This week’s review is about a book I read after watching the Netflix show by the same name, produced in Brazil, which I completely loved and binge-watched.

“The routine of police secretary Verônica Torres was calm, bureaucratic, and full of dreams interrupted until that morning. An abyss opens before her feet all of a sudden when, in the same week, she witnesses an unexpected suicide and receives an anonymous call from a woman crying out for her life. Veronica feels a real chill, but embraces the opportunity to show her investigative skills and decides to dive alone in both cases. A whirlwind of unexpected events is unleashed and leads to an encounter with the darker side of the human heart.”

Good morning, Veronica is the suspense initially published by the codename Andrea Kilmore, a bet by Darkside Books in bringing together two famous authors, namely: Raphael Montes, author of fiction books, such as Secret Dinner; and Ilana Casoy, author of nonfiction books, such as Serial Killers Archives. A fusion of the best in the universe of national police suspense literature.

Verônica Torres is a police officer leaning on the profession of police secretary, a quiet profession that involves bureaucracy, spreadsheets, and coffee for her superior Carvana. Until, on a certain morning, an abyss opens at your feet when you witness an unexpected suicide. As if that were not enough, Veronica still receives an anonymous call in which a woman begs for her life. The truth is that, despite being frightened, the police see themselves with an opportunity to show their investigative skills. Diving alone in both cases, a whirlwind of events triggers the encounter with the darker side of the human being.

I was looking forward to this reading because Raphael Montes was a discovery for me this year and has been a master in the genre I like the most. After knowing that Good Morning, Veronica would come out in series format on Netflix, I was overcome by the urge to complete it before the adaptation was released. I passed in front of many books and, although I noticed many flaws that reconsidered my final grade, it was fun to spend time with an amoral character. Veronica is not what is expected of a police officer; the fight for justice, although resistant in its personality, ends up being hidden by the ambition of the woman who often only thinks about the positive result for her career in solving two cases, disregarding the dangerous path that this creates for the victims.

Considering the narrative construction of Bom dia, Verônica, I noticed many approaches and few conclusions. Raphael Montes and Ilana Casoy made a point of presenting facts and obsessions in an original way in books of the genre. What I saw as a problem is that at times I seemed to be reading a series of considerations about a crime rather than a fictional book. And my constant difficulty in immersing myself in the novel caused dispersion, distance, and, consequently, abandonment of the pages, something that did not happen, for example, with Raphael Montes’ O Vilarejo. I believe that, although it was a great idea to unite two minds focused on crime, nonfiction stood out in a way that the narrative became tiring or, in brutal moments of the work, something created to shock.

And I have to say: the premise is very good. The way the story unfolds, with the details being presented in a dosed and frequent way, makes the rhythm constant and fast – and you don’t want to drop the book, because you feel that things are in constant motion.

The clues that are being left behind fit well – especially with the construction of the characters and the mystery. We gradually unite them, so that we are part of Verônica’s investigation.

It wasn’t a bad read, in fact, it was interesting to be in a very different and objective style of the suspense narrative. I took ideas and knowledge to the end of the reading about things that we rarely get inside in the investigative environment. My final remarks make it clear that I have already read much better from Raphael Montes and that I really need Ilana Casoy’s books for further study in criminology. However, I don’t know if I would get another romance with both of them.

Sources: https://www.thunderwave.com.br/en/resenha-bom-dia-veronica/

Netflix Inc.