POLICE PROCEDURALS SUBGENRE OF

THE INVISIBLE GUARDIAN NOVEL BY DOLORES

REDONDO

A Thesis

Submitted to Faculty of Adab and Humanities

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Strata One

ATIKA AULIA PUTRI

1113026000029

ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF ADAB AND HUMANITIES

STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY OF SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH

JAKARTA

2017

i

ABSTRACT

Atika Aulia Putri, Police Procedurals Subgenre of “The Invisible Guardian”

Novel by Dolores Redondo. A Thesis: English Letters Department. Letters and

Humanities Faculty, State Islamic University of Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, 2017.

This research is aimed to find out and prove one of Crime Fiction subgenre, Police

Procedurals, by looking through the intrinsic elements of novel alongside the

characteristics of Police Procedurals subgenre. The object for this research is The

Invisible Guardian novel written by Dolores Redondo in 2015, using descriptive

analysis.

The result illustrates that The Invisible Guardian novel can be categorized as Police

Procedurals subgenre from four intrinsic elements of novel: character, plot, settings,

and point of view. The main character is a police officer named Inspector Amaia

Salazar who works as Inspector in Policía Foral. The plot is progressive, in which

the homicide team from Policía Foral works to solve the serial killer crime

happened in Elizondo by using police procedures. The serial killer case is solved at

the end of story, in which Amaia’s brother in-law, Víctor Oyarzábal, is a

perpetrator. The setting of place is situated in Elizondo, a small town located in the

northern part of Navarra province, Spain, and setting of time happens in February.

The setting also reveals the social issues that the locals of Elizondo named

Elizondarras who believe in superstition of Basque mythology, tarot, and ritual.

The narration in this novel uses third person point of view, in which the author puts

the pronoun ‘he, she, it’ and also uses omniscient. This narration functions to give

detailed description of police procedures alongside the thoughts of characters

related to the crime.

Keywords: The Invisible Guardian, Genre Studies, Crime Fiction, Police

Procedurals, Intrinsic Elements.

APPROVEMENT

POLICE PROCEDURALS SUBGENRE OFTHE INWSIBLE GUARDIANNOYEL BY DOLORES RE,DONDO

A Thesis

Submitted to Faculty of Letters and HumanitiesIn Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Shata One

ATIKA AULIA PUTRI1113026000029

Inavaful Chusna. M. Hum.NIP. 19780126 200312 2 002

(Day lD ate: Tuesday, October 24, 2017)

ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTMENTF'ACULTY OF ADAB Ai\D IIUMANITIES

STATE ISLAMIC I]NTVERSITY OF' SYARIF' IIIDAYATULLAIIJAKARTA

2017 : ':

11

Approved by:

/a\,\

L

LEGALIZATION

Name : Atika Aulia PutriN[\zI :11130260A0029Title : Police Procedurals Subgenre of The Invisible Guardianby Dolores

Redondo

The thesis entitled above has been defended before the Letters andHumanities Faculty's Examination committee on November 24, 2017. It hasalready been accepted as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree ofstrata one.

J akarta, November 24, 201 7

Examination Committee

Signdture

12 I 1or-)

/rz1. Drs. Saefudin. M. Pd.t9640710 199303 1 006

2. Elve Oktafiyani. M. flum.19781003 2001122002

3. Inayatul Chusna. M. Hum.19780126 200312 2 002

4. Elve Oktafiyani. M. Hum.19781003 200t122002

5. Pita Merdeka. M.A.198301t7 20n 01 2 009

(Secretary)

(Advisor)

(Examiner I)

t€xaminer II;

s | 1Dr)l\1

, I '?,ot']

li:s I lrrt-l/tr

s I b\-l/tz

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(ChairPerson) 4?

iv

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to be the best

of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written

by another person nor material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for

the award of any other institute or degree or diploma of the university or other

institute of higher learning, except where due acknowledgement has been made in

the text.

Jakarta, October 24, 2017

Atika Aulia Putri

v

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The writer would like to express her gratitude to the Most Merciful and Most

Gracious of Allah SWT, for all the favor to finish this thesis. Also, the writer would

like to express many salutation and benediction to the Greatest Prophet Muhammad

SAW for his conveying the words of God, the light of humanism and peace.

Also, the writer would like to state her gratefulness to the most cherished of

mother and father; Anik Aswati and Sutikno, for all the prayer, devotion, moral and

mental support, and great patience of waiting for her lovely firstborn daughter to

graduate from this university, so that they become the most loyal supporter of her

struggle to reach the final step of her study in this university despite of the darkest

time of this gloomy and monstrous life. The writer may also say thanks to her lovely

yet naughty siblings; ‘big’ young brother Fitra Akbar Waru, pretty little sister Nesya

Ayundhya Putri, and the cutie talkative baby sister Sofia Alkausarita Putri. Thank

you for cheering her up during her tiresome and exhaust feeling of working on this

thesis.

Then, the writer would like to show her acknowledgment for her thesis

advisor, Mrs. Inayatul Chusna, M. Hum., for her finest support, advice, and

guidance on the thesis writing from the very beginning until the end. May Allah

SWT bless her and her family.

Also, the writer express another gratitude to Prof. Dr. Syukron Kamil, M.

Hum, as a Dean of Faculty Adab and Humanities, Drs. Saefudin, M. Pd., as the

vi

Chairperson of English Letters Department, and also Elve Oktafiyani, M. Hum., the

Secretary of English Letters Department.

Next, the writer would express the gratitude to those who has successfully

helped her finishing this thesis:

1. All the lectures and staffs of Faculty of Adab and Humanities.

2. The staffs of Library Center and Postgraduate Library of UIN Jakarta.

Thank you for facilitate the writer to escape from home only to write

this ‘masterpiece.’

3. The family of Class A CROWSA, thank you for filling the life of the

writer’s university life during four amazing years. Also the family of

Literature 2013, thank you for great short time of cooperation in doing

some tasks.

4. The writer’s thesis buddies: Martiya Nurni Khairita and Intan Qonita

Nabila. Thank you for encouraging the writer to finish the thesis as soon

as possible so we can accomplish our S.S degree together this year.

5. Also thanks to another thesis buddy, Wilda Aqthori, for having great

time in discussing and sharing our life during thesis writing. We hope

we can reach our own life goal in the future.

6. The writer’s best friends who always share trivial jokes and serious

discussion about life after graduation at the same time, Dita Rismayanti

and Atik Nurjanah. Soon you guys can get your S.Sos and S.Pd at the

right time, respectively!

vii

7. Last but not least, for those whom the writer barely describe one by one.

Thank you for helping her writing the thesis either in material or mental

support. Once again, thank you very much.

