When it comes to reading a book by Mario Mendoza, there are many ways that the book can play out. However, when I started to read Satanas, I had no idea how Mario Mendoza wrote his books, how everything played out and the details he constantly focuses on. In this case, the title of the book will give the reader an idea of what to expect and they should get an insight into how the author writes. Additionally, there are multiple factors that the reader might find disgusting and will not truly enjoy. Mario Mendoza is a Colombian writer, journalist, and professor; one of the few writers that have taken a step forward into a daring creation which is the illustration of Bogota in literature. With Satanas, he has done an amazing job, not just because he has written a very descriptive book, but has created connections with other books and movies in which the reader needs to have some background knowledge.

In this case, Mendoza bases the setting of the book in Bogota, Colombia, where the reader meets a character that resembles the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (a book that talks about a man that has two different personalities, one being a good personality and the other one evil). Mendoza Published the book in 2002, which is based on a true event – the Pozzetto shootout – from which he created three fictional stories. The Massacre in Bogota happened on the 4th of December 1986, changing Colombian history after 30 civilians died in the shootout.

Mendoza does an incredible build-up to the story regarding the last event, the reader will never guess or have any idea of what happens in the last scene. He builds three different life stories revolving around a true event, as he builds upon the lives of; Maria, a beautiful lady that used to drug people and steal their money, Andres, a well known respected artist that finds out he is possessed by dark forces, that ledes up to his uncle, Ernesto, a well-known priest that leaves his job to get married. He focuses on each and parallelly tells the stories of their lives. In Para Matar a Un Amigo, written by Juan José Gaviria and Simón Ospina, they use a pretty similar layout for the story. But instead of being divided by characters the book is based on two eras, divided between the present and the past. When the author is in the present he is always going around the detectives trying to solve the case and when he refers to the past he gives the readers an insight into what led to the murders. The layout of Satanas made the book more interesting to read given the fact that there were multiple stories of different people creating a more suspenseful environment.

In Satanas, Mendoza creates a grotesque environment after he has presented some scenes, and describes how a murderer is sitting down on what looks like a bloodbath, where he just let’s go and lets the reader know more details that needed. This author creates a very grotesque environment now that the way he describes things, he takes it to another level every scene becomes very graphic, the reader can literally feel the tension that builds upon the book. The trama of this story takes many drastic changes towards the middle and the end of the book, each character is going through something very intense and insanely impossible, and he manages to merge the character’s lives giving it a somewhat perfect ending to the story. While in Para Matar Un Amigo they just go with the build-up of the story even though the ending seems very obvious it takes the reader along, the authors don’t really go as far as Mario Mendoza when it comes to describing scenes, where Mario tends to push away the reader with his grotesque scenery. In Para Matar a un Amigo the authors should find a proper way to describe the setting characters and other, it’s an important factor that is missing through the novel, a perfect mix that could be beneficial is finding a middle ground between the two books and their descriptive styles.

Honestly, there is no book better than the other one, they both are based on similar subjects and the layouts of the book are also very similar. Reading this book gives the reader an insight into what happened in Bogota the night of the 4th of December. Adding some fiction around the tragic event, with specific details where the reader can imagine every scene and meets some peculiar characters that are suffering through plenty of problems. If the reader wants to learn how it feels like to be a case of Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, go for it and read Satanas, you will get to see what happens in the mind of a serial killer.