Scotland. Victor suspects that the Monster is following him. Working on the female creature on the Orkney Islands, he is plagued by premonitions of disaster, particularly the idea that creating a mate for the Creature might lead to the breeding of a race that could plague mankind. He destroys the female creature after he sees the Monster watching through a window. The Monster confronts him, vowing to be with Victor and Elizabeth on their upcoming wedding night. The Monster then kills Clerval, leaving the corpse to be found where Victor lands in Ireland. Victor is imprisoned for Clerval's murder and suffers another mental breakdown in prison. After being acquitted, he returns home with his father. In Geneva, Victor marries Elizabeth and prepares to fight the Monster. Wrongly believing the Creature threatened his life, Victor asks Elizabeth to stay in her room while he looks for "the fiend". While Victor searches the house and grounds, the Creature murders Elizabeth. From the window, Victor sees the Monster, who taunts Victor with Elizabeth's corpse. Grief-stricken by the deaths of William, Justine, Clerval, and Elizabeth, Victor's father dies. Seeking revenge, Victor pursues the Monster to the North Pole; however, he does not kill his creation. At the end of Victor's narrative, Captain Walton resumes the telling of the story. A few days after the creature vanishes, the ship becomes entombed in ice and Walton's crew insists on returning south once they are freed. In spite of a passionate speech from Frankenstein, encouraging the crew to push further north, Walton realises that he must relent to his men's demands and agrees to head for home. Frankenstein dies shortly thereafter. Walton discovers the creature on his ship, mourning over Frankenstein's body. Walton hears the creature's misguided reasons for his vengeance and expressions of remorse. Frankenstein's death has not brought him peace. Rather, his crimes have increased his misery and alienation, and his words are almost exactly identical to Victor's own in describing himself. He vows to kill himself on his own funeral pyre so that no others will ever know of his existence. Walton watches as he drifts away on an ice raft that is soon lost in darkness, never to be seen again.

El lector de cadáveres

Autor: Antonio Garrido
En la antigua China, sólo los jueces más sagaces alcanzaban el codiciado título de «lectores de cadáveres», una élite de forenses que, aun a riesgo de su propia vida, tenían el mandato de que ningún crimen, por irresoluble que pareciera, quedara impune. Cí Song fue el primero de ellos. Inspirada en un personaje real, El lector de cadáveres narra la extraordinaria historia de un joven de origen humilde cuya pasión y determinación le condujeron desde su cargo como enterrador en los Campos de la Muerte de Lin’an a aventajado discípulo en la prestigiosa Academia Ming. Allí, envidiado por sus pioneros métodos y perseguido por la justicia, despertará la curiosidad del mismísimo emperador, quien le convocará para rastrear los atroces crímenes que, uno tras otro, amenazan con aniquilar a la corte imperial. Un absorbente thriller histórico, extraordinariamente documentado, en el que la ambición y el odio van de la mano con el amor y la muerte en la exótica y fastuosa China medieval.