From amazon.com:
In this unforgettable final volume of Ruiz Zafón’s cycle of novels set in the universe of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, beautiful and enigmatic Alicia Gris uncovers one of the most shocking conspiracies in all of Spanish history.

Nine-year-old Alicia Gris lost her parents during the Spanish Civil War when the fascists savagely bombed Barcelona in 1938. Twenty years later, she still carries the emotional and physical scars of that violent and terrifying time. Weary of her work as an investigator for Spain’s secret police in Madrid, Alicia plans to move on. But at the insistence of her boss, she remains to solve one last case: the mysterious disappearance of Spain’s minister of culture, Mauricio Valls.

Alicia’s courageous and uncompromising search for the truth puts her life in peril. Only with the help of a circle of devoted friends will she emerge from the dark labyrinths of Barcelona and its history into the light of the future.

I almost gave up on this about half way through. It just felt overly long and dragged out and graphically violent.

I gave myself one more chapter and I am glad I did because it turned around and the pace picked up and the threads started to knit together into a wonderful story with the characters seeming to suddenly have meaning and depth.

This is the final novel in the 4 part series and I think I missed reading the third, but there's enough backstory that I don't feel that I missed out too much.

From page 760 of the trade paperback version:
"....Every book, every volume you see here, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it.Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes down its pages, its spirit grows and strengthens."

That could be the vision for bookcrossing, couldn't it?

Zafon writes like poetry and although he might sometimes use too many words - the images are well worth it.

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