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2000s: Part one of the Sao Paulo thrillers
2000s: Part one of the Sao Paulo thrillers
Mario Leme is a low-ranking detective in the São Paulo civil police. Every day on the way to work he sets off early and drives through the favela known as Paraisopolis – Paradise City. It’s a pilgrimage: his wife Renata was gunned down at an intersection here a year ago, the victim of a stray bullet in a conflict between drug dealers.
One morning, parked near the place where Renata died, he sees an SUV careen out of control and flip over. The driver Leo is killed, but before his body is removed, Leme is sure he sees bullet wounds.
Leo’s death wasn’t an accident, he was murdered. Soon, his girlfriend turns up dead too. And if they were killed deliberately, perhaps Renata was too…
Leme finds himself immersed further and further in the dark underbelly of Brazilian society, as corruption seeps from the highest to the lowest echelons, and the devastating truth about Renata begins to emerge.
Paradisopolis
This is a slum part of the city which the tour guides might miss, but this is where the main action of the book is set. It’s very diverse, culturally unique and the roughest parts society seem to congregate here in the book.
There’s a stark difference between rich and poor here. A very stark difference. That’s the case when Reneta, a lawyer appears to have become too close to the truth behind a major building project in the city. A project for the rich whilst the poor make do in corrugated iron shacks.
A very dark side to a glittering, sparkling city.
Destination/location: Sao Paulo Author/Guide: Joe Thomas Departure Time: 2000s
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