Pedro Lasuén publishes Sin duda, the sixth and final novel in his legendary Jack White series
After titles as succinct and uninformative as ‘Tal Vez’ (Perhaps), “Quizá” (Maybe), ‘A Lo Mejor’ (Maybe), ‘Es Posible’ (It's Possible) and ‘Lo Más Probable’ (Most Likely), Pedro Lasuén's boundless imagination runs wild with the publication of ‘Sin Duda’ (Amazon, 418 pages), a novel with which the author says he is closing the saga starring Jack White, the pseudonym with which his legendary character signs his articles in numerous prestigious international media outlets.
If in the previous plots of his novels, a skilful mixture of espionage and detective fiction, he showed us the stark reality of the world of drug trafficking and its ramifications, especially with politics, in ‘Sin Duda’ he delivers an apotheosis of the eccentric protagonist, to whose corrosive Spanish humour he often adds a few drops of the supposedly phlegmatic English humour.
It is commonly accepted that fiction serves to go beyond historical accounts and express ideas and feelings that reveal those of the author himself. Lasuén demonstrates this without restraint in this instalment, in which he sets the action in the immediate historical future, with Madrid as its epicentre, and whose characters clearly reveal where and with whom he has found his inspiration. On this occasion, he unfolds the plot in the highest palaces, with the supposedly most distinguished characters. And, as a common thread, the co-starring roles of a commander and a captain of the Civil Guard, a force for which Lasuén feels and conveys his admiration through his characters.
Of course, spies reappear in this novel, especially the Mossad. In one of the most intense chapters, he quotes that 'the experts, the real ones, those who study things and speak little, say that in the Middle East the same game is played, but at a different pace. In the game of spies, terrorists and violence, no one surpasses the Arabs and Israelis in patience. There are no deadlines or borders. It's an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, no matter how long it takes. Jack, his character, learned this lesson at the hands of spy master Adi Moshe, forty years in the service of his country, a Mossad legend, the most erudite man he had ever met, the most affectionate and loyal, the most brutal when he had to be. For his part, Jack had thirty years of experience as a journalist, many of them in combat, and had earned a few medals that no one else could boast of. He had overthrown a monarchy and crushed three governments with the power of his articles. Adi had taught him to look at things from every possible angle, especially the most unpleasant ones, and to prepare things well. In the underground world of spies, any forgotten detail can cost not one but many lives'.
As befits a sybaritic millionaire—the most imaginative facet of all for a journalist—Lasuén effortlessly integrates traits of gastronomic and oenological luxury, although, true to form, he barely dwells on the details surrounding the core of the plot, provoking in the reader an irrepressible desire to know what happens next. He warns us in the first two lines of the book, but on every page, that ‘everything is a figment of my imagination. Any resemblance to reality is purely coincidental.’ It's hard to believe him as you devour the chapters.
Fortunately, it is summer, which means we have plenty of time to satisfy the curiosity that reading Sin Duda awakens in a triumphant crescendo, and to recover from the intense emotions aroused when the last chapter closes. It is undoubtedly a great finale to the six novels that have brought Jack White, currently retired on the Costa del Sol, to life.
