Woes of the True Policeman

The final novel of “the most significant Latin American literary voice of his generation” (The New York Times Book Review).

Begun in the 1980s and worked on until the author’s death in 2003, Woes of the TruePoliceman is Roberto Bolaño’s last, unfinished novel.

Forced by scandal to leave Barcelona for Santa Teresa, a Mexican city close to the U.S. border, Chilean university professor and widower Óscar Amalfitano begins an affair with Castillo, a young forger of Larry Rivers paintings.

Meanwhile, Rosa, Amalfitano’s daughter, engages in her own epistolary romance with a basketball player from Barcelona, while still trying to cope with her mother’s early death and her father’s secrets. After finding Castillo in bed with her father, Rosa is forced to confront her own crisis. What follows is an intimate police investigation of Amalfitano that involves a series of dark twists, culminating in a finale full of euphoria and heartbreak.

Featuring characters and stories from his other books, Woes of the True Policeman marks the culmination of one of the great careers of world literature.

“The publication of a Bolaño novel, complete or not, is never anything less than an event of language and devilish wit.” ―The Wall Street Journal

“Bolaño's voice demands attention.” ―The New Yorker

“[Woes of the True Policeman] may offer insight into the writer's larger project.” ―Los Angeles Times

“Full of delights . . . like watching a master magician unpacking his bag of tricks.” ―The New Orleans Times-Picayune