Introduction

A twisted young medical student kidnaps the girl of his dreams and embarks on a dark and delirious road trip across Brazil in the English-language debut of Brazil's most celebrated young crime writer.
 
Teo Avelar is a loner. He lives with his paraplegic mother and her dog in Rio de Janeiro, he doesn't have many friends, and the only time he feels honest human emotion is in the presence of his medical school cadaver—that is, until he meets Clarice. She's almost his exact opposite: exotic, spontaneous, unafraid to speak her mind. An aspiring screenwriter, she's working on a screenplay called Perfect Days about three friends who go on a road trip across Brazil in search of romance. Teo is obsessed. He begins to stalk her, first following her to her university, then to her home, and when she ultimately rejects him, he kidnaps her and they embark upon their very own twisted odyssey across Brazil, tracing the same route outlined in her screenplay. Through it all, Teo is certain that time is all he needs to prove to Clarice that they are made for each other, that time is all he needs to make her fall in love with him. But as the journey progresses, he digs himself deeper and deeper into a pit that he can't get out of, stopping at nothing to ensure that no one gets in the way of their life together. Both tense and lurid, and brimming with suspense from the very first page, Perfect Days is a psychological thriller in the vein of Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley—a chilling journey in the passenger seat with a psychopath, and the English language debut of one of Brazil's most deliciously dark young writers.

Editorial Review

An Amazon Best Book of February 2016: Brazilian medical student Teo Avelar is not your standard protagonist: for starters, he lives with his mother and his best friend is a cadaver. He is also a psychopath, with no (living) friends, who falls for an aspiring screenplay writer who is his polar opposite. Clarice is bombastic and passionate, while Teo comports himself with a quiet stoicism. After he falls for her, he quickly kidnaps Clarice—with the idea that she only needs time to fall for him—and the wheels are set in motion for Montes’ odd, macabre, fast-paced, twisted, and twisty novel. Is it for everyone? Not at all. But if you’ve ever wondered what Humbert Humbert would look like in modern times, you might want to pick up this short, dark, kind of sick, alternately propelling and repellant book. In its own creepy way, it’s kind of perfect. -- Chris Schluep

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