• Age: 17 to 18
• Grade: 12

A riveting debut noir novel that takes us from Brazil to Barcelona, with a millennial, political edge. Lucas Brodowski, a rookie cop from Rio de Janeiro, is sent to Barcelona in search of his family’s killer. But on arriving, he goes off the grid and decides to take matters into his own hands. He disguises himself as a chatarrero (scrap collector) and infiltrates an anarchical organization to gain intelligence on the whereabouts of el Catalan, the drug kingpin behind the murder of his mother, father, and adopted brother.

Before long Lucas finds himself in a strange love triangle with the organization’s leader, Laia Requena, and with Alba Suarez, the CEO of Banco Cooperativo de Catalunya. Lucas, however, is unaware that Alba is the person Laia is working to bring down for her role in tenant evictions from bank-owned properties and a corruption scandal. By a strange twist of fate, shocking surprises eventually come to light in a tense confrontation in Lucas’s junk-filled loft.

Marius Stankiewicz's profile page

Marius Stankiewicz, a Toronto native, is a former international journalist, photographer, and documentary filmmaker who currently lives in Barcelona, where he works as a communications manager in the music and technology business. His journalistic work has been featured in NPR, Al Jazeera, Barcelona Metropolitan, the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, the Province, and Men’s Journal. Stankiewicz graduated with an MA in English from Jagiellonian University in Cracow and an MA in communication science & media from the University of Amsterdam. In his free time, he plays the drums, frequents dive bars, and trains in Muay Thai, an ancient combat sport originating in Thailand.