Samuel Hoyos’s son has been murdered. A former agent of Spain’s National Intelligence Center (CNI), he knows how to operate under pressure and has spent years preparing for extreme situations. None of that helps him confront what has happened. The investigation stalls and his life begins to unravel. Then he receives an offer: he can learn the identities of those responsible if he agrees to take part in an attack against the European Union’s top leaders. That is the premise of Antes de que todo cambie, Manel Loureiro’s new novel, published by Planeta.
The premise brings together two stories on very different scales. One unfolds within a family shattered by loss; the other in the world of espionage and international conspiracies. Between them stands Sam, a man offered what he wants most at the very moment he is least prepared to weigh the consequences of his actions.
That is one of the questions raised by the novel: understanding someone’s pain does not mean justifying what they are willing to do. Loureiro brings readers close to a vulnerable character, but leads him toward a decision that cannot be reduced to a personal settling of scores. His search for his son’s killers becomes tied to a crime with political implications.
From Galicia to an international threat
One of the story’s central settings is the island of A Toxa. Galicia is not merely where the action begins: its familiar places and everyday routines provide a contrast to a plot that gradually takes on international dimensions. Loureiro thus returns to a region close to his writing, but this time places it within an intrigue involving intelligence services and European security.
Alongside Sam, Julia Duarte offers another perspective on the events. She, too, belongs to the CNI and takes part in an investigation that allows the threat to be tracked from a vantage point different from that of the protagonist, increasingly driven by guilt and the desire for answers. The narrative also includes other security forces, including the Guardia Civil and the National Police.
Espionage, therefore, is not the story’s only driving force. The political operation matters, but the initial impulse is far more personal: what can someone do when they feel justice has not been served and are offered a way to learn the truth at an unacceptable price?
A new scale for Loureiro
Loureiro began by publishing Apocalipsis Z on a blog before turning that story into a novel that reached readers beyond Spain and was later adapted for the screen. In Antes de que todo cambie, he retains his interest in extreme situations, replacing the threat to collective survival with one born of an individual loss and then projected onto international politics.
Readers who pick up the book will find a thriller built around a moral choice: Sam wants to know who killed his son, but the answer requires him to decide what kind of man he is willing to become to obtain it. More than whether he will stop himself or carry out the mission, that is the question worth bringing into the novel.