Jakarta, October 24, 2017

The Writer

viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ................................................................................................... i

APPROVAL SHEET ................................................................................... ii

LEGALIZATION ....................................................................................... iii

DECLARATION ......................................................................................... iv

ACKNOWLEDGMENT ............................................................................. v

TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................... viii

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ............................................................. 1

A. Background of the Study ................................................ 1

B. Focus of the Study .......................................................... 4

C. Research Question .......................................................... 4

D. Objective of the Study .................................................... 4

E. Significance of the Study ................................................ 5

F. Research Methodology ................................................... 5

1. Method of Research .................................................... 5

2. Technique of Data Analysis ....................................... 5

3. Instrument of the Research ......................................... 6

4. Methods of Collecting Data........................................ 6

5. Unit of Analysis .......................................................... 6

6. Place and Time of the Research ................................. 6

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .................................. 7

A. Previous Researches ....................................................... 7

B. Genre .............................................................................. 9

ix

C. Crime Fiction ................................................................ 11

D. Police Procedurals Subgenre ........................................ 13

E. The Characteristics of Police Procedurals Subgenre .... 16

CHAPTER III RESEARCH FINDINGS ................................................ 21

A. Character ..................................................................... 21

B. Plot ............................................................................... 25

1. Exposition ................................................................. 26

a. The Initial Conflict ............................................... 26

b. Introduction of Characters and Settings ............... 28

2. Rising Action ............................................................ 30

a. The Team Solve Multiple Crimes ........................ 30

b. Internal and External Politics ............................... 32

c. Description of Basque Mythology ....................... 34

d. The Implication of Amaia’s Family Member ...... 35

e. Amaia’s Traumatic Experience ............................ 35

f. The Investigation is Stagnant ............................... 37

3. Climax ...................................................................... 39

a. The Result of DNA Test on Txantxigorri ............ 39

b. Montes’s Deceit in Leaking the Investigation ..... 40

4. Falling Actions ......................................................... 41

a. The Results of Investigation are Clearer .............. 41

b. Amaia and the Team Discover the Killer............. 42

5. Resolution ................................................................. 43

x

a. Amaia and the Team Solve Serial Killer Case ..... 44

C. Settings ......................................................................... 48

D. Point of View ............................................................... 52

CHAPTER IV CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ...................... 58

A. Conclusions .................................................................. 58

B. Suggestions ................................................................... 59

WORKS CITED ...................................................................................... 61

APPENDIX ................................................................................................. 64

1

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Every literary work has its own genre, and it is obviously different from one

another. Poetry has its own genre: Epic, Lyric, Ballad, and Ode; meanwhile Drama

has Tragic, Comedy, and Tragicomedy. It is different from Fiction which has

numerous genres, such as Romance, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Science Fiction,

and many more.

One of the most well-known genres in recent era is Crime Fiction. This genre

appeared for the first time in the nineteenth century, as American author Edgar

Allan Poe published his notable novel entitled The Murders in the Rue Morgue and

created his detective character named C. Auguste Dupin. Later, the genre developed

from the end of nineteenth century to twentieth century as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

released his Sherlock Holmes anthologies which soon became English canon for

Crime fiction. Then, in the twentieth century, particularly during the period of

World War I until World War II, several authors such as Agatha Christie, Dorothy

L. Sayers, and Raymond Chandler published their own works with Murder on the

Orient Express, Gaudy Night, and The Big Sleep, respectively.

There are various Crime Fiction that published in current time, one of them is

The Invisible Guardian. It is a novel written by Dolores Redondo. The novel is

released on January 15, 2013, in its original country, Spain, under the name El

Guardián Invisible. In Spain itself, the novel is also translated into three regional

2

languages, which are Basque, Catalan, and Galician. Later, The Invisible Guardian

is translated into English in 2015 by Isabel Kaufeler and published by

HarperCollins. The Invisible Guardian received several awards such as Best

Spanish Crime Novel of the Year of 2013 by major Spanish newspaper La

Vanguardia; Top 10 Crime Novels of the Summer by Le Figaro Magazine, France;

Best Spanish Novel of the Year of 2013 by “Continuarà” TVE Cultural Program;

“Pluma de plata” (Silver Quill) in 2014 by the Basque Booksellers Association;

and Shortlisted for the CWA International Dagger 2015 (“The Invisible Guardian”).

This year, the story of The Invisible Guardian is adapted into movie under the

similar name in Spanish version and is released in cinema in Spain on March 3,

2017 (“’The Invisible Guardian’ Trailer is Dripping with Atmosphere”).

The story tells about the discovery of serial killer case that happen within a

month in Baztán forest, located in a small town named Elizondo. The victims are

three young girls at the age ranged from thirteen to seventeen years old. The

deceased condition are tragic; strangulated necks, slashed clothes, exposed bodies,

arranged hairs and hands, shaved pubic hairs, and the presence of local sticky cake

named Txantxigorri (read: Chanchigori) onto the pubic mounds. The locals claim

that the criminal is Basajaun, a mythological creature of Basque, since the crimes

take place in forest and the function of Basajaun as a forest protector. Policía Foral,

as police institution in Navarra province, carries out the case with the leader

Inspector Amaia Salazar. In order to find out the real perpetrator of serial killer,

Inspector Amaia Salazar and the team travel from Pamplona to Elizondo to

investigate the case and use methods and procedures of police investigation.

3

The Invisible Guardian is categorized into several genres from various critic

reviews. Spanish newspaper Barcelona-based, La Vanguardia, categorized the

novel as novela negra (“Nace el Thriller Navarro”). Novela negra is an equivalent

term of hard-boiled fiction in Spanish literature that appears “as a negative reaction

to the lack representations of social, psychological and economic realities of the

modern world” and shows the settings that include “violence, corruption,

uncertainty, and insecurity” (Siegrist 1994). On the contrary, one of well-known

Australian newspapers, The Sydney Morning Herald, states that the novel is

characterized as ”landscape thriller”, which means “an apt description for a crime

novel where place plays such an instrumental role” (“The Invisible Guardian

review: A Spanish Thriller that thrives on Place”). Conversely, the official website

of Dolores Redondo, the author of this novel, mentions that The Invisible Guardian

novel is categorized as Psychological Thriller (“The Invisible Guardian”). It is a

subgenre of thriller that focuses on psychological condition of the main character

that “psychologically manipulates its audience or readership.” (“Psychological

Thriller”)

After reading the novel several times, the writer found that The Invisible

Guardian novel needs to be specified into subgenre of Crime Fiction. Since

numerous subgenres of Crime Fiction focus on individual private eye detectives

who works individually, there is a subgenre that surely focus on the police officers.

This subgenre named Police Procedurals. The first consideration is that the novel

put the police officer named Amaia Salazar as the protagonist instead of the

individual private eye detective. Second, the main focus of the novel is to solve the

4

crime, which is serial killer. Third, from the plot, there is strong involvement of the

investigation procedures and their explanation that conducted by police officers,

such as conducting crime scene investigation, analyzing forensic, collecting

evidences and information, conducting search warrant, interrogating suspects and

witnesses, and many more. Therefore, this novel is specifically categorized as

Police Procedural subgenre.

From the explanation above, the writer desires to analyze and prove that The

Invisible Guardian novel is categorized as Police Procedurals subgenre by

examining the intrinsic elements of novel and the characteristics of Police

Procedurals subgenre. Besides, the lack of researches that analyze Police

Procedurals subgenre in novel attracts the writer to conduct the research.

B. Focus of the Study

Based on the background of study above, the writer focuses on discussing the

intrinsic elements of novel such as characters, plot, settings, and point of view in

order to determine The Invisible Guardian novel as Police Procedural subgenre.

C. Research Question

How is The Invisible Guardian novel classified as the subgenre of Police

Procedurals?

D. Objective of the Study

The research is aimed to find out The Invisible Guardian novel as Police

Procedural subgenre by looking at the intrinsic elements of novel such as characters,

plot, settings, and point of view.

5

E. Significance of the Study

The research is expected to give contribution for the research regarding of genre

studies and the classification of crime fiction subgenre, which is Police Procedurals.

F. Research Methodology

1. Method of Research

This research uses the descriptive analysis method, in which the writer will

analyze and present the collected data descriptively. Ratna on his book, Teori,

Metode, dan Teknik Penelitian Sastra, stated that descriptive analysis method

is done by describing various data regarding of the research, and then those data

is analyzed thoroughly. Eventually, the data are explained descriptively (Ratna

53). Also, this research will use structural approach, in which the writer will

only focus on the text inside the novel itself.

