My thanks to Net Galley and St Martin's Press for this arc to review. As soon as I saw a comparison to Lisabeth Salender from Girl With the Dragon Tatoo, one of my favorite books, I knew I had to request this

Jon Guarteriez, a disgraced cop is given a second chance if he can bring Antonia Scott, a forensic genius in solving crimes to assist in the kidnapping of a diplomats daughter and another kidnapping of a small boy. I enjoyed the chemistry between these 2 characters and the parallels of Antonia to Lisabeth. Really enjoyed and recommend.

I was very happy to spend the past cold snowy days reading this. Love having another translated mystery to recommend to our patrons. Antonia and Jon were great!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Rating: 2.5 rounded 3/5 Stars
Publishing: March 28, 2023
Series: N/A
Pages: 384

I started this read on business travel and found the “Red Queen” by Juan Gomez-Jurado, new author to this reader was a difficult read for this reader. I had to start and stop quite a few times. It started off a bit tedious in the beginning that I almost DNF, however it picked up and kept my interest somewhat. What became monotonous for me is the over-emotional characters in the story. There were some parts that was well-written that made the story transition chapter by chapter. This was a bit too slow for me and not strong enough to keep me from not skimming through the story to get to the end. Just wasn’t there for me.

Trigger warnings: death, animal death, blood and gore, torture, implied torture, implied SA (both adult and child), kidnapping, police misconduct/implied police brutality.

Antonia Scott might just be the smartest person alive today. Working for an organization that sets out to solve the most difficult of criminal cases, she suffers a trauma that causes her to withdraw from life and quit her team. Jon Gutierrez is a disgraces police officer in the middle of a personal scandal. He is offered a chance to salvage his career. All he has to do is convince Scott to come out of exile and solve the murder/kidnapping of a child. With the disappearance of a second person, will she be able to overcome her traumas to solve the case in time?

When this was compared to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo I was worried because I hated that book. The plot of this sounded super intriguing though so I decided to read it. I’m super glad that I did. I absolutely loved this book and everything in it. Scott and Gutierrez were really great main characters and I love the ways they played off of each other. They made a great team and had fantastic banter. The backstory of Scott and why she is the way she is is tragic. The villain was terrifying. I loved how intricate the plot was and how everything came together in the end. I especially loved the many plot twists at the end. I truly didn’t see some of them coming. My main complaint is the book came be a little repetitive with some of the dialogue sections. The narration will say that someone feels or thinks a certain thing and the dialogue will immediately repeat that. It doesn’t happen often enough to be annoying but it did happen often enough to notice.

Overall I absolutely loved this book. On one hand I’m super grateful that I got to read an advanced copy of this but on the other hand I’m not because now I have to wait even longer for the second in the series. I loved the reading experience for this and I just can’t wait for the second book to come out. Highly recommend for thriller/mystery fans of the appropriate age.

Antonia Scott is a genius who lost her way three years earlier and become a recluse. Jon Gutierrez is a detective that had tried to do a good deed but instead landed himself in a heap of trouble. Together, they are tasked with solving high-profile crimes in an off-the-books, extremely low-profile way.
The first crime is a teenage boy from a wealthy family whose body is left without any blood in it. Then, the adult daughter of a billionaire goes missing, and they have limited time before she, too, is executed.
I liked both these characters and the whole last third of the novel is extremely fast paced to the point it’s a little stressful seeing if they would survive and if they’d be able to save the hostages along the way.
This is the first novel in a series, and I look forward to reading the next books.
NetGalley provided an advance reader copy of this book, which RELEASES MARCH 14, 2022.

Antonia Scott does not like to be bothered. When she hears footsteps coming up her attic stairs, she knows, just knows, that someone is coming for her. But why? She's never been a police officer. She's never worn a badge or carried a weapon. She's never been a lawyer or a judge. But Antonia Scott has solved dozens of crimes. She has a gifted forensic mind, and her ability to reconstruct crimes and solve baffling murders is legendary. But she's been a recluse since a personal tragedy struck.
The footsteps coming to get Antonia belong to Jon Gutierrez, a good but currently disgraced cop who got caught planting evidence. Officially he's removed from duty, but he's now working for a secret organization that works in the shadows to solve some of the most violent crimes in the EU. Jon's first task is to convince Antonia to work with him. That might be the easy part.

The pair will then be asked to solve a series of ritualistic killings (which started with the discovery of a teenage boy of a wealthy family drained of every last ounce of blood). The high-profile daughter of one of the richest men in Spain has been kidnapped and there's reason to believe she may be next for the ritual murder. Her last, best hope of being found is Antonia and Jon.

