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Father Gus Saenz, a Jesuit priest and a forensic anthropologist, believes that serial killers exist in the Philippines as they do in almost every society; he holds this belief in spite of concerted public opinion that he is ever so wrong on this matter. He is asked by the director of the National Bureau of Investigation to provide forensic back-up for a police department with minimal financial support and more than enough corruption to go around. The director is sincere; he wants and needs the help. When the bodies of young boys start to turn up in various areas of the Payatas, Father Gus begins to suspect that the cases are connected, thus proving his theory.
As a Jesuit, Father Gus has avenues of investigation open to him that the police, if they were interested, would not be able to use. On the other hand, the police investigational tools at his disposal are limited by several facts. Lack of interest is a big problem, as is lack of funding, lack of equipment, lack of cooperation - the list goes on. Father Gus does his best, along with Father Jerome, to work around these problems. They do have allies as well as enemies.
SMALLER is being marketed as the first Filipino crime novel and the winner of several prestigious awards. It is Batacan's first novel and a fine first novel it is. The characters are believable. The setting is essential to the plot, and serves the purpose very nicely. Once the first real clue is uncovered, true fans of the genre will probably have no trouble figuring out some of the broader details of the solution. Batacan has a few twists and turns up her sleeve, and the ending is as satisfactory as possible, given the circumstances and the political nature of the society.
§ P.J. Coldren lives in northern lower Michigan where she reads and reviews widely across the mystery genre when she isn't working in her local hospital pharmacy.
Reviewed by P.J. Coldren, June 2015
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