The Shadow of the Wind (Carlos Ruiz Zafon)

Barcelona, 1945. I'd picked this one from the three I have out from the library, even it was the longest at 486 pages and probably the most likely I could renew. Maybe it was because I was still mesmerized by WWII (Remember, I'd just finished reading Villa Air-Bel, which is also WWII, but in France). This story takes place in Spain. But the war is in the background, this horror of the government turnaround that led to mysterious deaths and tortures . . . but all of these seem to revolve around this terribly evil person: Fumero.But more likely, I was intrigued by the beginning of the book, the kind of haunting that comes from not knowing and needing to know what happens next. For this book is less about the book--The Shadow of the Wind--that becomes the title, but more about the young boy, Daniel, who slowly uncovers what happened to Julian Carax, the author of the book, The Shadow of the Wind, and what happens to Daniel in the course of uncovering Carax's own story. So, that I no longer care what the book is about that Carax wrote, just about the story unfolding. Perhaps too many coincidences happen along the way . . . but there was something about the tension created by the story of what happens next that kept me turning pages long into the night. Those nights when I go to bed two hours past my bedtime because I found I simply could not put this book down. So, would I recommend this book? Undoubtedly.