Candela

Against his superiors' orders, Lt. Imanol Petafunte decides to investigate the mysterious death of Renato Castratto, a lowlife who was having an affair with the wife of a member of Santo Domingo's high society. Petafunte thus becomes acquainted with the colorful group surrounding Castratto. The ""Candela"" of the title, a black prostitute marginalized for her Haitian heritage, serves as a link between the more than a dozen characters. But it is the gloomy city of Santo Domingo, as it prepares for a hurricane, that the 31 year-old up-and-coming Dominican author captures best. And\xFAjar offers a crude if sensual portrait of the Caribbean city, echoing urban tropical writers such as Cuba's Leonardo Padura Fuentes or Brazil's Rubem Fonseca. His lush and gritty prose focuses on the country's dismal misery and detached high class, its institutional corruption, racism, the shoddy new urban developments (which he calls ""mierd\xF3polis""), and its vivid street language. Though the author patches together a series of appealing stories and characters without quite achieving the consistency of a novel-it lacks a clear plot and the killer's identity is no mystery-this book nonetheless introduces him as a noteworthy talent. And\xFAjar is a writer to watch in the years to come; recommended for all libraries and bookstores. Carlos Rodr\xEDguez Martorell, East Elmhurst, NY