A Small Death in Lisbon

⚖The case for it

Twin plots across two timelines. Portugal under Salazar in WWII and a 1999 murder investigation interweave to reveal historical crimes reaching into the present. Wilson's command of Portuguese history and culture gives the novel unusual depth. Gold Dagger winner, 1999; a demonstration of crime fiction's capacity for historical reckoning.

— the canon

✕The case against

Wilson's wartime strand, following SS businessman Klaus Felsen into the wolfram trade, is so much stronger than the 1990s police procedural that the alternation feels like interruption. The sexual violence is relentless and starts to read as furniture. When the two timelines finally connect, the hinge is a long way around for what it delivers.

— the honest librarian