BLACKOUT

Chief Espinosa, the reflective head of Rio de Janeiro’s 12th Precinct, investigates the shooting death of a homeless man identifiable only by his missing leg.

The corpse is discovered on a cul-de-sac outside a home whose owners had given a dinner party the night before. Did interior decorator Aldo Bruno, the first to leave the party with his psychotherapist wife Camila, notice anything? Aldo tells Espinosa and his men that he didn’t see a thing in the rainy night, but he confesses to Camila that he can’t remember what he saw; the whole incident is a blank in his memory. With no witnesses, no identification of the dead man and certainly no link between him and Aldo, the case would probably have languished if Aldo hadn’t stumbled on a second corpse. Now Espinosa has to wonder about the coincidence and consider every possible motive for murder. That’s a tall order when everyone involved in the case seems to be romantically involved with everyone else—a state of affairs Espinosa, still carrying on with Irene the graphic designer (Pursuit, 2006, etc.), can readily appreciate.

The solution, which depends on still further coincidence, is disappointing, but not the cat-and-mouse game between Espinosa and Aldo, the prey who doesn’t know himself whether he’s also a predator.