<span><b>By one of Colombia's most renowned novelists and reminiscent of <i>Chronicle of a Death Foretold</i> by Gabriel Garcia Marquez,&#160;<i>R&#237;iacute;o Muerto</i>&#160;by Ricardo Silva Romero tackles the topic of paramilitarism and violence in Colombia when a father of two sons is killed a few steps from his home.</b></span><p>On the outskirts of Bel&#233;eacute;n del Cham&#237;, a town that has yet to appear on any map of Colombia, the mute Salom&#243;oacute;n Palacios is murdered a few steps away from his home. His widow, the courageous and foul-mouthed Hip&#243;lita Arenas, completely loses her sanity and confronts the paramilitaries and local politicians, challenging them to also kill her and her two fatherless sons. Yet as Hip&#243;lita faces her husband's murderers on her desperate journey, she finds an unexpected calling to stay alive. This poetic and hypnotizing novel, told from the perspective of Salom&#243;n&#8217;s ghost, denounces the brutal killings of innocent citizens and at the same time celebrates the invisible: imagination, memories, hope, and the connection to afterlife.</p><p></p>