Vidas perfectas

«The novel starts with a bunch of masterfully addictive pages and ends with a gratifying and completely unsuspected outcome ... Perfect lives stands out by the deep journey into the dark side of the mind and the depth of the presented conflicts. A.J. Rodríguez, like only the best writers do, takes the risk of tackling an intense story of thought and ideas. It is a valuable credential to take into account for the future.»
Santos Sanz Villanueva, El Cultural

«We are clearly dealing with a writer with serious literary chops, who has come to shake things up.»
El Cultural

«An author who seems to have been around for a lifetime, writing with great flair.» 
Eloy Fernández Porta

(Perfect Lives) Set against a noir plot straddling Japan and Spain, the author reflects on the fears of a middle class torn asunder by perpetual discontent. The doubts and disillusions caused by family, motherhood and work have left their mark on characters who, having entered the adult world, now stand poised on the brink.

The lifeless bodies of a couple of young Spanish tourists are found in the sauna of a Kyoto hotel. Both display signs of violence and brutality; she, meanwhile, was expecting their second child.  

Xavier, friend of the couple, is taken aback by the news: Vera and Gael were the ideal married couple. Together with Mika, their adolescent daughter, they made for the perfect family. At least if social media is anything to go by… Leaving no stone unturned, Xavier and Mika will discover that Vera and Gael’s lives were a far cry from their public personas. With nothing to fall back on other than a desire to start afresh, the two must set social niceties to one side in order to seek solace in the most unlikely of places.

A novel about the lies we tell ourselves to survive and the need to find a way out when the envy of others is all we have left to cling to.