2. Technique of Data Analysis

There are several steps to conduct the research. First, the writer reads The

Invisible Guardian novel several times thoroughly to obtain further

understanding about the content. Later, the writer finds out previous research

about the novel and looks for references regarding of theory of genre, Crime

Fiction and Police Procedurals subgenre. Next, the writer marks the pages and

paragraphs that related to the research. Finally, the data will be shown

descriptively in the research findings analysis in chapter three.

6

3. Instrument of the Study

The writer conducts as the instrument for this research. She reads the novel

intensively then marks the intrinsic elements of the novel to find out suitable

data for Police Procedural subgenre.

4. Methods of Collecting Data

The writer uses several data to conduct the research that consist of primary

data and secondary data. For primary data, the writer uses The Invisible

Guardian novel written by Dolores Redondo. For secondary data, the writer

uses several books, articles, and journals that relates to Genre Studies, Crime

Fiction, and Police Procedurals.

5. Unit of Analysis

The unit of analysis for the research is The Invisible Guardian novel. This

novel was published for the first time in Spanish language in 2013 by Destino

publisher. The English version is published in 2015 by Harper Collins

publisher.

6. Time and Place of the Research

The research begins from March to October 2017, and takes place in the

Main library of UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, Post Graduate Library of UIN

Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, the writer’s residence, and other places that support

the writer to finish this research.

7

CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS

A. Previous Researches

There are three academic researches that use The Invisible Guardian novel as

the data. Since the original language of this novel is Spanish, the previous

researches that the writer found are also written in Spanish.

The first research is entitled La Mujer Como Creadora y Personaje de La

Novela Negra Española Contemporánea, or in English named “Woman as a

Creator and Character in the Spanish Contemporary Crime Fiction”. The research

is written by Carlos Sánchez Díaz-Aldagalán in the journal entitled VII Congreso

Virtual sobre Historia de Las Mujeres, published in 2015. The research focuses on

analyzing the woman’s presence that appear in contemporary Spanish Crime

Fiction written by women writers. This focuses on the detectives and femme fatale

characters with several in-depth object of their professional jobs and private lives.

There are five data chosen for the research, and one of them is The Invisible

Guardian novel with character Inspector Amaia Salazar. Diaz-Aldagalán finds that

several women characters in these contemporary Spanish crime novels capture

present reality. The characters have strong humanity feeling, such as emotions,

flaws, and virtue. Furthermore, they face several conflicts between the family

reconciliations (children and husband) and professional works and show the

problems of balancing these double lives and inability to hold the position.

8

The second research is entitled El “Yo” de La Detective: Dolores Redondo y

Carolina Sole, in English means “The “I” of the Detective: Dolores Redondo and

Carolina Sole.” The research is written by Melissa M. Culver in the journal entitled

Lectora published in 2015. This one is similar to aforementioned research which

uses several data contains of contemporary Spanish Crime Fiction written by female

authors, one of them is The Invisible Guardian novel. The only distinction lies in

the purpose of the research, in which Culver analyzes the subjectivity of the women

main characters in two novels to decipher and solve the murder investigation and

finds out the contradiction between subjectivity as a person and objectivity as a

detective of women characters of these novels.

The third research is entitled Exploracion Cognitiva y Desencuadramiento

Diegetico en El Guardian Invisible de Dolores Redondo. The research is written by

Francisco Javier Higuero in the journal Narrativas: Revista de Narrativa

Contemporánea en Castellano published in 2015. Unlike other two researches

which focus on women role of crime fiction, this research aims to find out the

diegesis and cognitive narratology inside the story of The Invisible Guardian novel.

From the explanation above, it can be concluded that most of previous

researches of The Invisible Guardian discuss about the role of woman character in

Crime Fiction. However, there is no research that deeply focuses on the genre

analysis, particularly for the subgenre of Crime Fiction, since the novel is

categorized as several genres. Therefore, the writer aims to enrich the research of

genre that uses The Invisible Guardian novel as the data.

9

B. Genre

The word genre etymologically derives from French word, Genre, which means

‘type’, ‘kind’ or ‘class’. Terminologically, genre is ‘a distinctive type of text’ in

which every text has its own taxonomy or classification (Chandler 1). Genre is

broadly used in several disciplines, for instance rhetoric, literature, media theory,

pedagogy, and linguistics. The writer, however, will focus further about genre in

literature.

Genre in literature had been recognized since the period of Plato and Aristotle’s

writing. At that time until eighteenth century, there were three main types of

literature; epic, lyric and drama. The tripartite of genre were classified according to

who speaks in the works. In epic, the character utters as the first narrator; in lyric,

the character may speak as the first narrator or the third narrator; in drama, all

characters have a chance to speak (Abrams 108). As time passed, this genre had

changed. Epic had substituted by fiction because the function of epic itself had

weakened. Albeit epic was written in verse, it was differentiated from lyric by the

“length, narrative structure, depiction of characters and plot patterns,” so that the

categorization is confusing (Malpas and Wake 231). Therefore, since the eighteenth

century, the term ‘epic’ was transformed by several name such as ‘prose,’ ‘prose

fiction,’ or ‘fiction’ for the literary form of novel and short story (Klarer 3).

Genre is a very dynamic theory. It is because no agreed rules applies for the

genre, particularly for the convention of genre itself. Daniel Chandler stated in his

essay that there is no exact system of genre taxonomy in every medium. As a result,

genre ‘is not neutral and objective procedure’ (Chandler 1). Jane Feuer, quoted in

10

Chandler’s essay, argued that genre is an abstract concept. Also, the convention of

genre itself is still debatable for some experts. They can classify genre in different

perspectives, either by the structure, the form, the period of time and place, or the

theme. Furthermore, no works are classified as a single genre. One work is

consisted of mixed genre or hybrid genre (Chandler 1). Therefore, genre may

continue to overlap or blend and make the classification seems difficult (Saricks 3).

Despite of its uncertainty rules and taxonomies, genre is exceptionally useful

for each person. In literary discipline, genre is useful to identify and classify the

text both for writers, readers, and publishers. Genre helps the writers to identify the

text they write based on the characteristics or convention of genre itself. On the

other hand, the readers use genre to ease them find out their favorite text in the

libraries or bookstores based on the ‘mood and need’ (Saricks 11). Publishers are

economically profitable with genre because they can choose their audience target

to promote their works.

The genre of literature itself had divided into several subgenres. Poetry has

several subgenres such as Satire, Lyric, Ode or Ballad. On the other hand, Drama

is divided into three subgenre such as tragedy, comedy or mixed genre called

tragicomedy. Fiction has broader and complex classification of genre.

Joyce G. Saricks on her book entitled The Reader’s Advisory Guide to Genre

Fiction classifies the genre of fiction into four categories. Each category has several

genres and are divided into bunch of subgenres. The categories and its genres are

described in the table below.

11

GENRE OF FICTION CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO JOYCE

G. SARICKS

CATEGORIES GENRES

Adrenaline Genre

Adventure

Romance Suspense

Suspense

Thriller

Emotions Genre

Gentle Reads

Horror

Romance

Women’s Lives and Relationship

Intellect Genre

Literary Fiction

Mysteries

Psychological Suspense

Science Fiction

Landscape Genre

Fantasy

Historical Fictions

Westerns

From the table showed above, the writer will discuss about one of the subgenres

of Intellect Genre, which is Mysteries, or also known by Crime Fiction. The writer

chooses the term “Crime Fiction” because the mystery itself is a key element for

this genre. Also, both Crime Fiction and Mysteries share similar characteristics and

classification of subgenres. The explanation of Crime Fiction will discuss later in

the next sub-chapter II.

