Red Queen by Juan Gómez-Jurado is one of the most original, gut-wrenching, suspenseful novels I have read in years. When I reached the final 50 pages of the book, there was nothing I would let get in the way of finishing it. Nothing. I had to know. I wanted answers. I needed to understand. Unknown in the US, it is easy to see why the Red Queen trilogy is an international best-seller (selling more than two million copies in the original Spanish, and published in seventeen countries), I read the book courtesy of NetGalley and St. Martin's / MacMillian Publishing Group.

I was speedily swept away into the dark world of the extraordinary (and tragic) genius of Antonia Scott and disgraced detective Jon Guiterraz as they try to solve the frightening, macabre and virtually-impossible kidnapping and murder of a teen-aged boy from a wealthy family. The boy’s body is found without a drop of blood left in it. This kidnapping/murder is quickly followed by a second - this time of a high-ranking executive and daughter of one of the richest men in Spain. Both involve blackmail, though not for money.

A secretive organization that works in the shadows to direct criminal investigations of a highly sensitive nature, offers Guiyterraz a chance at redemption - convince Antonia, who has all but removed herself from everyday life, to come out of her self-imposed retirement and solve the crime.

Jon and Antonia’s developing relationship is at the heart of the novel, as we learn more about their isolated lives. The book is populated with memorable characters, including a washed-up journalist eager to be back on top, and a arrogant police chief eager to solve the mystery himself.

The writing is taut and immediately captures the tensions of the hunt for the kidnappers. Gomez-Jurado creates a delicious atmosphere of evil without sacrificing the novel’s relentless pacing as he creates an effective and vivid sense of place.

Juan Gómez-Jurado, where have you been all my reading life? This is as close to a perfect thriller as one can get. Happily, Red Queen is part of a trilogy, with the remaining novels on their way soon. A Netflix series is already planned for 2023.

There are not enough stars to give this book.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Jon who is a cop for now has to convince Antonia to help him solve a murder with her unique gifts. To solve this murder and other occurrence will take everything Antonia has in her repertoire.

Antonia Is Their Last Hope…

Can Jon convince her to help Mentor with a very difficult case? Let’s go back to the beginning. John Gutierrez is a cop, at the moment a suspended cop. Mentor contacts him as a last resort to convince Antonia Scott to rejoin the group. He believes she is the only one who has the ability to solve the problem. When teamed with Jon, a cop who just wants to defeat evil, the pair work together outside the normal law enforcement channels to attempt to solve the horrific murder of a young boy whose corpse was drained of blood before being returned to the family home. They are puzzled, though, by the seeming lack of grief of the child’s mother and father.

This book is a wonderfully written story of an unconventional woman, with a different set of values and skills who, when given the right incentive, has abilities that are above normal human capacity. Jon is single and gay, an inspector who went too far when he planted evidence on a pimp. When teamed up they reach an understanding that is simultaneously combative and cooperative, each relegating the other to their areas of expertise. The relationship between them contributes a great deal to the overall story of murder and vengeance. Thank you, Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of Red Queen.

This is one of those books that I wanted to love so much more than I did.

I adored Antonia – she’s just a wonderfully unique character. I also loved Jon. He’s damaged, but he has a ton of heart. Finally, I loved the setting – the culture and history of Spain is presented so well here.

But the plot was mostly quite dull, the story moved at a glacial pace, and I finally realized that I was only reading for Antonia.

I would revisit the author again if there’s another Antonia book, but I’d hope that the pacing of the book improves.

So for me, this one gets an ‘Okay’ and a ‘I’ll try the next one’.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy to read and enjoy.
I absolutely love finding new books to read
I was not aware this gem existed. I do now
Was wonderfully written. . Amazing characters.
And I look forward to researching other I missed while patiently waiting for the next one

The Red Queen was given to me to read. the book is written by a Spanish Author and translated well. The story centers on Antonia a woman with great powers of deduction and intelligence. She has challenges in interacting with others. Jon is a police officer from another part of Spain and is sent to shepherd Antonia to a crime scene and help solve the mystery. I did enjoy the story but felt the translation water down the nuance of the story.
I did enjoy it enough to read the other two books featuring Antonia and Jon.

I devoured this book in a day and a half. Think of it like The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo without all the violence. I can't wait to sell this one to everyone looking for a good read !

