This is a dense but interesting insight into Columbian history and the violence which has gripped many of its towns and villages. The ghost of Salomon tells the story of his death and its repercussions, poetically highlighting the victimisation of innocent citizens. My only problem with this novel is its writing style, which could be down to its translation, which at times lacked flow and was hard to get into. However, a good read for people looking for a short, poetic work of translated fiction from Latin America.

This was a complex story of a family in rural Colombia, who had pushed against the status quo. In so few pages, this weaves an in depth tale of corruption of an entire community and also the faults of every day people. Segundo, the second born son, is the only light, trying as he might to be different and save his family.

This story was gut wrenching. We are watching this story unfold from the perspective of Salomon's ghost, our MC. Things transpire that cause him to be in this state and those things cause his widow, Hipolita, to completely lose all sanity. The whole thing was a bleak and haunting look at death, violence, facing our fears and losing all hope. Set in Colombia during a very violent and scary time, when innocent people were governed and sometimes slaughtered by paramilitaries and the local authorities who either collaborated with them or simply stood by and did nothing. This book was previously published in Spanish. This translated version releases in paperback February 18, 2025. Thank you so much to NetGalley & World Editions for the ARC.

Thank you NetGalley and World Editions for providing me this book in exchange for an honest review

This book tells you from a POV about a family who lives in an area with corrupted government and church, and perfidious neighborhood. The father was killed by a powerful and influential figure who's in drug cartel and a pornographer. Left behind are the wife and 2 sons. Full of grief and enraged, the wife tried to faced off the corrupted people while the spirit of the husband was trying to speak to his wife to stop her action and just flew from that place.

This book was like a reminder of mine, for how much I love literary fiction with historical aspects and relevant.
It is like opens a window to my mind and see the real horror the Columbians facing for years and years even now.
I'm so glad that I'm allowed to read this book as it is such a thought-provoking book. I really recommend this book!

February 1992, and the rural village of Bélen de Chami is caught in the midst of Colombia's seemingly never-ending civil war.
When the mute Salomón Palacios is senselessly murdered by local guerillas, leaving a widow and two orphan boys, it sets in motion the chain of events that draw the reader inexorably onward.
His widow, Hipólita, is so enraged that she confronts his killers and everyone else in the village complicit in his murder, in vivid fashion like a thriller. Meanwhile, Salomón's ghosts watches over proceedings, in magic realism style.
This is a short but gripping and memorable book.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for this honest review.

This is an excellent, short book but full of tragedy, I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is a fan of translated works, especially from Spanish. The character development is fantastic.

This translated novel takes place in Colombia in the year 1992. We follow a mother and her two sons as they navigate grief and loss after their husband/father is gunned down in front of their home.

At times the book can be difficult to follow but it doesn't take away from the strong message it leaves after you finish reading. It's a novel meant to provoke the reader... what would you do if the government controlled you in this way, if they were the ones committing the atrocities? How would you react to losing someone you love because they did the right thing, that was wrong to the people of power? How do you grieve when the murder is an injustice? The author lays these questions on the table and as you follow the family, the answers that they give might surprise you.

I rate this a solid 3.5 stars. As aforementioned it can be a little difficult to read but it is an important read because these atrocities are still committed.

Thank you to NetGalley and World Editions for allowing me to read the eARC ahead of its publication for my review.

A testament to the power of the novel to inform, engage and move people.

Río Muerto by Ricardo Silva Romero tells the story set on the outskirts of Belén del Chamí, a town that has yet to appear on any map of Colombia, where the mute Salomón Palacios is murdered a few steps away from his home.

Told from the perspective of Salomón’s ghost, we follow his widow, Hipólita, as she is taken over by grief. She confronts the paramilitaries and local politicians, She faces her husband’s murderers. A brutal story about violence, community and life.

Precise, disturbing, visceral.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC.

3⭐️ After the murder of her husband right in front of his house, Hipolita sets out with her two sons to confront the killers. Her plan was to have them all get murdered to join her husband in the afterlife. Solomon the husband appears as a ghost throughout.

I found the story a little hard to follow and get invested in. It takes place in Colombia in the 1992 and highlights the danger and corruption in daily life for average Columbian people.

Thank you NetGalley and World Editions Publishing for the eARC in exchange for my honest review

Many thanks to World Editions, @netgalley, and the author, Ricardo Silva Romero, for an ARC of Rio Muerto, which comes out on 4 February 2025.

The author's note at the beginning had me gripped from the start. It claims to be an accurate account of events as told to the author by a taxi driver. The unnamed driver and the author have voted the opposite way in a referendum on peace with the paramilitary groups in Columbia. The taxi driver explains his reasons for voting against the bill, telling the author the tale of a man, Salomon Palacios, who is gunned down outside his home by paramilitaries for being "a rat" (his only crime is that he was a removals man who helped anyone who wanted help to move, regardless of whether they were aligned with the paramilitaries or not). The novel follows the aftermath of his death, particularly his wife Hipolita's descent into a temporary madness.

