The work, which begins with a corpse in Puerto Sherry and the disappearance of a high-society woman, delves into philosophical questions about how beauty dominates us and how its unequal distribution creates a fundamental injustice in the human experience.
Delfín, who quotes Rilke in the preamble, points out that beauty, more present than ever in the era of social media and "mandatory youth," is the "beginning of the terrible" because it fascinates us by surpassing us, reminding us of our fragility.
The protagonist, Víctor Ros, departs from the archetype of the perfect detective. He is a "quixotic and sentimental" anti-hero, vulnerable and "almost ill with sensitivity," who suffers the case rather than mastering it, showing a devotion to beauty that leaves him defenseless.
The novel also addresses revenge and base instincts, suggesting that evil, like envy or lies, is "democratically distributed" and can be activated by what we admire or cannot possess.
With references to the Civil War, Krasny Bor, and the El Puerto prison, Delfín seeks to "remember that under any flag there were specific people" who suffered, loved, or tried to survive, promoting the inheritance of memory without hatred.
El Puerto de Santa María stands as another character, a setting of "light, sea, wine," but whose beauty contrasts with the "darkness of the plot," making the story "more disturbing."
Publishing under the name Jules Golemann, a "game" and a "literary mask" after a life dedicated to Law, Delfín hopes readers will take away "more than just a thriller," a reflection on "beauty, guilt, memory, and resistance" in the face of adversity.
