The Year of the Pig has arrived. On the night of the Chinese New Year celebrations, Chesca, who now leads the Case Analysis Unit, has an argument with Ángel Zárate. Nevertheless, she goes out to enjoy herself on the streets, where she meets an attractive man and goes with him to his flat. Then her mind is shrouded in a fog, from which emerge strange figures, the grunting of pigs and the repulsive smell of manure. Elena Blanco, who has left the police force, also joins the search for the missing Chesca. However, it soon becomes clear that beneath the layers of confusing clues lie unspeakably vile secrets.
Carmen Mola is a Spanish author of detective novels. She generated huge interest in 2018 with her debut The Gypsy Bride (La novia gitana), featuring the main character Police Inspector Elena Blanco, which was followed by the equally successful second instalment, The Purple Network (La red púrpura). After the third sequel in the series, a standalone thriller titled La Bestia (The Beast) was released, which immediately topped the bestseller charts. When it won a literary prize with a large cash reward in the Premio Planeta competition in 2021, the real authors decided to reveal their identity: behind the pseudonym Carmen Mola stands a trio of writers and screenwriters, Jorge Díaz, Agustín Martínez, and Antonio Mercero.