I've read a fair amount of dark mysteries/thrillers from Scandinavian authors, but I've read virtually nothing translated from the rest of the EU - here, specifically, Spain.

Author Juan Gómez-Jurado does a really nice job of setting up our characters at the start of the book while still keeping us interested the larger story. It does feel as though we spend a fair amount of time on the two main characters - getting some background on them and watching them get familiar with one another - as though Gómez-Jurado is laying the foundation for a series of books.

A book (and series) like this is generally driven by the characters and in Jon and Antonia we have two very different but compatible (mostly compatible because they have the same goal) protagonists. Antonia can 'see' behind the crimes and Jon has the ability to follow her lead and finish the task. Both have distinct personalities, which on the surface don't appear to mesh well but of course will mostly work quite well ('mostly' because we'll need something to keep them both on edge a bit).

I really enjoyed Antonia's trait of knowing obscure foreign words - words which she uses to perfectly describe a situation or scene ("Mångata. In Swedish, this is the reflection the moon makes as it traces a path across the water.").

This is a detective thriller, and Antonia and Jon are called to solve something pretty horrific. To that end, this is NOT a cozy mystery. In fact this would be the exact opposite. It is dark and brutal and gruesome. We do get the POV of the captive and her constant fears at what, worse, is yet to come.

Looking for a good book? If you like dark detective/thrillers, be sure to get in here on book #1 of a series out of Spain, Red Queen by Juan Gómez-Jurado.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Truly a fantastic story and great characters - the Red queen is summoned to find a missing woman before it is to late - her reluctant partner a disgraced cop, must keep an eye on the brilliant forensic mind. Set in Bilbao it is people’s with dark interesting characters and many plot twists - can’t wait for the sequel

Red Queen is tough for me to review coherently. I went from loving it to being bogged by all the emotionally traumatized characters and back to loving it. And while it’s various pieces are well-written, somehow the pieces don’t really hang together and flow well. In the end, I pretty much forgave the rough spots and am looking forward to the promised sequel. The two MCs are intriguing individuals and will make a compelling team going forward.

Antonia has a talent in forensic cases, and she is known to crack some of the most puzzling cases. An incident occurs and she suddenly shuts herself away from the world, eventually giving up her career. Jon is a police officer who has found himself in trouble at work, he's suspended and implicated in another case. He has a chance to salvage his career when he is given a new case. The predator is targeting children of wealthy families, there has already been a murder and now a kidnapping. Jon needs to get Antonia out of retirement and help solve this case. She is what this case desperately needs. But, convincing her to come out of retirement is going to be harder. This story has a breathtaking plot, with well written characters and it makes for a great thriller story.

Disclaimer: Thank you NetGalley and St, Martin's Press for this ARC, I received an advance copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Where has this series been? Can't believe it was not translated earlier and that it hasn't become a Netflix etc phenom.
I really enjoyed this book! Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the chance to read and review.
This is first in series with protagonists Antonia Scott and Jon Gutierrez. Antonia is a genius who was recruited to the Red Queen project in Europe to solve very challenging crime mysteries. Gutierrez is a Basque cop , currently with his career in tatters who is recruited to work with Antonia on a specific case. Both are amazing characters and I enjoyed their stories very much.
The plot is clever and I could not put this book down. So many plot twists. It was gruesome at times would be my trigger warning.
I very much enjoyed the author's style. Dialogue was particularly well done.
One facet I really found fun was Antonia commenting on words in other languages what have no counterpart in English/Spanish. For instance the word mangata- swedish for a road-like reflection of the moon on the water. I began to really look for and focus on this and it greatly added to my enjoyment of the read.
Please, please translate and publish the rest of the series ASAP!!!

Overall, I liked this book. The writing style was a nice change from American authors. There were some things that didn't flow for me overall, but it seems they will be resolved in a sequel. I will definitely read the sequel given an opportunity here on NetGalley!

I highly recommend this psychological thriller. I was hooked from the first page. Antonia Scott, a brilliant crime solver and her unlikely partner Jon Guittierez race to save a kidnapped heiress while using clues left at another macabre killing.

Had to DNF. The writing was just too juvenile or maybe it was the translation. I don’t know which but I absolutely cannot finish it. Disappointment because the blurb sounded interesting. Can’t really understand why this book got so many five star reviews. Maybe it is just me. But I don’t think so.

One of the best books I’ve read in 2022. It has echoes of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, but in my opinion those comparisons are inaccurate. Gomez-Jurado is, firstly, MUCH funnier. The protagonists in Red Queen are nuanced and complex in a way that made me want to improve my Spanish so I can read the rest of the books immediately.

An absolutely fantastic addition to the canon of detective fiction!

