When novelist Manuel Ortigosa learns that his husband, Álvaro, has been killed in a car crash, it comes as the first in a series of shocks that reveal Álvaro's privileged family secrets and a web of corruption and deception that could be as fatal a trap for him as it was for the man he loved.
There are some nasty surprises and red herrings along the way, for we all know that Dolores Redondo can spin a good yarn. She’s been one of Spain’s brightest crime fiction exports in recent years, and in this book she continues her exploration of chafing family ties and tainted blood which made her Baztán trilogy quite unique ... It may start out as small domestic betrayals, but it ends up being a long, hard, critical look at certain sections of Spanish society, including the Catholic church ... If you prefer lots of action, the book will seem unnecessarily long-winded. There are certainly a few passages that could have done with some tightening, especially when the story seems obvious but the protagonists are incapable of seeing the truth. If you want to become completely immersed in another culture, however, or if you can’t get enough of complicated family relationships, this is a good foray into Spanish crime fiction.
...emotionally vivid ... All This I Will Give to You has much to reveal ... Ms. Redondo unfolds her lengthy saga at a steady pace, with an abundance of detail. The patient reader will be rewarded with revelations both dramatic and poignant.
Even with the contemporary references to gay marriage and a few pages devoted to a long-ago sexual assault in a seminary, it’s all a bit familiar, as you may surmise. The question is whether such a light story justifies the thickness of the book it fills. Reading it is, in general, pleasant, and the novel is entertaining. The prose is not overtly verbose or pretentious. Yet you have the suspicion that Agatha Christie would have cooked the same stew in a pot half the size.
