The Brief Passion: nine story books that were read with emotion and attention in 2024

The year that left us, 2024, was a year full of good books. Several authors have decided to cultivate a classic genre that never fails—for audacity, for being concise—when it comes to telling a story: the story. We are facing a historical genre that to mark its beginnings would have to go back to oral narratives where writing did not yet exist.

The story still persists strongly today. He enjoys very good health. Is it because of these times, which demand greater intensity in less time, is it because of the power of the feathers, because of brief passion? To rehearse an answer, what better than these nine books that were read with emotion and attention in 2024.

A man returns, but his return is not just any trip. After years of absence and silence, a father seeks to return to the home he left suddenly, on any given day, with a banal excuse that was never explained. His family’s life continued without him, and his children, now grown, live in a house by the sea that he observes from a distance. In a once grand hotel, surrounded by guests and late dinners, he waits for the chance to reunite with those he abandoned. He does not seek forgiveness, but rather to shake their peace, to break the world they built without him.

In Back from home, Ariana Harwicz subverts the warm scene of returning home with another full of tension and revenge. True to her style and with disturbing and raw prose, the author unravels the thoughts of a man trapped between redemption and fury, an obsessive and resentful mind, in a story where each step towards reunion is a step towards the abyss.

Ariel climbed from the mud to the eleventh floor, far from the town, from the shooting and from hunger. In his luxury bubble, with pure cocaine and a promised golden future, he plans his great escape abroad. But behind the comfort, alcohol and rented blondes, betrayal lurks. Ariel is just a cog in a ruthless machine, a pawn in the hands of those who orchestrate demolitions of bodies and dreams with the coldness of an algorithm.

Gabriela Cabezón Cámara exposes the violence of a system that buys loyalties and destroys lives, in a raw and fascinating story where the brightness of the highways hides a countdown to disaster. The golden eleventh It was originally published in the anthology Buenos Aires Noir.

Every night Florencia Ungar faces the challenge of staying awake while the world sleeps. Insomnia, her most faithful companion and at the same time her most ruthless adversary, has led her to walk, in a kind of lucid sleepwalking, Rivadavia Avenue, submerging herself in the darkness of the night and her own thoughts. In The Longest Insomnia, we follow the wandering and desperate steps of the protagonist in her incessant search for peace, a fight against the silence of the night and the roar of her own fears.

From the memory of late-night chess games to the paralyzing fear born of loneliness and chronic insomnia, Guillermo Saccomano reflects on memory, fear, identity and the search for connection in a world that seems asleep

Originally published in The suffering of common beings in 2019, and in Tales gathered In 2023, the story evokes the somber poetry of sleepless nights and the eternal question about what it really means to be awake. Flor, with her insomnia as a shield and prison, invites us to question our own fears and loneliness. A story about the courage to face the darkness, both the darkness of the night and the darkness that lives within us.

Convinced of a conspiracy bordering on paranoia, a nameless man fervently believes that Arturo Pérez-Reverte He has stolen not only fragments of his life, but his entire essence, using it as material in all his works. Armed with a silver dagger acquired in dark circumstances and after sending numerous anonymous letters to the author, he has a plan outlined in chilling detail. Or, rather, revenge: killing him within the framework of the Buenos Aires Book Fair. The man who wanted to kill Pérez-Reverte unfolds a plot in which a vehement reader crosses the fine line between admiration and delirium, hatching a master plan to assassinate the famous Spanish writer.

Using the city of Buenos Aires and its most emblematic corners as a backdrop, this story narrates the meticulous assembly of an attack planned for years, together with a covert intelligence agency and a team of unforgettable characters recognized by readers of Pérez-Reverte y Fernandez Diaz. They will be in charge of unraveling and avoiding the fatal outcome. With prose that pays homage to spy novels and at the same time delves into the depths of the human mind, Fernández Díaz proposes a game of mirrors where reality and fiction, admiration and envy, confront each other in a mortal duel. How far can the power of the written word and the edge of a silver dagger reach in the hands of a fanatic willing to do anything?

A young man is shot in an assault and left in a vegetative state. Is it worth sustaining your life at all costs with medical technology resources? What happens when there are different positions on what to do in the family? This story is a fictional version of a real case.

