Carlos Zanón (Barcelona,1966) is known as a police author, an area that has been awarded prizes such as Black Salamanca (the corresponding piece from the defunct Congreso de Novela y Cine Negro) or Novelpol and Dashiel Hammet de la Semana Negra de Gijón. Because that was not enough, since 2018 he is the commissioner of the BCNegra literary festival, the third pillar that supports moments on the topic in our country. No embargo, Zanón es an atypical writer so don’t follow genre directors with loyalty.
Objects lost
Carlos Zanon
Salamander, 2026. 269 pages. €22
Without questioning the other exceptionalities that develop in the story, even though his style is fast and sharp – often forming it in short and short sentences, similar to this form of writing – Zanón is inspired by a poetic vein. En Objects lost if the very careful use—figuratively—of language is observed, it is more apparent to the mind that moves the narrative, even in the pages and six chapters that make it up.
Our story was before the birth of Álex Gual, a book lover. Divorced, lonely, bipolar cases (he has a double inner – Niño Gordo – to complement him), cocaine addict, affected by marginal “type T” lymphoma, years old…, What is the most similar a person without dignity who lost control of his life. But he’s not the only one who’s gone astray. After the breakup, he met Lola K., even though she wasn’t the woman he needed.
Lola, who is a painter of some fame and who is not completely in her cabales, is also experiencing a deep crisis, caught in a decadent marriage open to third parties and with serious economic problems. Álex lives in the Excalibur Hotel, a “No Place” as the narrator says, devoid of legendary character. She is captured by Señor Paco, dueño garrita, Donna Summer, who gives her the drug she needs. But I ask Álex to smile a little because a little clarity seeps through.
Essential in this novel is the rendering of the characters and the pleasant and poetic view that Zanón presents over them
On the walls of your home is a photograph of Juliette Binoche taken by Robert Doisneau when she was leaving Lovers of Pont-Neuf, a portrait that identifies him with the “dazzling power of beauty”. From now on, the same force will face Inés, a Colombian who is married to Donna Summer, abandoned by an abusive husband and the country.
At the bottom of all this human matter, a political content develops, which is something inscrutable, sometimes postulated. It unfolds between the death of an Australian rugby player and the disappearance of other Britons, two dark individuals who plagued his youth, who returned undead to the port of Barcelona.
The gist of this story is character rendering and appearance – always pleasant is the poetic menu – which the author launches above it. Some people, like the parishioners in the pub or the many missing people, are stereotyped, but there is an in-depth analysis of the protagonists (basically Álexa and Inés, including Señor Pac and Lola K.), with their areas of light and shadow, their emotional peaks, their internal conflict and extravial life.
The novel is actually welcome a story of love and redemption – if possible – it’s about personal healing (or a different kind) about getting all lost after going through a dirty world, gloomy and lazy enough. And he talks about the violence we experience, the infamous noise, immigration, lost children, the dilemmas we face, the struggle for survival… And Barcelona.
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