Revenge

A violent, dizzying, and addictive novel about revenge, love, and the underworld of hooligans.

Amador is the number two of the Lokos, the FC Barcelona hooligans’ criminal faction, running extortion, drug trafficking, and gang violence under the ruthless psychopath El Cid. Once inseparable neo-nazi skinheads, Amador now hides a secret, his homosexuality, which could cost him his life. Meanwhile, César “Jabalí” Beltrán, a former rugby player turned hired avenger, lives in hiding with his sister and niece. A kidnapping, a raid, and some missing loot make their worlds collide, unravelling the savage revenge that has defined their lives. Brutal, raw, tender, and full of adrenaline, Revenge is a relentlessly paced novel about crime, rage, love, and redemption. Already a bestseller in Spain, it has sold over 11,000 copies.

“Revancha is the best thing I’ve read in a long time, with Richard Price’s precise attention to detail and a very sad violence—images that make your blook run cold, a brutal solitude, the unsettling intersection of fear and sorrow, euphoria in death. And love in the middle of it all. It’s a fucking 10.” —Esther García Llovet, author 

“I read Revancha with a feeling of both wonder and tension: it’s a difficult, terse novel, unadorned, with images that seek precision in a very free way, that revel in a way of looking at things that turns them into something new.
The characters in Revancha are made of fear and audacity, of obedience and rebellion, as if they too are aware that the real risks—beyond the law of the streets—are those of the brutal violence that comes with uprooting, poverty, and hidden desires.
In this world, Amat tells us, complacent and deceitful tales of self-improvement serve no purpose, but rather perhaps only the irrational strength of tenderness, loyalty, and love. A spectacular and courageous novel that I recommend with the enthusiasm of a completely captivated reader.” —Silvia Sesé, Editorial Director, Anagrama

“Revancha meets the three requirements of every essential books: it has no genealogy to hide behind, it is a breakthrough that sends shockwaves through the literary scene, and, by the time you read the last page, you know that it already is one of those books that define you and from which you will never be able to distance yourself.” —Valentín Roma, author 

"Powerful language. A solid narrative. Great characters. It leaves us with a heartbreaking and admirable impression of truth, filled as much with life as it is with literature. It is, by far, the best Spanish novel I've read in recent months." —Ana Rodríguez Fischer, El País

“Difficult, quick, violent: Revancha is a perfect bullet, the literary inverse to hypocrisy.” —Lucía Lijtmaer, author

"You can laugh at Anthony Burgess, Irvine Welsh, or Bret Easton Ellis; Amat has a strength that knocks you out from the first page." —Rosa Martí, Esquire

“Seemingly entertaining, profoundly savage. Kiko Amat puts us in our place and, for the same price, gives himself a good beating. The final chapter, sad and sincere, is a beauty. We love Amat, even if only as an enemy." — Marc Giró

“There are two things that push you to be better. One is an opponent, the rival, the traitor—in other words, the desire for revenge. The other is admiration.
I’m lucky Kiko Amat exists so that I don't die by drowning in the petty things. Now that I've also seen him bare, I want to be like him, knowing how to stand naked and burst out laughing and, at the exact same time, deliver a punch of tenderness that permanently breaks the face of the person in front of me—in other words, my enemy. I could hate Amat for having written this book, for having told it in this brilliant, one-of-a-kind way, but I would rather declare my unconditional love for him.” —Cristina Fallarás, author and journalist

“They recommended a Kiko Amat novel to me at my favorite comic book store. They told me, You’ll like this author, because he belongs to our same social class. After reading it, I fell in love. In this essay, the writer talks to us about our enemies, categorizes them, points his finger at them and at himself, laying bare their likes, their phobias, their guilt, and their own stupidity, which is also ours. He bares his chest and throws himself into the mud without any shame, inviting you to jump in with him and butt heads against all odds.” — Juarma

“Intelligent, emotional, fun, and at the same time melancholic. A Trainspotting with (almost) no drugs. (…) An excellent novel.” —Carlos Zanón, author

“Extraordinary. This novel belongs on the altar of high literature.” —Jordi Gracia, El País

“Writing that is living flesh pulsing with life.” —Guillermo Ballbona, El Diario Montañés

“One of the best contemporary storytellers.” —Matías Néspolo, El Mundo

“Irreverent, addictive, and tremendously entertaining—Kiko Amat’s voice is a unique one that preaches in a pop desert and avoids any possible generational and literary links.” —David Morán, ABC

“An intense, airy, and stylish story, like a Small Faces single.” —Ramón Vendrell, El Periódico

“With invigorating humor, Kiko Amat evokes the desperate attempts of an anti-hero trying to be accepted by a clan. A generational self-portrait full of comedy and nostalgia.” —Ariane Singer, Le Monde

“Kiko Amat has written a violent and dizzying novel that is absolutely addictive, one that talks about coming from the wrong place, about delinquency, about rage and reparation, about love and revenge. An unruly book filled with vulgarity and beauty, pain and humor, while also written with maximum adrenaline.” —Zenda