As the novel (translated from the Spanish) opens, we witness the meeting between its two main characters: Antonia Scott, who possesses a brilliant mind well suited to processing facts and analyzing crime scenes but who has shut herself off from the world, and Jon Gutierrez, a policeman from Bilbao who is on the verge of not just losing his job but being prosecuted for police misconduct. Gutierrez has been approached by Mentor, representing a shadowy intelligence group, and is tasked with getting Antonia to leave her apartment and delivering her to a specific location. If he can do so, Mentor’s group can make all of Gutierrez’s problems disappear.
There is much we do not know as the story begins. What talents does Antonia have, and how did she get them? What toll does exercising them take on her, physically and mentally? And perhaps most important, what happened in the recent past that has left her in a precarious state and her husband in a coma? In bringing Antonia back into the world, what has Gutierrez done to her? And what has he done to himself, because it soon becomes apparent that he is not going to be allowed to abandon Antonia and just slip back into his old life. Someone is kidnapping the children of very wealthy members of the business world. Are the cases connected and, if so, who is behind them? And when the first victim is killed, can Antonia discover the connections and motivations driving the killer before another victim dies?
Two talented but damaged people, an intelligence group that operated best behind the scenes to solve crimes that the mainstream law enforcement agencies can’t even identify, and a sociopath bent on revenge are the ingredients of a first-rate story. I couldn’t put it down once I began, and was thrilled to see that there are more in the series. If you love thrillers, detective stories, unique characters, and nuanced plotting, Red Queen is for you. Carve out the time and get reading, you won’t regret it! Thanks to St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the advanced reader’s copy.

Tantalizing tale of a troubled woman of extremely high intelligence and a policeman who is facing disgrace and loss of his career, who team up in an original variation on the kidnap/hostage theme., Set in Madrid with good local color. Excellent, smooth reading translation.
While the book comes to a compete and satisfying ending, the epilogue sets up a tickler for more to come.

Thanks to Minotaur Books and Netgalley for the free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I first was introduced to this book through a Minotaur 7 novel sampler and loved it so much that I requested a copy. This is a humorous mystery/suspense novel by a Spanish author and is based in Madrid, which I loved.

Antonia and Jon are detectives and they are thrown together under unusual circumstances. Jon has unsuccessfully set up a drug dealer which was broadcast all over social media. He is facing charges when he is approached by a "fixer" that can make the charges go away if he helps with another situation...enter Antonia, who is perhaps one of the most brilliant people in the world with a mind that processes data and facts 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. Currently Antonia is a catatonic wreck, destroyed by her husband’s coma, unable to mother her son and unable to work. Once Jon gets Antonia to the crime scene as instructed, the story takes off.

Their working relationship quickly becomes an oddly matched partnership. The crime is a teenager is kidnapped and ritualistically killed. His uber wealthy and powerful family will not allow for any information to be leaked in the public. But this murder is just the start. A high-ranking executive and daughter of one of the richest men in Spain is kidnapped, a crime which is tied to the previous murder. Now for the crimes to be quickly and quietly solved.

This is a quick, fast paced read that I highly recommend!

I just finished Juan Gómez-Jurado’s astounding new thriller, #RedQueen, and want to write this review before my pulse goes back to normal. The book, which pits one of the world’s smartest people against one of the world’s evilest moves at such a breakneck speed I think I’m feeling some whiplash. Before I’ve had the chance to verify Gómez-Jurado dotted all his i’s and crossed all his t’s, let me say that is irrelevant. One reads #RedQueen for its unrelenting plotting exuberance. From start to finish this novel never lets up in its quest of good vs. evil. So strap yourselves in your favorite reading chair and devour the world of #RedQueen. You won’t be sorry. There - now I can catch my breath. Happy Reading !

Red Queen by Juan Gómez-Jurado is a tour de force. It will inevitably be on a lot of year-end "Best of..." lists. It will be well deserved. It is a really riveting read. The plot is exquisitely executed by Gómez-Jurado. It is the very definition of an exhilarating thriller. Antonia Scott bursts on the literary scene like a supernova. She is truly one of the most fascinating characters created in any genre. By the end of the book, you'll be eagerly anticipating her next adventure with Jon Gutierrez. European writers have given us some classic characters like Fabian Risk and Holger Munch & Mia Kruger in recent years. This duo joins them as the best of the best. This is one of the most extraordinary series debuts I have ever been fortunate enough to read. Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books, & NetGalley for the advance reading copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was just too slow for me. I enjoy many Spanish books and had high hopes, but it just seemed too dark. The writing was not strong enough to keep me going. I tried reading it three times and never got past 20%. I was hopin for another "Shadow of the Wind", but this just wasn't it.