Only Silence Remains (Solo queda silencio)

Gloria Maldonado, a fifty-something police lieutenant, cynical, unconventional, and far from by-the-book, must investigate a chain of deaths linked to a killing that occurred in the past. In a small Pyrenean town where everyone knows each other and everyone keeps silent, Gloria will discover that the truth is not only dangerous: it is deeply personal. An addictive novel by the master of Basque noir.

From the very first page, Only Silence Remains makes it clear that this is not a conventional police thriller. The investigation falls to Lieutenant Gloria Maldonado, a fifty-something woman, overweight, a heavy smoker, ironic and pragmatic, closer to the street than to the clichés of the genre. With her rough-edged character and little taste for heroics, she must face a series of deaths that, although they initially appear to be accidents or suicides, conceal a shared past.

The case begins when Martín Blasco, who had married Elvira Araguás the night before, is found dead after falling from a bridge on the outskirts of Jaca, a small city in the Aragonese Pyrenees, in the depths of winter.

Everything initially points to suicide, according to the police’s first assessment. However, the investigation is soon disrupted by two disturbing elements: a WhatsApp message—just one word, “Sorry”—that Martín sends to his wife Elvira, and the appearance of an anonymous note in the hotel room, suggesting that someone knew a secret from his past.

The doubts intensify when a second victim appears: Fito Garcés, found dead in the bathtub of his home, drowned and surrounded by ice, also accompanied by the word “Sorry,” a coincidence that reinforces the link between the two cases.

As the investigation progresses, the connection between the two victims becomes clear: Martín and Fito were friends in adolescence and were part, along with Acher Lanuza, of the city’s youth hockey team. Three men bound by an old friendship and by an episode that never came to light. As Gloria reconstructs their lives, a clear pattern emerges: the locations, the use of icy water, and the repeated message all point to the same origin.

Eventually, the truth surfaces. Years earlier, Martín, Fito, and Acher were involved in the death of Pascual San José, a homeless man from the city, whom they threw into a fountain of freezing water and left to his fate. The crime was silenced and buried beneath years of apparent normality. But someone did not forget.

Olvido San José, the victim’s daughter and Elvira’s best friend, has known the truth for years and has devoted her life to preparing a meticulous revenge. Without getting her own hands dirty, she uses her brother Virgilio, a vulnerable and easily manipulated man, to carry out the murders. The chain culminates with Acher’s death in an old washhouse and the murder of Santiago Blasco, Martín’s father, who knew about the crime and helped to cover it up.

Olvido is finally arrested, although her plan has already run its course. For Gloria Maldonado, the case represents more than the resolution of an investigation: it confronts her with the weight of the past and the irreversible consequences of violence. Exhausted, she requests a leave of absence and chooses to step away, closing a story marked by guilt and silence.

RELEVANT INFORMATION: Txemi Parra is a Spanish screenwriter, actor, playwright, and novelist. For more than fifteen years he has worked as a television screenwriter on successful productions such as Aida, Los Serrano, Siete Vidas, El Internado, and Águila Roja. In his work as a novelist, he has established himself as one of the most powerful voices in Basque noir.

Only Silence Remains is one of his most acclaimed novels, a thriller rich in human drama, featuring an atypical and deeply charismatic protagonist who provides a counterpoint—through irony and humor—to the harshness of the story. This contrast makes the novel an extremely appealing work to adapt, thanks to the mystery surrounding the case, the twists in the investigation, and the complex, richly developed characters that complete the ensemble.

AUDIOVISUAL POTENTIAL: TV Series, Miniseries, Feature Film, TV Movie.

AVAILABLE LANGUAGES: Spanish.