C. Crime Fiction

Currently, Crime Fiction may be considered as one of the most favorite genres

for fiction readers. It is because Crime Fiction always entertain readers with a crime,

particularly murder, and the way to solve it. Crime Fiction is a narrative story that

focuses on crime and the way to solve its case as the heart of the story (Danytė 5).

In Crime Fiction, the role of detectives as the main character is very essential. The

12

detectives must crack the puzzle or the mystery provided by the case. The detectives

find out the clues and information in order to solve the case (Saricks 196). Also, the

element of mystery is very important to the genre (Danytė 5).

Rosenberg on her book entitled Genreflecting: A Guide to Reading Interests in

Genre Fiction divided detectives into three types. The first one is Police Detectives.

Policemen in Crime Fiction always work in several law enforcements, either in the

city, for example Scotland Yard or New York Police Department, or in the little

town, for instance Criminal Investigator Department/CID. The second one is

Private Investigator or known by the acronym of P.I. Unlike Policemen, P.I. always

work individually. The P.I, then, divided into two types: the one who works

cooperatively with Police Detectives, and the other who works alone. The last one

is Amateur Detectives, who always interfere others’ lives and discover their

problems (Rosenberg 67).

Despite having special way to serve the story, the formula of Crime Fiction is

never changed since the first time appeared in the nineteenth century, from the

classic detective story of Edgar Allan Poe until the contemporary crime fiction.

Milda Danyte on his book, The Introduction to The Analysis of Crime Fiction,

classifies the characteristics of Crime Fiction, as described in following lists.

A crime, most often murder, is committed early in the narrative

There are a variety of suspects with different motives

A central character formally or informally acts as the detective

The detective collects evidence about the crime and its victim

Usually the detective interviews the suspects, as well as the witnesses

The detective solves the mystery and indicates the real criminal

Usually this criminal is now arrested or otherwise punished (Danytė 5)

13

Numerous books classify the subgenre of crime fiction differently based on the

chronological and historical order, types of detectives, and even going deeper into

race and gender. John Scaggs on his book, Crime Fiction, classified four main

subgenres in Crime Fiction based on chronological order, these are Classic Mystery

and Detective fiction, Hard-boiled, Police Procedural, and Historical Crime fiction.

On the other hand, Stephen Knight in Crime Fiction, 1800 – 2000: Detection,

Death, Diversity classifies them into several subgenres which derives from

historical order, gender, and race. They are English detective, Sensation, Low-level

detection, Clue-puzzle fiction, Golden Age, Private-eye, Psychothriller, Police

Procedural, Feminist detection, African-American crime fiction, Black women

detective, Postmodern crime fiction, and Generic violence.

In this research, the writer will focus on one of crime subgenres mentioned

above, that is Police Procedurals.

D. Police Procedurals Subgenre

Police Procedurals is one of subgenres of Crime Fiction which appeared in the

1940s, particularly after World War II, as a reaction of three previous subgenres:

Classic Crime Fiction, Golden Age Crime Fiction, and Hard-Boiled. Although

police characters appeared in those subgenres, for instance Detective Inspector

Lestrade of Scotland Yard in Sherlock Holmes anthologies or Monsieur Lecoq of

Sûreté in Émile Gaboriau’s works, they are merely subordinated and foil character

of high intellectual amateur detective. Furthermore, the role of policemen before

World War II were viewed negatively in every crime books. Leroy L. Panek on his

essay argued that police officers had “subordinate role” and “little impact for the

14

characterization” (Priestman 155). Meanwhile, Franz G. Blaha on his essay stated

that police officers in those previous subgenre had treated differently. In classic

detective fiction, the policemen were the “unnecessary and incompetent” persons,

while in hard-boiled, they were assumed as the corrupt officers (Blaha 2083).

Police Procedurals subgenre appeared for the first time in the United States

when the society of this country were changed in post-World War II. People were

getting more concern about crime, drug abuse, urban terrorism, and many violence

act and they wanted to examine the work of police to solve the case. (Panek 155–

156).

Some experts define this subgenre in different ways. John Scaggs defines the

police procedurals as “a type of fiction in which the actual methods and procedures

of police work are central to the structure, themes, and action [that] reveals the

significance of the move towards realism that is central to the development of the

sub-genre” (Scaggs 91). On the other hand, Panek, quoted by Peter Messent in his

essay, stated that this genre describes a narrative that focuses on the “criminal act,

detection, and solution in orderly sequence” and gives more attention to “the ways

police officers and departments do what they do”, from their professional life in

police department to their daily activities (Messent 175). In short, Police

Procedurals focus on the work of investigation held by police officers as the main

part of the story in order to solve the crimes.

The first pioneer of Police Procedurals genre was V as in Victim novel by

Lawrence Treat in 1945. It tells about a story of cop team lead by Mitch Taylor.

Although there were found some Police Procedurals element in this book – the

15

cynicism of police officers towards society – this subgenre gained its popularity

thanks to a Police story radio program named Dragnet. This program was aired in

the United States during the year 1949 and adapted into the television series in 1952

(Danyte 29). Starred by Jack Webb as an ordinary police officer named Joe Friday,

Dragnet showed ‘exciting, appeal of vigorous urban action, police co-operation,

new technology and a toughly businesslike approach to crime’ (Knight 154). The

appearance of Police Procedurals novel was developed as Hillary Waugh published

The Last Wearing… in 1952, which showed rape and murder crime of young girl

(154). Later, one of the most notable Police Procedurals authors, Ed McBain,

published his first series The 87th Precinct entitled Cop Hater in 1956 and continue

with The Mugger, The Pusher, The Con Man, Killer’s Choice, and many more.

Police Procedurals is not only popular in the United States but also in the United

Kingdom alongside the regions of Europe. One of the popular novel of Police in

the United Kingdom is Gideon’s Day created by John Creasey (using pen name J.J.

Marric) in 1955, telling Commander George Gideon who works as team leader of

Scotland Yard and deals with ‘a range of crimes across the whole of London’

(Knight 155). Notable work of Police Procedural that takes place in Europe region

is ten books of Martin Beck series ranged from 1965 to 1975 by two Swedish

authors Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö (Messent 177).

Nowadays, Police Procedurals become the most popular and modern subgenre

of Crime Fiction. It does not merely tell about the police and the investigation; it

also contains other elements or genre in the stories such as whodunit, thriller (Panek

156), psychological and sociological, gothics, and many more (177). This subgenre

16

becomes so innovative and evolves both in crafting the story alongside advance

science and technology of police investigation in real life. One of them is Patricia

Cornwell’s series of Kay Scarpetta, a Chief Medical Examiner for Commonwealth

of Virginia, which published from 1990 to 2003.

Police Procedurals does not always appear in literary version but also in other

media, particularly television series. Several popular Police series that are so

familiar to the audiences are Law and Order (1990), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

(2000), Castle (2009), NCIS (2003), and Criminal Minds (2005). All of the series

are made and set in the United States. Also, there is popular Police Procedural series

that created in Scandinavia, particularly Denmark. The Killing, or known in Danish

as Forbrydelsen, successfully became phenomenon of non-English language series

with protagonist of Detective Inspector Sarah Lund and aired since 2007 in

Denmark and 2011 in the United Kingdom.