When his wife recovers from her catatonic state, she tells her two sons, Maximiliano and Segundo, that they are going to get themselves murdered so that they can return to be with their father. To do this, Hipolita confronts the people involved in the murders from their neighbours, to a corrupt police officer, to the head of the paramilitaries. However, getting someone to kill them is more difficult than Hipolita initially imagines.

Rio Muerto is an intense, compelling read that shines a light on a society where extra-judicial forces hold sway and almost everyone is complicit with them. (The title is the nickname given to the town's river because so many bodies are thrown into it.) The way in which the society depicted in the novel works reminded me a little of what I've read of the paramilitaries controlling various parts of Northern Ireland - although the death count was much more extreme in Colombia.

This book was published in Spanish in 2020 and this review is of the English translation with an expected publication date of February 2025.

Río Muerto is an absolutely beautiful and tragic story about political violence in Colombia told from the perspective of the ghost of a man, Salomón Palacios, who is murdered for helping the wrong people. He observes his wife Hipólita and their sons as she decides that she will die speaking the truth about his brutal murder and holding those accountable, however she decides to live after confronting those responsible. In life Salomón was mute, however his ghost finds ways to subtly communicate with his family and one member of his community who is able to speak with him directly.

The framing of this novel is interesting as while it's told from the perspective of Salomón's ghost, it's that perspective being re-told from a passenger in one of Salomón's son's taxicab about 15 years after the events of the novel and it states that this story was told to him while stuck in one of the worst traffic jams he'd encountered.

The English translation of the novel includes historical context explaining the brutal killings and warfare in Colombia throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. While this story is fiction, it is real in the sense that this was the lived experience of many people in Colombia during this time.

Many thanks to World Editions and to NetGalley for this ARC to review. This review is my honest opinion

This is a harrowing novel about the brutal history of Colombia, and in the Afterword, the author wrote a heartfelt and much-needed context for the story. I enjoyed that very much. The main story, though, not so much.

The problem isn't with the premise (which is heartbreaking), or the writing (which is beautiful). I just find the story structure to be very repetitive: Hipólita, mad with grief and anger, went around town trying to get herself killed. Yeahhhh, her idea of justice or whatever it was she was trying to do, was to turn herself and her children into martyrs. I can see how she got to that point, but the rinse and repeat format wasn't working for me: she picked a fight with someone, hoping they will kill her and her children, they somehow don't, and so she moved on to the next one, and this next person also for one reason or another ended up not shooting her...

It got tiring. I'm sorry; for all the emotions packed into the prose, at one point I just thought, "Can someone just fulfill her wishes, but spare the kids?" because the horrible thing was, Max and Segundo didn't want to die. The boys were scared out of their minds, especially poor Segundo (he'd have a lifetime of therapy ahead of him). Not that Hipólita cared; she was deaf to reason, ignoring her children's protests and pleas. There was even a part where she actually got mad at the boys for not wanting to die, and in a segment where she had to confront this merciless commander, she suddenly realized that these evil men can do worse things to you than simply shooting you. Hmm... if only she'd listen or think for a moment. Now I don't want to be too judgemental, but I also find her actions to be entirely pointless in the context of the novel. We were told that killings and torture happen very often in this town, so what's another death or three? Can martyrdom be achieved if your deaths don't even register?

But that's kind of the point: insanity is immune to logic. As far as an exploration of how a woman can be driven to illogical ends by grief and oppression, this novel achieved that perfectly with Hipólita. I just wished it didn't take that many cycles to get the point across.

By any means, I really like the writing. There were parts where I felt emotional about Salomón's death, particularly with regards to how his children remember him and how his absence was felt. As he was mute, he communicated through writings on pieces of paper, and it was the way Segundo held on to one such piece that gave me all the feels. Incidentally, the way Max and Segundo begged their mother also made me want to slap the living hell out of Hipólita, especially when we've had cycles of her trying to get themselves killed and my patience was running thin. Really, that was my issue with the book: it kept going in maddening circles.

Overall, while this book made me feel really tired and annoyed at parts, I'd still say it's a worthwhile read. It is an crucial examination of the lives of Colombians living in a state of perpetual violence and oppression. Just... store up on some patience while you're at it.

Rio muerto is a haunting and powerful novel that will resonate deeply with readers who appreciate literary fiction that explores the complexities of human resilience, the power of the human spirit, and the struggle for justice in the face of violence and oppression.

As I, who have been swept away by the emotional tides of Jardim de Inverno's family drama and the sweeping romance of O Bangalô, found myrself drawn to the haunting world of Rio muerto, I've discovered a novel that echoes the same themes of family, love, and the unbreakable human spirit that resonated with you in those beloved books. In this poetic and hypnotizing tale, Ricardo Silva Romero masterfully weaves a story of a mother's unyielding determination to protect her children, much like the fierce love of the mother in Jardim de Inverno, as she confronts the brutal forces of paramilitarism in a small Colombian town. As you immerse yourself in the world of Rio muerto, you'll be transported to a place where the boundaries between life and death blur, much like the dreamlike quality of O Bangalô's island paradise.

