REVANCHA

Revenge is an intense and gripping novel that intertwines football, violence, rage, and the desire for reparation in a plot that hooks the reader from the very first page. This work won the Panenka Book of the Year Award in 2021, a recognition highlighting its narrative quality and its original approach to telling stories connected to both sport and life around the game.

The story centers on characters from “the wrong side” who face extreme circumstances. Revenge explores how environment, resentment, and inequality shape lives and drive drastic decisions. It is not just a football novel—the sport serves as a backdrop reflecting social tensions, inner conflicts, and relationships forged between violence and affection.

The author’s prose—clear and fierce—guides the reader through scenes of fights, tense encounters, and moments in which the need for revenge drives the characters’ actions. The book also portrays the urgent desire for repair that its protagonists feel, trapped by their pasts and drawn toward unpredictable outcomes.

One of the novel’s strongest aspects is how it intertwines football with elements of crime and urban culture. The pitch and the game stop being safe spaces and instead become arenas where disputes, resentments, and even potential redemptions are incubated. Each page maintains a brisk pace, making it difficult to put the book down.

The characters in Revenge are complex, contradictory, and deeply human. There are no absolute heroes—only people striving to find meaning amid chaos and profound frustration. The novel confronts difficult questions directly, with honesty and without concessions.

Spanning 328 pages, Revenge offers an intense reading experience that transcends traditional genres. Football appears as metaphor, while life’s tensions are central to the story. This book is ideal for readers seeking powerful, direct, and unfiltered storytelling.

Revenge is especially recommended for those who enjoy narratives where sport engages with real life, with all its cracks, struggles, and raw passions.