Book Review of The Hand that Feeds You by Mercedes Rosende

 

Name of Book: The Hand That Feeds You (Que Ganas de no verte nunca mas) 

Author: Mercedes Rosende (Tim Gutteridge translator) 

ISBN: 978-1-913394-74-5

Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press 

Part of a Series: Ursula Lopez Trilogy (CROCODILE TEARS prequel) 

Type of book: Uruguay Montevideo, 2018? hostage, mall, corruption, money, relationships, spying, detectives, crimes, mystery, psychological thriller, absurdity 

Year it was published: 2023 

Summary:

The sequel to last year’s much-lauded Crocodile Tears (“Reads like a marvellous mash-up of Anita Brookner and Quentin Tarantino.” The Times ). The attempted robbery of the armored truck in the back streets of Montevideo is a miserable failure.  

A lucky break for the intrepid Ursula who manages to snatch all the loot, more hindered than helped by her faint-hearted and reluctant companion Diego. Only now, the wannabe robbers are hot on her heels. As is the police. And a private detective. And Ursula's sister. But Ursula turns out to be enormously talented when it comes to criminal undertakings, and given the hilarious ineptitude of those in pursuit, she might just pull it off. She is an irresistible heroine. A murderess with a sense of humor, a lovable criminal with an edge and she is practically invisible to the men who dominate the deeply macho society of Uruguay

Characters:

The characters are definitely the strongest aspect of the novel because they are extremely memorable. Here we have Ursula Lopez, a complex forty-eight year old woman who lives under her father's shadow and cannot make peace with his ghost. Ursula is impulsive, angry and quite a lot of attention is paid to her appetite. Luz Lopez is Ursula's younger sister who is going through a divorce, has had a wonderful trauma-free childhood and desires to get to know her mysterious older sister. She is everything that Ursula isn't. Antinucci is a lawyer who is very religious but at the same time very corrupt and all he truly cares about is making more money. Some other characters from previous book like the Hobo as well as Diego and even Leonilda Lima also make numerous appearances, but we don't spend as much with them as with Ursula and Antinucci. There is also a new character, Jacqueline "Jack" Daguerre who seems to be a great detective. 

Theme:

Life can be a series of absurd obstacles 

Plot:

The author definitely plays a lot with point of view by using first and third as well as breaking the wall and speaking to the audience. Most of the story focuses on Ursula Lopez as well as Antinucci; from previous book Ursula will be remembered as having severe trauma when it comes to food and family, while Antinucci is best described as a hypocrite (Literally, he used God's name in vain and needs to go to confession, while he sees nothing wrong with trying to get cash.) Other characters also play a role, namely Ursula's beautiful younger sister, and a female detective. So yes, the sequel is definitely more psychological in nature. 

Author Information:
(From goodreads)

Mercedes Rosende is a Uruguayan author, lawyer, and journalist.

Opinion:

This was definitely quite a contrast to Mercedes Rosende's previous book, CROCODILE TEARS. While CROCODILE TEARS is best described as all action with extremely memorable characters and a plot to boot, very little attention was paid to their psychological state of being. In THE HAND THAT FEEDS YOU, a sequel to CROCODILE TEARS, however, is completely psychological in nature, with little action. For me, it had some similarities to CRIME AND PUNISHMENT by Fyodor Dostoevsky in that a crime was committed but rest of the book was spent on idea of punishment and redemption. This is also a continuation of CROCODILE TEARS and I definitely enjoyed it far more than the prequel. And yes, how soon will third book be available so I could get back into Ursula's world? 

This was given for review

4 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)