The Sentinel (Vengeance of Memory 1)

About the book

You can't escape the past.

He was the cold steel behind Franco's regime. The fear behind Franco's power.

57 years ago, Comandante Leopoldo Guzmn disappeared without a trace. They know what he did, but they don't know where he's gone.

Madrid, winter 1953: the snow lies thick on the ground and Comandante Guzmn of the Brigada Especial is preparing a dawn raid. His job is to hunt down opponents of Franco's regime and destroy them. Feared by all in Franco's Spain, Guzmn takes what he wants: food, drink, women.

That is about to change. Guzmn is going to find himself on the wrong side of Franco, and on the wrong side of history. It's not the first time Guzmn has been on the wrong side. But there's no one left alive who knows about that... until he gets a message from a dead man...

Madrid, 2009: Ana Mara Galindez is a forensic scientist investigating a mass grave from the Franco era. Now she is hunting for the hidden ledger of secret policeman Leopoldo Guzmn - a man who disappeared without trace in 1953. But there are those who would rather the secrets of Guzmn's ledger stay buried. Galindez' pursuit of the past has revealed a battle for the present...You can't escape the past.

He was the cold steel behind Franco's regime. The fear behind Franco's power.

57 years ago, Comandante Leopoldo Guzmn disappeared without a trace. They know what he did, but they don't know where he's gone.

Madrid, winter 1953: the snow lies thick on the ground and Comandante Guzmn of the Brigada Especial is preparing a dawn raid. His job is to hunt down opponents of Franco's regime and destroy them. Feared by all in Franco's Spain, Guzmn takes what he wants: food, drink, women.

That is about to change. Guzmn is going to find himself on the wrong side of Franco, and on the wrong side of history. It's not the first time Guzmn has been on the wrong side. But there's no one left alive who knows about that... until he gets a message from a dead man...

Madrid, 2009: Ana Mara Galindez is a forensic scientist investigating a mass grave from the Franco era. Now she is hunting for the hidden ledger of secret policeman Leopoldo Guzmn - a man who disappeared without trace in 1953. But there are those who would rather the secrets of Guzmn's ledger stay buried. Galindez' pursuit of the past has revealed a battle for the present...