Death Takes Me

A poetry-obsessed serial killer mutilates men in this unforgettable literary puzzle from Rivera Garza, who won the Pulitzer for her memoir, Liliana’s Invincible Summer. After a Mexican literature professor named Cristina Rivera Garza stumbles upon a castrated dead man while out jogging one night in her unnamed city, a police officer referred to only as the Detective investigates. Three more victims are found around the city—all with their genitals cut off. In each case, the killer leaves behind cryptic lines from the Argentine poet Alejandra Pizarnik, who died by suicide in 1972. The Detective and her assistant, Valerio, interview relatives of the victims and enlist Cristina’s help in decoding Pizarnik’s dark, fragmented poetry (“It’s true, death takes me in the throes of sex”). Meanwhile, a reporter referred to as the Tabloid Journalist investigates the crimes on her own, and the plot thickens when the killer sends Cristina enigmatic letters written in Pizarnik’s voice. Told in 97 brief chapters, the novel brilliantly melds the grit and pacing of a police procedural with literary theory, interweaving the investigation, Cristina’s scholarship on Pizarnik, the killer’s letters to Cristina, and a poetry manuscript by the killer entitled “Death Takes Me.” It’s all seamlessly conveyed in Rivera Garza’s incisive and poetic style. Life and literature become one in this singular achievement. Agent: Jacqueline Ko, Wylie Agency. (Feb.)