F. H. Batacan

I don't think I've ever read a book set in the Philippines despite the fact that there are many residents of Winnipeg who have immigrated from the Philippines. Given the conditions detailed in this book it is understandable why so many leave the islands but I know that they still love their homeland.

It's 1997 and the body of a young man is found buried in a dump heap in Payatas. He was not just killed but also eviscerated and had his facial skin removed. Another body in similar condition was found in February. The Director of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) appeals to Father Gus Saenz, a forensic anthropologist, for assistance in tracking down the person doing thi.. In turn, he appeals to his former student, Father Jerome Lucero, a psychologist. However, the Director's decision to bring in outside help does not sit well with some other members of the NBI and Saenz and Lucero don't get all the assistance they could use. Two months later they are no closer to solving this series of crimes and another body appears every month. They finally determine that the killings take place on the first Saturday of every month so they go looking for clues in the Payatas region. Payatas is extremely poor and many young boys make money by picking through the rubbish for items to sell or even food that is not too badly decomposed. Saenz and Lucero learn that the parish church hands out free food on the first Saturday of every month so they wonder if that is how the killer is meeting his victims. Another possibility is the mobile health and dental clinic that is present every Saturday. At the very least the dental records could help identify the bodies since most of the boys had some kind of dental work done. Painstaking review of the clinic's dental records don't provide any matches but then a clerk realizes that some of the records may still be in the hands of the dentist who volunteers with the mobile clinic. And that allows the team to identify most of the victims which brings some relief to families who have been wondering what happened to their young boys. Just when it looks like the team might be getting close politics in the NBI almost derails the case. The Director has had a serious heart attack and his temporary replacement wants to get credit for solving the case so when a suspect is detained and confesses to the killings he goes public. Unfortunately for him, another killing takes place while his suspect is incarcerated and he ends up with egg on his face. So, it's back to Saenz and Lucero to solve the case as quickly as they can.

Batacan doesn't hesitate to condemn the Catholic church for covering up for abusive priests but, at the same time, she shows how hard other Catholic clergy work to make life better for the people in their care. I found that heartening.… (mere)

I chose Smaller and Smaller Circles as my 21st challenge from the 2018 ReadHarderChallenge: a mystery by a LGBTQ or POC author. This book is written by F.H. Batacan from the Philippines, which is also where this story is set. It’s known as the first Filipino crime novel and has won the 1999 Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for best English-language novel (popularly known as the Philippine Pulitzer). Batacan holds an interesting perspective due to her career history in a government intelligence agency. While working in this position she became increasingly frustrated with how little her government did about the biggest issues facing their people; About how much corruption there was. And this was the driving factor that led her to write this murder mystery.

The story opens on what seems to be serial killings occurring in the Payatas, a 50 acre dump north of Manila. It’s one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city and families often send kids to scavenge for food and salable items in the dump just to get by. While the NBI is called in to investigate, the politics and corruption within the ranks as well as the difficulty of the case causes their new director to reach out to Father Gus Saenz for help. Saenz is a Jesuit Preist, Forensic Anthropologist, and Professor. Saenz works alongside Father Jerome Lucero who was once his student, but now often works as an assistant in such cases. Together they must use their knowledge of the area along with their forensic and psychiatric knowledge to track down a killer that keeps eluding them and leaving more bodies in his wake.

There is a strong message here that because the young boys being killed are undernourished, scavenging kids from the Payatas, that there isn’t really anyone there to tell their story and help them. It isn’t until the priests are asked to help on the case that real progress seems to be made. Saving these kids may not earn the same headline news as cases attached to the rich and famous would and that sadly seems to have a lot of consequence in who will be willing to take this one on.

This wasn’t a mystery where enough information is given along the way to really be able to try and guess who the suspects and killer may turn out to be. It was more of watching it unfold and guessing at some of the motives. And it was definitely a lot about the internal battles that have to be fought just for some people to be able to actually perform their jobs like they are supposed to.

This is one of the very very few murder mysteries I have read. I don’t read much that focuses on either murder or mystery. My usual go-to is Science Fiction and Fantasy, so this was certainly another task that had me expanding my normal reading zone like I did with the western recently. I really enjoyed reading this though! I’m still not big on the murder mystery subjects and the parts that detailed the crime scenes (though they weren’t really over-graphic) were a bit much for me. And while I love suspense and plot twists, I am not big on trying to guess who-dun-it, as it were.

But, I liked the writing style and attention to details. I liked Fathers Saenz and Lucero and enjoyed seeing them battle both against the clock and against the system to find this killer and give a voice to those young lives that were thrown away in the dumps like they were just more trash and wouldn’t matter to anyone— wouldn’t be missed. All together I would give Smaller and Smaller Circles a 4/5 stars.
★★★★☆… (mere)

There were several aspects of Smaller and Smaller Circles that I enjoyed, but more that I didn’t. The setting is excellent for a mystery-crime novel, but I never felt immersed enough in the story to feel as though I was there. The characters are well-drawn and Batacan did an excellent job of leading the reader in the wrong direction, but the motivations of the criminal were not consistent. I was surprised and disappointed to discover that the ending of the novel showed such weak writing compared to the beginning. Overall, I’m not upset that I read Smaller and Smaller Circles, but I can’t see myself ever returning to this novel.… (mere)