Hardcover, 272 pages
Published February
16th 2016 by Penguin Press
A twisted young medical student kidnaps the girl of his
dreams and embarks on a dark and delirious road trip across Brazil in the
English-language debut of Brazil's most celebrated young crime writer.
Teo Avelar is a loner. He lives with his paraplegic mother and her dog in Rio de Janeiro, he doesn't have many friends, and the only time he feels honest human emotion is in the presence of his medical school cadaver—that is, until he meets Clarice. She's almost his exact opposite: exotic, spontaneous, unafraid to speak her mind. An aspiring screenwriter, she's working on a screenplay called Perfect Days about three friends who go on a road trip across Brazil in search of romance. Teo is obsessed. He begins to stalk her, first following her to her university, then to her home, and when she ultimately rejects him, he kidnaps her and they embark upon their very own twisted odyssey across Brazil, tracing the same route outlined in her screenplay. Through it all, Teo is certain that time is all he needs to prove to Clarice that they are made for each other, that time is all he needs to make her fall in love with him. But as the journey progresses, he digs himself deeper and deeper into a pit that he can't get out of, stopping at nothing to ensure that no one gets in the way of their life together. Both tense and lurid, and brimming with suspense from the very first page, Perfect Days is a psychological thriller in the vein of Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley—a chilling journey in the passenger seat with a psychopath, and the English language debut of one of Brazil's most deliciously dark young writers.
Teo Avelar is a loner. He lives with his paraplegic mother and her dog in Rio de Janeiro, he doesn't have many friends, and the only time he feels honest human emotion is in the presence of his medical school cadaver—that is, until he meets Clarice. She's almost his exact opposite: exotic, spontaneous, unafraid to speak her mind. An aspiring screenwriter, she's working on a screenplay called Perfect Days about three friends who go on a road trip across Brazil in search of romance. Teo is obsessed. He begins to stalk her, first following her to her university, then to her home, and when she ultimately rejects him, he kidnaps her and they embark upon their very own twisted odyssey across Brazil, tracing the same route outlined in her screenplay. Through it all, Teo is certain that time is all he needs to prove to Clarice that they are made for each other, that time is all he needs to make her fall in love with him. But as the journey progresses, he digs himself deeper and deeper into a pit that he can't get out of, stopping at nothing to ensure that no one gets in the way of their life together. Both tense and lurid, and brimming with suspense from the very first page, Perfect Days is a psychological thriller in the vein of Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley—a chilling journey in the passenger seat with a psychopath, and the English language debut of one of Brazil's most deliciously dark young writers.
My Thoughts…
This just could be the most twisted psychotic story I have
ever read and I devoured every word. I
kept reading and thinking Oh My Gosh what is Teo thinking? He wasn’t, he was psychotic. How could Teo do that? I still don’t know. Could it get any worse? It did.
Perfect Days is a book that you don’t want to read, you can’t imagine
how the story could be heading where it is, yet I was unable to stop. I was about half through and had to go have
dinner with my book club and couldn’t wait to tell them about this book.
Teo is the most psychotic character ever. I can’t imagine how Raphael Montes was able
to come up with the things he did (should I be concerned about Raphael). I understand love, even unreturned love but
Teo took it to a whole different level.
The stalking, the kidnapping, and the rest was insane. I do believe that Clarice maybe wasn’t all
there either but Teo had to have pushed her farther and farther into that alter
world.
There is nothing fun and easy about this story. It is horrific, psychotic, scary and so so
so good. I recommend getting your own
copy immediately.
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