A rare 5 stars for Red Queen. Grace S., thank you SO SO much for giving me a copy of the English translation to read. I went into this thinking I was "paying it forward" a bit by reading a book that would not amount to much and ended up devouring one of the best crime thrillers I have ever read. The recipe? Well, put together one part disgraced cop with social issues, one part chemically enhanced and damaged crime analyst, and one part shady supra-national investigative service. Blend carefully with superb character development, a rich plot with some great twists, and great story telling, and you get The Red Queen. After a life time of reading mainly English writers, I am now following Juan Gomez-Jurado and eagerly look forward to reading Black Wolf. The translation was fantastic with none of that "after taste" one sometimes gets from translations. If you like Alex Cross or the Women's Murder Club, for example, you will thoroughly enjoy taking Red Queen for a spin.

An engaging psychological thriller. This is a promising series and I look forward to more stories. Love that it takes place in Madrid. I learned a few things about the city as well.

You can see why this is an international best-seller. This absolute page-turner is marked by vivid characterization, smart and unexpected twists, an interesting exploration of trauma, and a sense of cultural relevance. Can't wait to see the movie or tv adaptation -- I'm sure there will be one!

Spanish readers have already gotten their hands in three novels in Juan Gomez-Jurado’s Antonia Scott crime thriller series. It’s about time for English readers to get the opportunity to sample the series, which is set in Madrid, and due to debut in the United States in early 2023.

This is not your ordinary heroine and, in fact, both main characters are oddly flawed. Antonia is perhaps one of the most brilliant people in the world with an intellect that cruises along at supersonic speeds. She can reason through facts and come to extraordinary conclusions that only a supercomputer could. But, then, that’s only when her mind is clear and focused. Ordinarily though Antonia is a catatonic wreck, destroyed by her husband’s coma, unable to mother her son, incommunicado with neighbors.

Here she’s matched with a police inspector of ordinary intellect whose so fat he can’t chase most suspects without losing his breath and is on the verge of being drummed out of the force after being publicly shamed for planting a massive amount of heroin on a local pimp (though with the best intentions of ridding Madrid of an evil varmint). It’s an oddly matched partnership.

Here, they face off against a secretive kidnapper whose motives are secretive. It’s a challenge for the families to decide how important family is.

This is a great thriller, well-written, engaging, and filled with enough odd quirkiness to feel new and original.

I had never heard of this author before but when the publisher offered an opportunity to read, I couldn't say no based on the description.

It a who dunit and does not disappoint. The author goes from present to past but it's not distracting as it allows you to see the heroine as an onion with many many layers.

A great story with an ending that you think you know but don't until the very end.

An absolute thriller.

Red Queen by Juan Gomez-Jurado is an engrossing and interesting read with fully detailed characters and plot. Well worth the read and one of the year's best!

When the invitation to read Red Queen arrived in my mailbox, I couldn't refuse, based on the exciting summary of this international bestseller. Antonia Scott, a protagonist of Red Queen, is an empathetic character of superior intelligence who was fascinating to read about. I enjoyed the glimpses of Spain the story provided, since I've never visited that country, and also liked what the term Red Queen means, which was new to me.

Readers who are fluent in Spanish will likely enjoy this novel more if read in the language in which it was written. The copy I read was an English translation, which I sensed diluted the unique voice of the author, despite being well done.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St Martins Press for providing an ARC of this book. *NetGalley Top Reviewer.*

Juan Gómez-Jurado is one of the top bestselling Spanish authors, and his novel, international bestselling thriller Reina Roja/Red Queen (already having sold millions of copies in Spanish, French, Italian and German), is finally being released in English. This is the first in a series featuring Antonia Scott (Spanish mom/ British dad), an incredibly talented forensic criminologist who needs to be coaxed out of a self-imposed retirement to investigate the brutal murder of an exsanguinated teenaged boy. I’m fairly certain Antonia will be compared to a less goth Lisbeth Salander once reviews come out — she’s another savant, but she uses her remarkable and always alert mind, not fancy computer skills.

