The Silent and the Damned (also known as The Vanished Hands) is the second novel in Robert Wilson's critically acclaimed Javier Falcón series, set in Seville.

Across the street in an exclusive suburb of Seville his father is splayed out dead on the kitchen floor, while his mother lies in bed upstairs, suffocated under her own pillow.

It appears to be a suicide pact, but Inspector Jefe Javier Falcón has his doubts when he finds an enigmatic note crushed into the dead man's hand.

In the brutal summer heat Falcón begins to dismantle the obscure life of Rafael Vega only to receive threats from the Russian mafia, who have begun operating in the city.

His investigation includes the neighbours: on one side a creative American couple with a destructive past and on the other a famous actor, whose only son is in prison for an appalling crime.