How far can a lie go when it wears the face of love?

Valencia, Spain. In the quiet neighborhood of Patraix, a man is found stabbed to death in the underground garage of his home. There are no witnesses. No signs of forced entry. Just a woman who weeps without tears—and a man who claims he killed out of love.

The Shadow of Maje: The Patraix Case is a literary true crime novel based on a real event that shook Spain. More than a chronicle of a murder, this is a psychological dissection of obsession, silence, and betrayal within a seemingly ordinary life.

With haunting prose and narrative precision, Javier Soto reconstructs the emotional and ethical anatomy of a crime that was both intimate and premeditated. Merging documentary rigor with literary depth, the novel draws from court records, real conversations, forensic evidence, and imagined monologues to show not only how the crime happened—but how it was allowed to happen.

This is not a story about monsters.
It’s a story about people.
About the things they choose not to say.
About what they do when no one is watching.

Inside this novel:
— Reconstructed transcripts, interrogations, and court statements
— Multiple perspectives: police, journalists, family, and the accused
— A tense narrative that blends fact and fiction without losing ethical clarity
— A chilling portrait of emotional manipulation, complicity, and silence

The Shadow of Maje is not just about death.
It’s about everything that came before it.
And everything that refuses to be forgotten.

Javier Soto

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