Enekoitz Ramírez, who has moved less than a fregona from Camembert’s goal, is the protagonist of the novel Zintzoen saldoan. Former ETA member, former prisoner, art trader and now restaurant assailant. As they prepare how to get rid of the money boxes of one of the expensive cooks, Ramirez kills the cook and ends up in the police station, although this time he has done nothing. From there, a lawyer who will pay you bail, an offer to investigate the murder by unofficial means and the evil Ramirez working for the other bandits, the good ones. Despite
being the same character, the latter is more conventional than that hybrid book of 1998, and despite the digressions that are mixed with the actions, it is located in the field of the black novel.
The conversations the protagonist has with those who make up the “good balance” are full of cosmic contrasts. The vitality and expressiveness of these dialogues is one of the strengths of the novel and contributes to the character of the protagonist: Alonso has created without complexes a complete record to speak with the Basque hanpa. However, it becomes curious, even a little hard to believe, the erudition that Ramirez shows in various passages, although at the service of irony. It is also
a kind of blurring that expresses the diffuse line of separation between the good and the evil, to the point where presumed criminals are astonished at the dirt of presumed exemplary people. And for this it shows the dirty rags of the elite cooks who are “our” most famous. How the Michelin stars are obtained, what is the business model of luxury restaurants and how far the diversification strategy of prestigious chefs can go, among others.
Alonso dominates the characteristics of the genre well; and perhaps in the end, when Ramirez goes to Mexico, although he deviates a little, the examination of this reader has passed with good note. The news about angulas and egg yolk are a very appetizing dish for these times of daily snack.