Andrés Faulques is a world-renown war photographer, retired to a tower atop Spain's Cala del Arráez, where he is painting a large mural on the inside walls and reminiscing on conversations with his missing colleague (and girlfriend), Olvido, about the changing art of chronicling war?from paintings to photographs.

As he reflects, Faulques is unpleasantly surprised by a visitor, the brooding and disconsolate Ivo Markovic. They first met in a war-torn town in the Balkans, when Faulques photographed Markovic, then a wounded and shell-shocked student recently mobilized for the Croatian Army. Markovic challenges Faulques to remember the intense photograph, a picture for which Faulques had won the prestigious Europa Focus award, and for which Markovic experienced some fame, and much peril. Markovic has come to kill him, but not before making sure Faulques understands his story?that he is more than just a snapshot for a magazine cover, that he is part of a tragedy-stricken, hope-deprived culture, and participant in many atrocious battles. He wants to kill Faulques for his "ingenuity in creating horror," for walking away from so much suffering to revel in his own success, but not before torturing him with painful memories and looming inquiries, including the mystery of Olvido's disappearance in the Balkans.

Their intense dialogue, the dark nature of their interactions, and the looming threat of death and revenge intertwine for a spine-tingling meditation on the meaning of life, war and art.

Praise for Arturo Pérez-Reverte's THE QUEEN OF THE SOUTH:"Pérez-Reverte's literary thriller explodes with history, heartbreak [and] determination...An epic suspense story of heart and grit...The prose is as rich and dense as a flourless chocolate cake." ?ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY