The latest novel by Joan Mari Irigoien can be considered as a jewel: Gun, shot, bammm!

If we look at the title of this extensive book of just 600 pages, we can have a small suspicion on the theme line: weapons, therefore, war. That is, if P is then and Q. And similarly, although Q will not always exist P, so Q must be invented. When will we stop getting fat in the circle of this mathematical equation?

In this process of converting mathematics into language, this novel raises some interesting questions; why produce weapons if we don't want war? And so, is it right that this production should be used in the war on arms? Even though they remain hotter, the consequence is that man has to conceive war in one way or another, especially when the arms trade is a source of wealth for some.

To give way to this reflection, two narrative strands will be maintained which, starting from a needle from the Western world and from the Middle East, each from one end, driven by the motto Ojo per Eye, will become producers of the same network. What is the culprit and which victim is going to be the fundamental question that will emerge in some characters, the death of the innocent people we love when we want to avenge, something that has no easy answer.

In this war between large blocks, the nucleus of the novel is formed by the parallel stories developed from both families, one from a town called Bereibar and the other from Balad al Xams. The writer will start to report, in a little depth, the biography of each family to the third generation of the planet without respite. In this regard, it is worth noting the tremendous work that Irigoien has done in the fabulation of the Islamic world. Not only in terms of religious differences, customs or cultural environment, but also when constructing the inner world of each character.

What can push the Taliban to commit suicide with their backpack? It is not a matter of justification what the writer is looking for, but a tremor that makes us vibrate the whole body. In the same vein, although I believe there is a finger pointing to watch the culprit, betrayed by the writer’s unconscious, acting on his own. Despite this, the novel maintains its strength and quality, so I invite the reader to travel through these pages.

As the stories move forward, the reader is sufficiently certain that they will merge. Waiting for that moment to come, the tension of the narrative is in crescendo, bammm! until we hear it.