Safe Return Doubtful

translated from the Spanish (Colombia) by Victor Meadowcroft – published 2025

This is a wild ride indeed, though with a necessary steady build up.

Set over the course of a single cataclysmic evening in Bogota it begins with Nacho Caicedo, a supreme court magistrate, hosting an anniversary party along with his wife, Alma Santacruz. Present are many of the affluent of Bogotá, as well as their six daughters; all profess unrestrained loyalty to Nacho.

It’s not long into the evening until things begin to go awry; news breaks of teen daughter Italia’s pregnancy and Alma’s indigent brother, Jesús, turns up uninvited, whom Alma wants gone at any cost. Francia, another daughter, is distraught to learn her fiancé has upped and married someone else, while her sister Lisboa falls under the spell of a baritone butcher as old as her father.

The situations are tragic and farcical, and the chaos worsens when Italia runs off with her boyfriend and his family of chicken traders. Nacho sets out to find her, but is kidnapped by a disparate horde of mercenaries bent on savage revenge as a cluster of earthquakes shake Bogotá.

Crazy? It certainly is, and the insanity is only beginning. The mayhem clearly serves as a piercing metaphor for Colombia’s turbulent history.

I often say that a novel like this is difficult to finish and live up to what has gone before, but here Rosero excels. The ‘finale’, as he calls the last part of the book himself, is devastating, shocking and hilarious all at the same time.

This is outstanding entertainment.

My GoodReads score 5 / 5