E. The Characteristics of Police Procedurals Subgenre

As the name of the subgenre, Police Procedurals has strong elements of police

job, from the structure, action, theme, and characters. The following explanation of

Police Procedurals subgenre will be described below.

The protagonists of Police Procedurals are policemen or policewomen who are

members of police departments. As policemen or policewomen, they have the force

of the law on their side to investigate several cases, to question suspects and

witnesses, and to incarcerate the culprits. The protagonists, then, work as a part of

team in which they solve the crime together (Saricks 210), whether the characters

are subordinates or the one who have authorized responsibility to solve the case

17

(Alexander 42). However, the authors of Police Procedurals mostly put one above-

average policeman or policewoman to become “the focus of reader interest” (Blaha

2091).

In Police Procedurals, the protagonists are ordinary individuals who have

numerous of personality traits. The policeman may feature several traits: clever or

foolish, hardworking or indolent, are enthusiastic in doing particular things that

interfere with their job, and are individualized characters. However, most of the

characters are cynical about the society where they live in and people surround them

(Danyte 29). Their cynicism makes them withdraw themselves from society and

become marginalized. Police job is tense, stressful, and never-ending. Although

they have brighter insight related to the crime, their work ‘sets them apart from

society,’ because their job is hectic, dull, and deals with immoral cases. As a result,

this hectic job separates them ‘from the pleasure of common humanism,’ such as

‘friends, family, sleep, [and] relaxation’ (Panek 164). The policemen in Police

Procedurals have great authority and power in society, and have a strong sense of

their right and duty to enforce the law. They see their role as good fighting against

evil and have a strong need to catch criminal (Danyte 32).

Since technology has developed in any sector in particular law enforcement,

Police Procedural introduces modern investigation which use advance technology,

science and medicine. Also, the focus on characters unfolds from police officers as

the essential members of investigative team to any other professions such as

forensic pathologists, psychological profilers, forensic scientists, and crime scene

investigator (Scaggs 100).

18

The police in this subgenre is represented as ‘state apparatus’ that functions to

reduce crime (Messent 177). Therefore, Police Procedurals reflecting as ‘an

increasingly invasive monitoring on behalf of the state of any threat to the

established social order’ (179), and also ‘aims to identify and eradicate the threat of

social disruption that crime represent (Scaggs 98). The story in Police Procedurals

also represents as a way to interrogate social order and challenges dominant value,

structure, and stereotype which exist in the society, by seeing the relationship

between the police officer as a detective and values of social order (Scaggs 100).

Most crimes in Police Procedurals are committed by ordinary people, and the

reason for committing crime is various from money to sex (Blaha 2091). However,

the ‘criminal threat’ in the story of this subgenre is merely ‘one person among the

population at large’ (Scaggs 98).

The story of Police Procedurals follow the conventional plot of Crime Fiction;

crime is committed, detectives involve in the investigation, complication arise

during the course of investigation, and the crime is finally solved at the end of the

story (Blaha 2090–2091). Pioneer theorist of Police Procedurals subgenre, George

Dove, quoted by John Scaggs, stated that Police Procedurals must contains mystery

elements in the story and the mystery itself must be solved by the police officer

using police routine. The story involves more than one case which consisted of one

major crime and other minor cases. These cases might be either related or not, and

these might be solved or not. Several crimes that illustrated in Police Procedurals

subgenre then creates multiple plot, sometimes this also creates converging one plot

and another to ‘reach narrative closure’ (Scaggs 94).

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In Police Procedurals, the methods of investigation is vital and become the heart

of the story. The story reveals detail description of police investigation and also the

procedures, such as crime scene investigation, collecting evidence, interrogating

suspects and witnesses, conducting search warrant, and also compiling reports and

criminal dossiers. Since the technology is developed, there are additional

investigation such as autopsy, DNA test, psychological profiling, and laboratory

test. These various procedures in police job make the police officer must find out

the criminal and crack the case in teamwork. Importantly, the investigation of police

must be "court-proof", in which all of evidence during the investigation must be

admissible for the justice. If a conviction cannot be obtain in the court, the

investigation has failed (Blaha 2091–2092).

The story in Police Procedurals also shows the internal and external politics

happen in police department. Internal politics occur when police officers have

individual ambition within the police hierarchy in order to solve the cases. External

politics occurs when police officers work against the ‘bureaucratic and politically

charged system’ and also corrupt politicians who try to meddle in the course of

police job (Panek 161–162).

Police Procedurals do not only illuminate professional world of police officer

but also personal lives, which contains several issues for instance marriage,

children, romantic, and so on. This also shows ‘the impact of the stressful job on

family relationship,’ in which the intensity and tight job successfully estrange them

from family member (Alexander 43).

20

The Police Procedurals novels are told in third person. Therefore, the readers

could enter the mind of criminals planning their crime or carrying them out and

stressed on the methods and procedures of police investigation (Scaggs 94).

Similarly to the plot, settings become the central of Police Procedurals story

(Scaggs 92). The story may set in urban city, suburban or small town. Details of the

setting, particularly geographical condition of place, are very important in this

subgenre (Saricks 209). The settings themselves can display social issues happen

in the novel. The tone in Police Procedurals may be bleak, full of violence or

gunplay, but sometimes it displays humor and light tone (Saricks 211).

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CHAPTER III

RESEARCH FINDINGS

The Invisible Guardian is a novel created by Dolores Redondo in 2015, which

tells about a serial killer happens in the small town of Elizondo and the way

Inspector Amaia Salazar and her investigative team from Policía Foral catch the

perpetrator of three young teenage girls by police routine and investigation.

The writer believes that The Invisible Guardian is categorized as Police

Procedurals subgenre because the main characters are police officers and the police

job are included in whole story. In this chapter, therefore, the writer will analyze

and discuss how The Invisible Guardian novel can fit the subgenre of Police

Procedurals through four intrinsic elements, such as characters, plot, settings and

point of view.

A. Character

In The Invisible Guardian novel, the characters are members of Policía Foral,

a regional police institution located in Navarra autonomous region, Spain. It has

seven station spreading in several areas in Navarra (“Quienes Somos”). Most of

police officers mentioned in this novel work in homicide division, in which their

job deals with case of murder. Numerous policemen characters are Inspector Amaia

Salazar, Inspector Fermin Montes, Deputy Inspector Jonan Etxaide, Inspector

Iriarte, Deputy Inspector Zabalza, and The Commissioner. Among the

aforementioned characters, Inspector Amaia Salazar becomes the major character

and focus of reader interest for the novel.

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Inspector Amaia Salazar is a 30-year-old policewoman who holds one of the

middle rank position in Policía Foral, which is Inspector. She becomes the first

woman in this institution to reach this level within male domination of police force.

She has devoted herself in Policía Foral for almost ten years. Amaia Salazar is

assigned by her boss, The Commissioner, to lead the investigation of serial killer

that happens in Elizondo. She works together with the homicide team to solve the

case.

Inspector Amaia Salazar is a smart policewoman who has excellent insight and

analysis in police investigation, thanks to her training day in FBI Academy few

years ago. Amaia Salazar can do profiling the criminal based on the condition of

victims’ bodies. She can also predict the motives and perpetuation of culprit in

committing the murder.