Thank you NetGalley, World Editions, and Ricardo Silva Romero for giving me access to this ebook!

This novel was an anecdotal and partially mythical take on the very real Colombian violence that still plagues the country to this day. Following the family of Salomon Palacios after he is killed by a corrupt paramilitary group in front of their house, Silva Romero takes you on a fascinating journey that truly only spans a short period of time but was extremely well rounded from beginning to end. The writing is full of evocative imagery and magical realism that made me feel so connected to each member of the Palacios family as they conquered their grief, anger, sadness, and disillusionment. Every character in this novel was fully realized and felt like they could have been standing right next to you for how well they were fleshed out.

The only reason this was not a perfect score for me was that I did at some points get lost in the storyline as the chapters would sometimes signify a time change of mere moments to, at times, a different person’s perspective entirely and I had to reorient myself to figure out where I was in the story.

Overall, I was fascinated by this novel and learning more about Colombia in general. A four star read for me!

Definitely a dive into a culture I’m sadly not overly familiar with - but even given that ignorance on my part the interconnectedness of the characters is very visceral. The human moments shine all the more amid the bleak circumstances and it definitely hits home. The element of reflection and perspective thats able to be told with the premise of the book is creative and you feel like you’re haunting and watching all of it yourself with each turn of the page.

Tragic, beautiful, just full of the most amazing and pretty writing. How he's able to write about the true horrors is beyond me, it's definitely a scary honest read.

I was drawn to this book because I've been learning Spanish and don't know a lot about Spanish speaking countries and the cover looked intriguing. Below are my thoughts.


Ooh I'm shaking at the authors note!!! And the first sentence??? LETS GOOOI

The translation was a little jilted and awkward
Beautiful metaphor

I was initially drawn to this book as a avid reader of mysteries and thrillers and because I know some Spanish I thought this could be a good way to get some practice or historical context

I think that not having much understanding of what the history of that region is was hard for me to empathize with the characters. And I didn't totally buy in to their motivations. It definitely could just be the translation but it did feel a little choppy conceptualist conceptually especially understanding metaphores versus what was actually happening in real time.

One thing I really liked was a demonstration of how it would feel to see what's happening after your own death and what you leave behind. Really cool concept.

Mild but strange

I appreciate the matter of fact tone of the narrator as a ghost but def couldn't relate to some of the emotions without proper context of what it must be like to live in a far out village, ie why they had to bury him in the dead of night. The author also manages for some humor while keeping an ominous and fantastical tone regarding the hold the devil has on this small town

Also were there no chapters?


Um yikes the bar is on the floor, the mute cheated on his wife and she's thanking him for not hitting her

Jeez this book got really dark out of nowhere. Too flippant about hipolitas delusion


5/5 for making me feel something. I think all my reactions were the author's intention

The thing that most struck me about about this is how hipolita handles grief. I found it overwhelming but interesting in her articulation and actions of how she felt. This is not a long novel but packs a punch, throughly well developed.

4 stars for a book of literary/historical fiction about the tragic, ongoing civil war in Colombia. Although a peace agreement was signed in 2016, the war continues, thanks to the drug business.
The author explains that a conversation with a friend led to him writing this book. His friend's name was changed, but much of the book is based on his friend's experiences in 1992, when his father was murdered by right wing para military thugs, for helping someone leave town that they considered a traitor.
I have visited Colombia on a cruise stop. I found the people to be warm and friendly. I like to visit and read about other countries so I can learn about their culture and history.
One quote: "I am telling what I was told to me: that Salomon Palacios was gunned down only a few paces from his home and died and became a nameless thing in the gloom--the closing in--before returning from the dead. That he took an eternity in coming back, for the soul recovers memory in its own time, at its own rhythm, but that he must be out there now, and always will be, because death is the true present and because some murder victims do not depart."
The translation was excellent.
Thank You World Editions for sending me this eARC through NetGalley.
#RíoMuerto #NetGalley.

Pub Date Feb 04 2025

I sincerely hope this book receives widespread acclaim and recommendations. I’m not familiar with Romero’s work, but I feel this is a sensitive and sympathetic translation and his writing is poetic, haunting and evocative. I’ve visited Colombia and in all my travels, it’s the one place that haunts me. As a tourist, I didn’t experience the issues dealt with in this novel, but I sensed the threat and undercurrent. There were soldiers with sub machine guns escorting us everywhere, poverty beyond imagination alongside signs of extraordinary and obscene wealth. There was a sense of faded colonial elegance with magnificent European style buildings alongside shacks where communities were living in complete squalor. The country is rich in assets but greed, politics and gang sub cultures have corrupted.

Rio Muerto explores numerous issues in both an abstract and direct way. It’s difficult to explain because the narrative device of a ghost works really well. The ghost is ‘there’ and ‘not there’. Experiencing and observing. It’s often an uncomfortable read and so it should be because the violence and injustice is an every day fact of life. We have little idea what it feels like to live in such conditions and Rio Muerto is barely a taster, I found it incredibly moving, mostly because of resilience that shines through. This book is a journey and at some point, I’ll read it again. It’s an amazing story and so well told.