The Night Will Be Long by Santiago Gamboa (Night Prayers; Necropolis) is an engrossing thriller set in modern-day Colombia haunted by the legacy of decades of armed conflict. The novel begins with a harrowing description of an ambush in rural Colombia that recalls the violent conflagrations common before the 2016 peace accord with FARC. Prosecutor Edilson Javier Jutsiñamuy, veteran reporter Julieta Lezama and her assistant Johana Triviño--a former FARC rebel--are drawn to the case not only because of the scale of the violence, but the unsettling thoroughness with which it has been covered up. What follows is a satisfying procedural as the trio's investigations gradually uncover the surprising motivations behind the violence.
The case takes an odd turn as early leads point to the involvement of evangelical Christian churches. Gamboa brings readers inside the church of one of the main suspects, the services "a cross between a rock concert, a popular mass, and a TV show." The heavily fortified church is led by a charismatic pastor who forges an unexpected connection with Julieta after sharing his personal story. Gamboa casts an unflattering light on evangelical churches, which Julieta sees as holding its undereducated believers as hostages.
However, nothing is ever black and white in The Night Will Be Long. The pastor's personal story is presented to readers as a lengthy, sympathetic tale of childhood abandonment. Other similar tales are found throughout the novel, giving deep insight into characters who in a weaker novel would be bit players serving only to move the plot along. Gamboa has crafted an effective thriller that thrives on his empathetic imagination. --Hank Stephenson, the Sun magazine, manuscript reader