Release date: December 14, 2021
An International Thriller by Nick Padron
*ABN Award finalist
“A novel of euro-terrorists vs American Mafiosi and terrorists . . .”
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR WHERE LABYRINTHS END
“Where Labyrinths End by Nick Padron will keep you turning the pages
with the kind of breathless abandon you’d feel if you run with the
bulls in Pamplona. As if Charles Willeford and Elmore Leonard had
collaborated on a novel.”
Virgil Suarez, five times Pushcart Prize-nominated author of
Latin Jazz and Going Down
“When a novel opens with young love and the running of the bulls in
Pamplona, as does Where Labyrinths End, you know it will be a mad
race to the end. Nick Padron uses his deep knowledge of the power
and dark underbellies of both the Basque and Mafia worlds to paint a
picture of lawlessness, greed, courage, and undying love so shocking and
poignant the pages seem to turn themselves.”
Nancy Sartor, award-wining author of Bones Along the Hill
“Where Labyrinths End is an intriguing mix of literary and popular
fiction and an intriguing mix of political and human follies, which
are among the hallmarks of Nick Padron’s fiction. This story grants
the reader access to the back rooms of the big stages, and instead of
being left with the impression that the performances are the characters’
deceitfulness, one sees that they are the product of their individual,
basic human drives—and the deceptions themselves are probably in our
own minds.”
T. D. Badyna, author of Flick
“Nick Padron has taken his sharp literary skills and honed a razor’s-edge
thriller novel that will absolutely satisfy the appetite of readers from
Spain to New York, Miami to South of France.”
William Williamson, author of Some Came Naked
“Powerfully evocative of the Basque countryside, it also explores with
true insight the worlds of ETA terrorists, the wealthy who are their
kidnap victims, and the Mafia of the New York area. Suspenseful and
intelligent, the driving action never lets up, while we find ourselves
strangely sympathetic to both victims and their cruel captors.”
Laurence de B Anderson, author of The Redeemed
“Nick Padron’s unique style imbues this story with an emotional edge
not often found in crime novels. Padron brings the fast-paced prose of a
classic page-turner.”
Juris Jurjevics, author of The Trudeau Vector
Manuscript review by Publishers Weekly
“The title grabbed me and the story didn’t let go . . .“
A novel of terrorist-against-terrorist and gangsters . . . The result is a world-spanning race for information and revenge, populated by a witty, well-drawn collection of underworld characters, driven by politics but even more driven by their own human quirks. From the doting father who pulls in too many Family favors in his zeal to retrieve his daughter, to the hitman who directs the film of his life story in his mind while he records the deaths of his victims as a bonus service for his clients, to lawyers who play both sides of the game, and the ETA terrorists who bicker and may be devoted to their causes, but what happens has much more to do with their personal needs than those of their organizations.
“…A lot of spice and intrigue in this story …” Virgil Suarez, novelist, poet, editor.
“… Ambitious story, intriguing characters, terrific settings … reader can feel the heat and tension…” Ellen Kanner, author and columnist for the Miami Herald
“… The prose shows careful attention to detail … originality of language and imagery…” Rita Ciresi, award-winning author of Sometimes I Dream in Italian and other works
“ … I thought this was a really good story and a fun read …” Leila Dewji, book reviewer at Time Out LondonExcerpt
Quotes from VINE LEAVES PRESS READERS
Reading the notes about this novel being set partly around the Pamplona Bull Run I thought it might be Hemmingwayesque with perhaps a little bit of a thriller like Andy Rumbold’s “Last Fiesta”. It isn’t. The nearest thing I have read recently and to which I would compare it is “I Am Pilgrim” by Terry Hayes. . .
This book was so engaging and engrossing that I read it in essentially three sittings. . . .
This new thriller combines the Mafia. Basque terrorists (ETA), the FBI, and the CIA with freelance hitmen and operatives. It is a fast-paced action thriller, which has given me a taste for more episodes from the career of Zeus Aguirre the Cuban, Chopin playing, ex CIA operative. . . .
At the halfway point I was wondering what more was left in the tale of kidnapping, ETA, the Mafiosi, lawyers, ex CIA operatives, hitmen, and more. I need not have worried; you have managed to extend the plot with deft twists that keep us hanging on until the very end.
WHERE LABYRINTHS END an international thriller
Inspired by real events, Where Labyrinths End begins during the famed running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. When members of a paramilitary organization, ETA, kidnap the young heir to a Spanish-Basque fortune and his American fiancée – headstrong Symphony Messina, the daughter of a powerful New York Mafia captain. It triggers an unprecedented conflict between two underworld cultures where aggressors and victims become interchangeable and the Law is powerless to interfere.
More than a clash between Euro-terrorists and American gangsters, Where Labyrinths End explores the volatile mixture of emotions that pull average men and women to shocking choices in the name of pride and nationalism, the murderous follies of greedy hitmen, and the actions and inaction of the victims’ families and law enforcers alike. There is also the story of devotion that sustains the two young protagonists through their brutal 30-day abduction and, in the end, the courage and ingenuity of their unexpected saviors—the team of Tess Bernard and Zeus Aguirre, a pair of literary heroes worthy of serializing.
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