''Smaller and Smaller Circles'' is a mystery novel by Filipino novelist F. H. Batacan. It won the Carlos Palanca Grand Prize for the English Novel in 1999.Hidalgo (2006), p. 79. It also won the

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

in 2002 and the Madrigal-Gonzalez Award in 2003. The book was the first Filipino

crime novel Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

. This novel was published in 2002 by the University of the Philippines Press as one of the first new fiction works they had selected. Although most Filipino English-language fiction works garner a single print run of only 1,000 copies, ''Smaller and Smaller Circles'' was reprinted four times, with a total of 6,000 copies.Hidalgo (2006), p. 78. A film adaptation of the novel, '' Smaller and Smaller Circles'', directed by

Raya Martin Raya Martin (born 1984) is a Filipino filmmaker. His works include '' Independencia''Abrams, Simon"Independencia" ''Slant Magazine'', 4 October 2009. Retrieved on 8 January 2015. and ''Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the Ci ...

, was released on 6 December 2017.

Plot summary

Its main protagonists are Gus Saenz and Jerome Lucero, Jesuit priests who also perform forensic work. The mystery revolves around the murders of young boys in a poor region of Payatas,

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. While dealing with the systematic corruption of the government, church and the elite, the two priests delve into criminal profiling, crime scene investigation and forensic analysis to solve the killings, and eventually, find the murderer.

Themes

In an unusual twist on the crime fiction stereotype, readers know the identity of the criminal.Hidalgo (2006), p. 80. A recurring theme in the novel is the inefficiency of the National Bureau of Investigation. Gus and Jerome, together with their ally reporter Joanna Bonifacio, take matters into their own hands and solve the mystery of the serial killings in Payatas.

Sequel

A semi-sequel to the novel was released in 2013 as a short story in the Manila Noir anthology edited by Jessica Hagedorn. It was entitled ''Comforter of the Afflicted'' and focused on a case handled solely by Gus Saenz with almost none of the other original characters from the book making a return.

References

Sources

* Philippine novels 2002 novels Novels set in the Philippines University of the Philippines Press books {{2000s-mystery-novel-stub