Antonia is coaxed to investigate a related pair of crimes by Inspector Jon Gutiérrez, a really good guy who has been recruited himself by the mysterious Mentor after a mishap got him suspended. The multinational agency they work for has no name, but it operates alongside law enforcement (with incredible resources) to solve unusual cases. Each participating nation has a chosen “Red Queen” (like the “off with your head” Red Queen of “Alice in Wonderland” - the monarch who insists you have to run in order to stay in place). Antonia, Spain’s Red Queen, is given “special” training and then guides the investigations with her special skills.

I loved the partnership of Antonia and Jon! Each one of them has a complicated backstory, but you can easily empathize with each and you are rooting for them all the way. Gómez-Jurado brings a sense of light humor to their interactions with the people who obstruct their progress, so the novel is not entirely dark and tragic (there are some very graphic scenes of violence). Credit must also be given to Nick Caistor who translated the 2018 bestseller from Spanish. There are two more books in the series: Lobo Negra/Black Wolf (2019) and Rey Blanco/White King (2020) in which Antonia and Jon continue their partnership. Oh, I hope we get to meet the other “Red Queens” from neighboring countries in the future! 5 stars! This should be as thrilling a series as “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” and we’re blessed to have another clever, intelligent international thriller author to enjoy.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): YES Antonia, our heroine, has olive green eyes.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO We do find out that Antonia’s late mother’s favorite flowers were chrysanthemums.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy to read and enjoy.

It took me a little while to get into it but I ended up enjoying this first English translation of a successful Spanish-language and published thriller.

Though not as dark as that series for me there was a strong hint of Lisbeth Salander/Girl With the Dragon Tattoo about the main character Antonia Scott and although her foil, Inspector Gutierrez was the very opposite of Mikael Blomkvist from that series, there is a similar paternal and frustrated-adult (himself a maverick) thing going on. They're both likeable characters though with a disruptive police officer and troubled genius not madly original.

The plot itself, like the aforementioned Swedish juggernaut, decidedly far-fetched and complicated but good fun nonetheless and does include some good dashes of humour.

If the scoring were out of 10 I'd give it a solid seven but it deserves more than a three out of five.

I picked this up through Netgalley on a whim and thought it was pretty good. The pacing was a little off for me, but the characters were top-notch. Antonia and Jon were really well developed and Mentor was a treat unto himself. My lack of one star is 100% on the pacing and I thought it was a little too slow in parts. It could have been maybe 50 pages shorter if Gomez-Jurado pared down some of the needless details, but the story, the mystery, the reveals, it was all good.

Red Queen by Juan Gomez-Jurado unfortunately did not click with me.
There is nothing wrong with the characters or the plot of the story--and it's possible that it's more my mind state than the book itself.
Jon seemed like an interesting and flawed character but I never warmed to him and the main protagonist Antonia Scott had some interesting traits but (shrug). Perhaps it is a matter of translation but there just didn't seem to be any depth. The narrative voice just seemed a little detached.
I will probably return and re-read this book at a later date and see If my opinion changes.
Thanks to #NetGalley, #MinotauBooks and Juan Gomez-Jurado for the ARC of #RedQueen.

I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for a fair review.
Red Queen is the first of Gomez-Jurado’s series featuring Antonia Scott that has been translated in English.
Ms Scott like many great sleuths has a weighty past threatening to undo her, and this bedevils her boss of the quasi-secret crime fighting organization who recruited her for the intelligent think-outside-the-box skill set that has thus far brought them much success.

Our story begins with the travails of her soon to be partner and protector, a Bilbao police inspector who we find brooding over his latest screw up that will likely end his less than stellar twenty year career.

Jon Guiterrez has long been hampered by impulsiveness and a lack of intuition- and the fear of attracting the wrong attention, he’s a gay policeman with the massive build of a shot putter. And yet his most pressing fear now is that his latest screw up will send him to jail, and though he knows what awaits him there given his obvious vulnerabilities, it is the impact on his Mother dying of shame and guilt, that is uppermost in his mind, she “who had him at the age of twenty seven almost a virgin, right and proper”.

And so begins a partnership of compassionate opposites and the colourful characters inhabiting this thriller skillfully written with the wry humour and insight into the human condition that permeates Juan Gomez-Jurardo’s works.

I’d already read ‘God’s Spy’ enjoying it tremendously, and while I found this book and its characters enjoyable, the passages ruminating on the past thwarted the pace a bit.

Well written. Amazing characters. I cannot wait to read more from this series and author. Would definitely recommend to anyone.