Lost City Radio

Daniel Alacron

She reads the names of missing and disappears people every night on the radio. Across the country, people tune it to hear the name of their loved ones, disappeared during the war years. She has a name of her own, which she does not read. Her husband, a borderline revolutionary caught up conflict, who disappear into the jungle decades ago. A boy comes to the studio with a list of names, and this list, and this boy, helps piece together what happened to her own life, her own husband.

It’s a serviceable tale, with the kind of details about civil war that come from an author who has seen it up close. The trajectory of the plot becomes obvious early on, and the writing isn’t quite good enough to keep me excited once I knew where it was all going. Worth a look if novels of South America in the war years is your thing, otherwise, look elsewhere for stronger works.

Recommended for the enthusiast