Yes and No. Much of this book is highly readable but some of it is awkward, some sensationalist, and some sentimental.
The readability is provided by a Murder Mystery investigated by two boys and a retired school cook. The plot is sometimes awkward - Silvestre makes his incest story line as complicated as you can make incest. Some of the sexual violence is effectively edgy but at other times seems sensationalist. The ending is weakly sentimental and disconnected from the very short time frame in which the main narrative is set. In between, there is an interesting social history of modern Brazil with harsh light cast on its darker side and, perhaps most effectively, there is a story of boyhood friendship.
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