Inspector Amaia Salazar has to maintain her logical and rational thinking while

solving the crime. She has to think about the crime in the perception of police. This

occurs when Amaia respond to Aunt Engrasi about the presence of Basajaun, one

of Basque mythology, who is claimed by the locals as the perpetrator. Amaia

believes that Basajaun is not exist in today’s society since it lives in vivid memory

of locals. Amaia also believes that the killer has to be a real human beings because

he is premeditated in committing the crime.

As the only one policewoman in the department, Inspector Amaia Salazar

receives gender discrimination and negative comments from her male colleagues

and others. However, she can tackle all of the discrimination. This happen as Amaia

interviews the forest ranger from National Protection Service of Guardia Civil. The

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rangers seem to dislike the presence of woman in the forest. Instead of feeling

subordinated, Amaia tries to push them by staring at them too closely and push

them to ask several question about the presence of bear in the forest.

Since she works with the institution with male domination, Amaia is influenced

by her colleagues in the way she behaves and moves. She has to let her feminine

side during her job as a policewoman. This, indirectly, also influence to her daily

life, in which she uses simple clothes, do less make up, walk and speak firmly.

Amaia Salazar is totally cynical about the society in Elizondo. The locals has

strong faith in Basque mythology, in which they believe in the presence of

mythological creatures like Basajaun or Mari, conduct some pagan rituals, and ask

for their luck in the future by reading tarot. Amaia even call the locals as ‘gullible

bumpkins’ because she thinks the locals are stupid enough to trust something that

is considerably scientifically invalid.

It turns out that the cynicism attitude of Amaia has its personal background.

Amaia has undergone horrible past event in the childhood and soon suffers Post

Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). She is mistreated by her mother and is nearly

killed by her in family bakery workshop in the night. Therefore, she becomes

traumatic of numerous things; her mother, bakery tools, txantxigorri, and darkness.

The traumatic feeling also creates her hatred towards Elizondo. Thus, she escapes

from the hometown as she reaches adulthood. When the crime calling in her

hometown, the feeling of fright and trauma inside Amaia become enormous and

soon she encounters numbers of nightmares and hallucination in the middle of the

night. This stress disorder also hamper her in conceiving child, since she is failed

24

to falling pregnant. Thus, the signs of trauma Amaia encounters constrain herself

in solving the case.

The traumatic experience of Amaia differs the characterization in this novel

with that of common Police Procedurals subgenre. Indeed, most of police officers

experience terrible past events. However, it does not influence the police to be

afraid of something that burden them in investigating the case. For example,

Detective Kate Beckett in Castle experiences hardened past event in which her

mother is murdered by anonymous. As a result, this event motivates Beckett to

become policewoman in order to find the justice. Meanwhile, in Amaia’s case, her

trauma does not influence her decision to be a policewoman. Instead, the trauma

itself that cause her investigation becomes slower and stagnant.

The job in solving serial killer case is totally tense so that it makes Amaia feel

stressful. She does not have enough time for sleep, spends more time from day to

night nonstop to crack the endlessly cases, and does not enjoy the quality time with

her family members in Elizondo, where she is supposed to do so. Thus, she becomes

marginalized from the society she lives in and she feels imprisoned by the endlessly

cases which connotes with word “ghosts”.

Unlike most of policewomen characters that appear in Police Procedurals

subgenre which are unhappily married or suffer terrible romantic relationship,

Amaia does not experience it. Instead, she is happily married with her American

sculptor, James Westford. He totally supports Amaia regardless of her situation in

her professional life or her psychological condition.

25

From the explanation of character analysis, the writer concludes that the

protagonist fits the characteristics of Police Procedurals subgenre. There are

numerous policemen who works in police department named Policía Foral, but

there is only one character that becomes the major character. She is Inspector Amaia

Salazar, a policewoman who leads the serial killer case in small town named

Elizondo. Amaia is a bright and excellent policewoman who has broader insight of

police investigation. She has to maintain her logical and rational thinking in a

perception of police while working on the crime. Amaia receives several spiteful

gender comments from her male colleagues and others since she is the only woman

in the department. Amaia has cynicism attitude towards superstition belief adhered

by the locals in Elizondo, and the cynicism makes her marginalized from society.

Police job makes Amaia feel nerve-wracking because she has to deals with the case

from day to night so that she sacrifices her time for getting good quality sleep and

having time with family members in Elizondo.

There are some differences between Amaia Salazar and common Police

Procedurals subgenre. First, she suffers Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

which disturb her in investigating the serial killer cases. Second, she is happily

married with her husband and her husband supports herself regardless of her

condition.

B. Plot

The plot in The Invisible Guardian is progressive, in which the story runs

chronologically from the beginning to the end. The plot, then, is divided into several

26

parts, which are exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. The

plot analysis of The Invisible Guardian is explained in the following.

1. Exposition

The exposition begins with discovery of crime alongside the introduction of

characters and settings in the novel. The following explains several sequences

of exposition in The Invisible Guardian novel.

a. The Initial Conflict

The story begins with the discovery of serial killer case with a victim of

a young girl. She is found passed away in the forest in small town named

Elizondo. The condition of the girl illustrates in unpleasant way and shows

the indication of murder. Thus, the identification of crime and victim are

introduced in the opening.

Ainhoa Elizasu was the second victim of the Basajaun, although the

press were yet to coin that name for him. That came later, when it

emerged that animal hairs, scraps of skin and unidentifiable tracks had

been found around the bodies, along with evidence of some kind of

macabre purification rite. With their torn clothes, their private parts

shaved and their upturned hands, the bodies of those girls, almost still

children, seemed to have been marked by a malign force, as old as the

Earth. (Redondo 1)

It turns out that the deceased girl, Ainhoa Elizasu, is the second victim

of a serial murder. The body turns up in the forest, with tragic condition:

strangled neck, slashed clothes, arranged hands and hairs, shaved pubic

hairs, and placed the local cake, txantxigorri, on the genital.

This also introduces the first victim of serial killer, who is Carla Huarte.

Similarly to Ainhoa, she is found dead in the forest with ... The police

accuses Carla’s boyfriend, Miguel Angel de Andres, as a perpetrator

27

because he abandoned Carla hours before her death and several wounds of

sexual assault on Carla’s body that may prove his implication on her death

However, he is free afterwards. After scrutinizing several methods of police

investigation (conducting crime scene investigation and forensic autopsy of

Ainhoa’s body, analyzing forensic reports alongside crime scene

photographs of Carla’s case), it turns out that the case of Carla and Ainhoa

share similarities in terms of the location, modus operandi, the deceased

condition, and the string that used to strangulate the girls. Furthermore, the

murderer of these two girls could be the same person who killed them in

separate event. Thus, it can be concluded that the crime committed in the

novel is serial killer.

The story has mystery elements, in which the presence of killer is

unknown. Moreover, there is no sexual assaults in the body, whereas the

killer slashes their clothes and shaves their pubic hairs. This elements will

be cracked by the police by using police investigation. Thus, the initial

conflict in the novel reveals serial killer crime that happen in Elizondo with

the victims of two young girls, Ainhoa and Carla, with tragic conditions.

The police team have to unravel the case with the methods of investigation.

b. Introduction of Characters and Settings

The exposition introduces police officers and the institute that works on

investigating serial killer case in Elizondo, alongside the characters of

family members of police officers and the settings.

