(Reading Alberto Mussa) I feel a great intelligence, a deep confidence in literature and in their readers, a huge sense of literary amusement between him and them. –Mohamed Mbougar Sarr

[Alberto Mussa] draws on his experience to blend fictional and real elements, creating a narrative that investigates the historical impact of the military dictatorship on the shaping of organized crime in the city. –Revista OGrito!

Mixing superstition and religiosity, literature and samba, outlaws and police officers, the narrative begins with the disappearance of police officer Antenor Baeta, in Morro do Andaraí, after a massacre in a warehouse that brought together members of the local samba school. After eight years without answers, the case is reopened when a mysterious skeleton appears near the site of the shootout. –Jornal O Globo

Blending fiction and reality, religion, organized crime, repression, culture, and samba, [Alberto Mussa] portrays the disappearance of a police detective connected to the world of samba and the attempt to solve a crime eight years later. –Revista Quatro Cinco Um

In the rhythm of a detective novel, The Extraordinary North Zone unveils a masculine world revolving around the jogo do bicho, religious temples, and brothels. –Rascunho

Alberto Mussa—known in samba circles as Velho Baeta—keeps the voice of the Rio novel very much alive. –Folha de S. Paulo

A powerful portrayal of Rio de Janeiro’s cultural and criminal roots by one of the most canonic contemporary Brazilian authors.

In this remarkable novel, Alberto Mussa goes back to rebuilding historical Rio de Janeiro, a stamp on his fiction work. In February 1974, when a human carcass is found in Morro do Andaraí (Andarai Hill), private detective Domício Baeta gets involved in an investigation that embroils the Police, extermination squads and a mystery in the heart of Rio’s North Zone. Domício is the godson of Tobias Baeta, a legendary lawyer who became notorious for advocating on behalf of innocents.

Less remarkable than his godfather, but benefitting from lessons learned with him, Domício will enter a labyrinth of false clues and solutions that, from the hands of Alberto Mussa, will make a powerful portrayal of Brazilian recent past – in order that we get to understand the present.