Blog tour: The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Publisher: Harpercollins
Date of publication: July 2012

Barcelona,1957. It is Christmas, and Daniel Sempere and his wife Bea have much to celebrate. They have a beautiful new baby son named Julian, and their close friend Fermín Romero de Torres is about to be wed. But their joy is eclipsed when a mysterious stranger visits the Sempere bookshop and threatens to divulge a terrible secret that has been buried for two decades in the city's dark past. His appearance plunges Fermín and Daniel into a dangerous adventure that will take them back to the 1940's and the dark early days of Franco's dictatorship. The terrifying events of that time launch them on a journey fraught with jealousy, suspicion, vengeance, and lies, a search for the truth that will put into peril everything they love and ultimately transform their lives.

The Prisoner of Heaven is the third book in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.  I really enjoyed Shadow of the Wind and The Angel's Game.  Honestly, I wouldn't recommend reading this book until you have read the first two books.  Prisoner of Heaven really ties the first two books together and helped to answer some, but not all of the questions I was left with from the first two books.

Daniel, from the first book, is now married and a new father.  He is helping his best friend Fermin get ready for his upcoming wedding.  When a stranger comes looking for Fermin, Daniel gets sucked into another mystery that he can't pass up.  We learn a lot more about Fermin's past in this book and how his past really ties in with Daniel's.

For the most part, I enjoyed The Prisoner of Heaven. It was a lot shorter than the other two. It also seemed a lot lighter to me.  I didn't feel any of the darkness that I found in the first two books, at least not until the end.  The end left things wide open for the story to continue.  I hope  there will be a fourth book soon!  This a wonderful series and I highly recommend reading all three books!

About the author:

Carlos Ruiz Zafón is a Spanish novelist. Born in Barcelona in 1964, he has lived in Los Angeles, United

States, since 1994, and works as a scriptwriter aside from writing novels.

His first novel, El príncipe de la niebla (The Prince of Mist, 1993), earned the Edebé literary prize for young adult fiction. He is also the author of three more young-adult novels, El palacio de la medianoche(1994), Las luces de septiembre (1995) and Marina (1999).

In 2001 he published the novel La sombra del viento ("The Shadow of the Wind"), his first "adult" novel, which has sold millions of copies worldwide. Since its publication, La sombra del viento has garnered critical acclaim around the world and has won numerous international awards. Ruiz Zafón's works have been published in more than 40 countries and have been translated into more than 30 languages.

Contact info: website, Facebook page, and Twitter account.