28

This serial killer crime is calling the homicide division team from

Policía Foral headquarters in Pamplona. As a regional law enforcement

agency in Navarra, they have force in law to unravel the criminal of the

ferocious serial killer in Elizondo, where it is part of the region in Navarra

province. The investigation is led by Inspector Amaia Salazar, a 30-year-

old policewoman. She is assigned by her superior named The Commissioner

because several reasons: she was born and raised in Elizondo, she has

excellent knowledge and sharp analysis about crime investigation, and she

has experienced of training in FBI Academy. Inspector Amaia Salazar does

not work alone; Deputy Inspector Jonan Etxaide and Inspector Fermín

Montes from homicide team are ready to assist her, alongside with Policía

Foral officers from Elizondo named Inspector Iriarte and Deputy Inspector

Zabalza. Inspector Amaia Salazar has to go back to her hometown,

Elizondo, to solve the crime of serial killer and meet her family member

who live there as well.

This also introduces Amaia’s family members. Since the crime takes

place in Elizondo, Amaia’s hometown, she has to see her family members

and face numerous problems. The characters are James Westford, Aunt

Engrasi, Rosaura Salazar, Flora Salazar, Alfredo Bellarain (known as

Freddy in this book), and Víctor Oyarzábal. These characters show their

personal traits and their problems in the story from the start to the end. The

family issues occur in this novel are conceiving children, responsibility of

29

family bakery business, unhappy marriage, and relationship with parents in

the past.

The exposition also illustrate the setting of the novel, which derives

from setting of place, setting of time, and setting of social. The novel sets in

Elizondo, a small town that is located in northern part of Spain, and belongs

to Navarra province. The town is situated in the series of Pyrenees

Mountain, in particular Baztán valley. It becomes the capital of the valley

and central for locals’ activities. The town consists of river, hill, and forest.

Its forest and river become the mute witness of serial killer where young

girls are found dead. The town does not always reveals the nature but also

the buildings, such as Policía Foral station, Mantecadas Salazar workshop,

and Aunt Engrasi’s home. The story sets in February, in particular when

winter still happen in the town. The winter in Elizondo is characterized by

torrential rain occurs all day long and cold weather. From the setting of

social, the Elizondarras have a superstitious belief of Basque mythology.

Although they adhere Christian, they combine it with superstition in their

rituals.

From this explanation, it is concluded that the story contains in

exposition of The Invisible Guardian can be fit with characteristics of plot

in Police Procedurals subgenre. The crime is committed in the opening, in

which a serial killer happens in a forest in Elizondo with two young girls as

victims. The investigative team from homicide division of Policía Foral is

in charge to solve the crime. The investigation is led by Inspector Amaia

30

Salazar, who used to live in Elizondo at childhood. She has to travels back

to her hometown to investigate the case, and she has to meet her own family

members and shows several problems which soon embellish the story itself.

Also, the exposition introduces the setting of the novel. The novel sets in

February winter in a small town in northern part of Navarra region,

Elizondo, where people usually believe in superstition.

2. Rising Action

Rising action in The Invisible Guardian occurs when Inspector Amaia

Salazar faces series of complication during the course of investigation, both her

professional life and personal life.

a. The Team Solve Multiple Crimes

Inspector Amaia Salazar and investigative team from Policía Foral have

to solve the serial killer case that assault two young girls. However, they

find it difficult to catch the killer since there is limited clues directed to him.

The investigation gets heavier as there is another murder committed in the

forest with the same modus operandi. The third victim is Anne Arbizu.

Amaia and her team tries so hard to investigate the case, from interrogating

Anne’s friends and parents, asking for search warrant for Anne’s personal

properties, and analyzing the evidence. It turns out that Anne has double

different life; her parents say that Anne is a good girl with nice grade at

school and is actively involved in school activities, her friends say that Anne

is a promiscuous girl who loves to tease boys and has love affair with a

married man. Thus, the police concludes that the killer may be Anne’s affair.

31

Inspector Amaia Salazar and her team also unravel the serial killer case

which has different modus operandi. They believe that the perpetrator

changes the methods in killing the girls, since his scheme is already

predicted by the police. The victim is Johana Marquez, who is found

deceased in the abandoned hut. Unlike the other girls, the way the killer

assault Johana is quite different in terms of the location and deceased

condition. The body is found in abandoned hut and is swelled for seven

days. Albeit the killer strangles Johana’s neck and slashes her clothes, but

there are some distinctions: there is a rape wound insider her genital, her

body is swollen with mucus and larvae, and her arm is amputated. It turns

out that the killer of Johana is her step father, Jason Medina. He killer her

daughter because he feels revolting to see her in teenager, as she becomes

more involve in getting to know about friends from opposite gender.

However, Jason Medina does not involve in previous serial killer case so

that the case is still mysterious. Thus, Jason Medina commit copy-cat

murder, in which the killer modifies the murder based on the crime reported

in the newspaper, book, or other media. (“Hong Kong Murders: The

Psychology of Copycat Crime).

The murder case of Anne Arbizu and Johana Marquez shows that how

complicated the investigative team to unravel the crimes within limit time.

This shows one of characteristics of Police Procedurals subgenre, which the

story involves more than one crime. The major crime committed in the novel

is serial killer, while the minor one is copy-cat murder.

32

b. Internal and External Politics

There is internal and external politics and conflict within police

institution in The Invisible Guardian novel. The internal politics show the

tense relationship between Inspector Amaia Salazar and Inspector Fermin

Montes, while the external one illustrate the difficult bureaucracy of two

police institutions of Spain in unravel one crime.

The internal conflict occurs as Inspector Amaia Salazar’s colleagues,

Inspector Fermín Montes, is reluctant to join the investigation led by Amaia.

Montes feels angry and disappointed with the decision of The

Commissioner that Amaia, as his junior in Policía Foral, becomes the lead

of investigator. Thus, the position makes Montes feel more threatened and

inferior. Montes believes that he deserve for the position as the leader of

investigation since he has been in this institution earlier than Amaia.

However, there is quite difference in the way Montes harden the

investigation like many policemen do to trap his police colleagues. Instead

of working on his best effort in order to get attention by The Commissioner,

Montes tends to stay away to Amaia and is enthusiastic to do the job. He

does not join team meeting in the morning or attend forensic autopsy, but

he wants to keep the course of investigation posted. He prefers to spend his

time by dating with Flora Salazar, who turns out Amaia’s eldest sister.

The external conflict occurs within several police institutions in Spain.

To add some information, Spain has a large number of police force

spreading from national scale to the regional one. There are three national

33

police force under the authorization of Ministry of Interior: Policía

Nacional, Guardia Civil, and Policía Local. Also, there are numerous

regional police force based on the autonomous region, such as Policía Foral

in Navarra and Ertzantza in Basque Country. The story in The Invisible

Guardian shows the difficult bureaucracy and tense situation between two

police force, they are Policía Foral and Guardia Civil. Both of which have

strong and distinctive intention to investigate the murder case of Johana

Marquez. Guardia Civil is supposed to be the one who has the authority to

investigate the case since prior to Johana’s death, her mother reports

Johana’s missing to Guardia Civil and the patrol of this institution found

the body afterwards. Nonetheless, Policía Foral interfere with this since

they are afraid that the murder is correlated with the serial killer case they

are working on. The investigative team of Policía Foral wants to examine

to what extend the killer changes his modus operandi and the implication in

previous murders. During the course of investigation, Guardia Civil tens to

hold the information of investigation to Policía Foral because they think

this institution is not responsible and authorized for that. Also, there is a

cold war between Amaia, as a lead of investigator from Policía Foral, and

Lieutenant Padua, as a leader from Guardia Civil. This shows difference in

Police Procedurals subgenre. In the characteristics, the external conflicts

happen as the politicians want to meddle the police investigation and

intervene the policemen; nonetheless, in this novel, this shows tense

situation between two police force in Spain in investigating one single case.

