Laser City (Ciudad Láser)

When Soledad disappears without a trace, a detective haunted by her own losses is drawn into a web of marginal lives and urban secrets, where the Ciudad Láser clinic becomes the epicenter of a mystery that may finally provide answers to her disappearance. A twist-filled thriller that grips readers from the very first page.

In an unnamed country, Soledad has disappeared. No one knows where she is. Her trail has vanished into the city. Giselle Horn, a veteran investigator nearing retirement, takes on the case and begins piecing together Soledad’s story: that of a woman who fled her island home after the suspicious death of her husband, Fabio, a professional diver who had won the lottery shortly before dying under questionable circumstances.

Soledad arrived in the capital burdened by scandal and exile. Unable to access the lottery money—which was being managed by Lisbon, an eccentric Frenchman who had once been her mentor and financial adviser—and shunned by her community, she took refuge in a decaying boarding house. There, she met Raúl, a charismatic man addicted to risk and connected to the fringes of legality. Their intense and self-destructive relationship pulled her into a world of parties, drugs, and shady business ventures.

She found work at Ciudad Láser, a cosmetic clinic where she soon became more than just an employee. Cornered by poverty, she began secretly recording her clients during laser hair-removal sessions. The videos, distributed on the dark web, generated quick income. What initially seemed like a shortcut to financial survival evolved—under Raúl’s influence—into a fully fledged illegal operation that consumed her life.

One day, however, Soledad received an unexpected client: Carlos Mario Olarte, a wealthy former drug trafficker, who attempted to sexually assault her during a session. Soledad reacted by secretly recording him as a means of self-defense. But the footage, along with the other recordings, eventually found its way onto the internet. Carlos Mario discovered the video and, while browsing the same website, stumbled upon intimate footage of his own wife. Humiliated and enraged, he ordered his personal hitman to keep Soledad under surveillance.

As Giselle and her assistant Ruth dig deeper into the investigation, they uncover the illegal video operation connected to Ciudad Láser and identify two possible suspects behind Soledad’s disappearance: Carlos Mario Olarte and Lisbon, who has now mysteriously vanished from the country.

The novel’s final scene flashes back to the day Soledad disappeared. Following the incident with Carlos Mario, she returns to her daily routine. Lavaperros, Carlos Mario’s hitman, follows her through the rain, torn between his orders and an unexpected compassion for his target. The threat is now dangerously close. And as Soledad disappears into the city’s fog, one question remains unanswered: was Lavaperros the one who carried out the order, or did someone else decide to erase Soledad from the world?

RELEVANT INFORMATION: Ciudad Láser is the debut novel of Mariantuá Correa, a Colombian writer and lawyer based in Barcelona.

Ciudad Láser combines mystery with a sharp social critique of life on the margins of the city. Through two timelines—Giselle’s investigation and Soledad’s life before her disappearance—the novel introduces a cast of characters carrying their own wounds, all caught in a network of poverty, abuse, and silence. Soledad’s case exposes the failures of a society that too often chooses to look away.

The novel offers strong audiovisual potential thanks to its dual narrative structure, which allows suspense to unfold gradually through revelations, clues, and contradictions. The contrast between Detective Giselle Horn’s weary yet perceptive perspective and Soledad’s emotional downward spiral creates a layered dramatic experience, culminating in an ending that remains open to interpretation.

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

AVAILABLE LANGUAGES: Spanish.