THE QUEEN OF THE SOUTH
By Arturo Pérez-Reverte,
Picador, £ 6.25

Teresa Mendoza began life as a drug smuggler?s moll in Mexico. She had to flee Mexico after the death of her boyfriend, G?ero D?vila, who flew drugs for the local cartels. She ended up as a key figure in the world of drug trafficking in southern Spain ? the queen of the south she came to be called.

It is this amazing life story that the narrator of this novel pieces together. The novel is peppered with details of the drug trade and its modalities that recall John le Carr??s The Night Manager and Single and Single. But there is nothing of the moral condemnation that le Carr? brought to these two novels. On the contrary, the narrator conveys a more than sneaking admiration and sympathy for the central character of his story.

In the Spanish city of Melilla, Teresa?s refuge after her flight from Mexico, she falls in love with Santiago Fisterra, a Galician who transports hashish across the Strait of Gibraltar. She looks after his accounts because she has a head for figures. Santiago dies when his boat crashes into a rock while he was being chased by a helicopter and a boat, in a joint operation launched by customs. Teresa was on board and had a narrow escape. The subsequent imprisonment proves to be the turning point of her life.

In prison, she is befriended by Patricia O?Farrell, who belongs to the upper class but courts danger like an addiction. Patricia?s boyfriend had hidden away half a ton of cocaine before he was killed. Patricia knows the hiding place. Out of prison, Teresa and Patricia begin their business partnership with the half a ton of cocaine. Teresa provides the brains for the business, and Patricia some of the contacts, or at least a critical one, Teo Aljarafe, who provided the legal cover and became Teresa?s lover.

Once the operation started, Teresa was on her way to becoming the queen of the south with Patricia fitting her out with designer clothes and jewellery. As the business prospered, Teresa bought friends in high places. Success also produced problems. The first was Patricia with her addiction to drinks and drugs and her propensity to shoot her mouth off. When Teresa confronts her with this, she commits suicide.

Success also brings pressure. Pressure from the authorities; the pressure of betrayal. Teresa deals with betrayal in the same manner as the mafia, with the elimination of the betrayer. But Teresa?s transformation comes from an offer to settle old scores with men who were responsible for the death of her first boyfriend, G?ero D??vila. It is here that P?rez-Reverte introduces an unexpected twist to the tale. The story ends tantalizingly as the narrator, piecing together her life, confesses that he doesn?t know what happens to Teresa at the end. If Teresa Mendoza?s fate remains unknown, so does the name of her biographer.

P?rez-Reverte?s writing is taut and only occasionally, when describing the sea, evocative. His depiction of intense emotions like love and hatred is understated and the more moving for that. This is a remarkable accomplishment from a very sophisticated craftsman and master storyteller.