Rock is more than music, it is a way of life,” says the protagonist of this story. For Esteban, following his favorite band is a ritual that connects him with his younger years, perhaps the ones he never left. At fifty years old, his loyalty to rock takes him to travel hundreds of kilometers to a remote town in Buenos Aires. There, in General Rivera, he hopes to live once again the experience that keeps him clinging to a vibrant past: seeing his favorite band getting back together to give a concert. What begins as just another trip to attend a concert soon turns into a haunting nightmare.

After meeting a young stranger in a modest hotel, the pieces of the past begin to fit into Esteban’s memory. What seemed like a simple coincidence hides a dark story that both shared years ago and that is about to resurface. With an intense and captivating style, Reynaldo Sietecase builds a story where fanaticism, remorse and redemption are intertwined. let it be rock It takes the reader on an infinite route, where music is the driving force, but the confrontation with the ghosts of the past is inevitable.

On the vibrant and contrasting streets of Miami, Detective Comanche finds himself involved in an intricate case that will challenge all his instincts. The murder under mysterious circumstances of a prominent writer, interested in noir, Gregorio Lizarraga. The crime triggers a series of events that lead to entering a web of corruption, betrayal and unexpected dangers. Thus, the detective discovers a web of intrigue that leads him to confront his own demons from the past.

With each clue discovered, he delves deeper into labyrinths of deception and dark secrets that threaten to destroy everything in his path. From shady connections in the literary world to corrupt influences in the police force, The Comanche Blues exposes the different faces of a city as mysterious as it is amazing. Between colorful characters, evocative settings and deep dialogues, The Comanche Blues proposes a journey full of suspense, action and unexpected turns. With agile and enveloping prose, Pedro Medina León weaves an addictive plot that will keep you in suspense until the last page. What dark secrets are hidden in the shadows of the city of Miami? The truth can push you over the edge.

A building in which animals occupy apartments and people cross each other like shadows. “Them Two” by Carolina Sanín presents us in a strange and fascinating world, where everyday life takes on an air of mystery and relationships are woven in the simplest gestures. The protagonist, accompanied by chickens, sheep and a dog, tries to decipher her own story while observing the life that flows between floors and stairs. The arrival of a Spanish teacher and an unexpected visitor, Maruna, triggers a series of encounters that seem innocuous, but contain a deep background. Between cracked floors, open windows and shared rooftops, the characters move as if they were trapped in a silent choreography, while the animals seem to be the only true witnesses of what is happening. Published in Ponqué and other stories in 2010, “Ellos dos” is a literary landscape full of subtleties and invisible connections. With precise and evocative writing, Sanín proposes a unique journey to the most secret corners of human and animal coexistence.

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Can you see Messi’s attitude in a dog? What is that dog like? They say that eyes don’t lie, neither those of Messi when he looks at a ball, nor those of Totín – the dog from Messi’s childhood. Hernan Casciari– upon seeing the yellow sponge

Through meticulous observation of clips where Messi endures countless fouls without falling, in Messi is a dogCasciari unveils a fascinating theory: Messi, like Totín with his yellow sponge, possesses an almost mystical connection with the ball, one that transcends the complicated rules and politics of modern sport.

With a narrative style that combines admiration and a dose of humor, Casciari does not miss the obsessive perseverance and unwavering focus of his characters, who only enjoy a love without fanfare. Lionel’s suitcase It is a story, but not just any story. This is the story that moved world football star Lionel Messi to tears. Published by Orsai magazine after Argentina was crowned champion in the Qatar 2022 World Cup, the story reached the depths of the Messi family. We are neither from here nor from there”, a phrase that resonates and screams for an identity. Casciari remembers the queries in the chat from Argentines living in that city, which varied from culinary aspects, such as finding a butcher shop that cuts meat “parallel to the nerve” or a bakery that offers “sanguchitos de miga”, to looking for roommates in the Eixample area. These communications painted a picture of the daily life and challenges of emigrants.

Until the surname Messi appeared. This story of Hernan Casciari and its impact on Lionel Messi y Antonela Roccuzzo It is a testimony of the emotions shared and experienced by many Argentines abroad, in search of a balance between their roots and their adopted home.