The Ghost of Gaudi

From the publisher:
Someone is committing barbarous murders throughout Barcelona, focusing on locations designed by renowned visionary architect Antoni Gaudi. The police have no clues, but a young woman is thrust into the investigation by a man resembling the late Gaudi himself, led to the scenes of the crimes before they even occur… could be a precognizant ghost?

My thoughts:
Yes, this is a  murder mystery and it is fascinating to use the graphic novel for this type of story. The art, by Jesus Alonso Iglesias is hauntingly beautiful. Yes, the murderer is positioning the dead bodies in different Gaudi buildings, but that is what is hauntingly beautiful. It does all the things that good graphic novel art does. It tells the story, it supports the story through tone and eye movement. It creates a complete package. 

In addition, this graphic novel is un American. I don't quite know what I mean by that, except that this book by El Torres, a Spanish comic, and another recent read by the Italian cartoonist Zerocalcare (Kobane Calling) are different in the way they approach story meshed with art. There seems to be a different lens to this storytelling that I can only describe as not typical of American works or even Japanese works. I like that about this book.

Finally, what this book did was introduce me to Antoni Gaudi, a Catalan architect, THE modernist Catalan architect whose building defy structure and embrace nature's organic flow. Barcelona is moving up to my number one must see place on my bucket list because even seeing his buildings on the internet make me ache as if I am missing out on something and I am at a loss because of my inability to truly SEE.