34

c. Description of Basque Mythology

Here is the part of story that makes The Invisible Guardian different

from other Police Procedurals subgenre: there is strong description Basque

cultures, in particular the mythology and superstitious belief. The culture,

then, is mixed with the progress of serial killer investigation. This happen

as the locals in Elizondo alongside the press claim that Basajaun, one of

Basque mythological creature, is a perpetrator of serial killer case. It is

because the crime takes place in forest, where Basajaun lives. Also, there is

animal hairs scattered along the victims’ bodies. Basajaun is believed by

the locals as the forest protector and guardian, characterized with thick

brown hairs all over the body and tall body. This makes the story becomes

unique because the author tries to combine two different essence in Police

Procedurals story, where the concrete and methodical police investigation

and the mysterious and questionable concept of mythology blend in one

whole story. It also raises another mystery elements whether the killer is a

real human being or mythological creatures. As police officer, Inspector

Amaia Salazar obviously denies the statement that the killer is Basajaun

since its presence is questionable for the locals and the investigation will

not court proof because she and the team cannot prove its presence in the

court. Still, they have to work hard to collect some evidence that the killer

is a man who is premeditated in committing the crime. Thus, the mythology

description in the novel is functioned to embellish the story and does little

contribution for the result of investigation.

35

d. The Implication of Amaia’s Family Member

The story in Police Procedurals subgenre reveals several problems in the

personal life of police officer, but the problems are secondary: they have

nothing to do or have little contribution with the course of police

investigation. Here in The Invisible Guardian novel, the author makes

another distinction in crafting the story, in which some of family members

of police officer are implicated in a crime that the officers work on the case.

This add up the complication of the rising action here.

The story happens as one of Amaia’s family member, Freddy, becomes

the suspect of serial killer. It is because he is a married man who has love

affair with one of the victims, Anne Arbizu. Also, he commits suicide

attempt since he is extremely depressed and sorrowful of Anne’s death.

Freddy’s implication in the crime makes Amaia stressful. She has inner

battle between maintaining her professionalism in solving the case and

protecting her family member to rule out as a suspect. The Commissioner

threatens Amaia if Freddy is proven as a main criminal, she unfortunately

has to withdraw herself from the investigation and the case itself will be

taken over by another policeman, who is Inspector Iriarte. Nonetheless, The

Commissioner gives Amaia and her team time to find out any evidence to

proof the alibis of Freddy.

e. Amaia’s Traumatic Experience

The serial killer case that happen in Elizondo brings back into Amaia’s

vivid and gloomy memories in past events. In fact, Amaia feels terrible

36

when she has to travels back to her hometown because she used to undergo

the traumatic experiences when she was nine year old girl. Amaia was

mistreated by her late mother, Rosario. Her mother had unknown

psychological disorder, which soon influences her in treating the daughter

violently. Rosario committed murder attempt to little Amaia in the family

bakery workshop by hitting Amaia several times with rolling pin and

burying her inside kneading trough contains full of flour. Since the dismal

incident, Amaia is traumatic with numerous things in life: her own

biological mother, some bakery tools, and darkness. Also, she hates to live

in Elizondo for the gloomy weather that does not give her true happiness.

Therefore, Amaia leaves the hometown and pursues her bright future in

Pamplona.

When Amaia and the team investigate the crime, the feeling of trauma

becomes enormous and she herself encounters many signs of trauma. She

feel nauseous and frightened with some bakery tools as she comes back to

family workshop. Also, she undergoes numbers of nightmares and

hallucination until she unconsciously do harm to some family members by

drawing her pistol. It turns out that Amaia suffers Post Stress Traumatic

Disorder (PTSD) that makes her feel more anxious and stress so that it

contributes to the course of investigation where the progress reach stagnant

level.

The story of Amaia’s traumatic memories differs from common

personal stories of policeman in Police Procedurals subgenre. Indeed, the

37

story usually reveals hardened past experience of protagonist and some of

them has similar level of horrendousness with that in Amaia. However, as

the writer explain in character analysis, the police is more motivated to solve

the case because of the past event. On the other hand, Amaia does not feel

motivated at all to do the case; she feels terrible and fearful of her inner

trauma that soon reflect to the investigation itself.

f. Investigation is Stagnant

The story reaches crisis moment when Amaia and her investigative team

from Policía Foral cannot find any clues that directly point out the

murderer. Amaia and Jonan cannot get the result of DNA test on

Txantxigorri, while Iriarte and Zabalza cannot find the trace of criminal in

the victims’ social media account. As a result, the team become hopeless

and unenthusiastic.

She looked at the men in front of her. They wore worried frowns and

looked at her expectantly as they listened carefully to her instructions.

‘Guys, we’re part of the team that has to chase down perhaps the most

complex murderer of the last few years; I know that it’s a big effort for

all of us, but now is the time to make that effort. There has to be

something that’s escaped us, a detail, a little clue… We know what his

work is like, but if we don’t get anything in the next few days the case

might stagnate. What with the fears of the local population and the

increase in patrols throughout the valley, it’s quite unlikely he’ll try

anything until things have calmed down. There’s no doubt that the pace

seems to have picked up, the amount of time between the crimes has

been getting shorter, but I don’t feel like we’re going to find ourselves

facing a nutcase going into a spin, I think he’s simply saw an opportunity

and acted. He’s not stupid; if he think he running a risk he’ll stop and

go back to his normal life. Therefore our only chance lies in carrying

out an impeccable investigation and leaving no stone unturned.’ (307)

The investigative team member becomes pessimistic about the dull of

investigation. They are afraid that the case will lead nothing and the

38

perpetrator will not be caught later. Inspector Amaia Salazar, as a lead of

investigator, tries to encourage the team and motivate them to continue the

investigation. She believes that if the team pauses the investigation, the

killer will dare to show off his skill by killing another girl in Elizondo.

In fact, the stagnant of investigation influence the investigative team

member and Amaia herself psychologically. They feels more stressful and

more anxious about this police job. For Amaia herself, the distress of

investigation leads her to encounter numbers of nightmares, hallucination,

and unconsciously do something harmful to her family members.

To conclude, the rising action in The Invisible Guardian illuminates

numbers of complication when Amaia and her investigative team solve the

serial killer case. They have to solve multiple crimes within limit time, from

the serial killer to the copy-cat murder. Also, Amaia has to deal with the

internal and external politics within police force, alongside one of her family

members become the suspect of the case. The story reaches crisis moment

as the team cannot find any trace of clues in investigation, and it affects to

them psychologically. The rising action has several distinction to common

plot in Police Procedurals subgenre, in which the external politics show the

complicated bureaucracy of two Spanish police force. It also reveals the

story where one of family member of police officer become the suspect of

the crime that the police work on. Furthermore, there is a combination of

methodical police investigation and mysterious Basque mythology in

crafting the story.

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3. Climax

The story reaches climax as Amaia and her investigative team are

enlightened to get several big clues that leads them to the killer. These clues are

described in the following.

a. The results of DNA test on Txantxigorri

Dr Takchenko, a scientist who carries out the DNA test on Txantxigorri

in prior time, gives Amaia another result of DNA test for the sample of

Txantxigorri found in crime scene and samples of flour from several

workshop across Baztán Valley. It turns out that Dr Takchenko ran DNA

test for the second time using different methods, which is mass

spectrometry, and the results are very surprising.

‘… The sample you brought me had a mixture of two types of flour: the

one used in the cake and another one.’

‘And why might that be?’

‘It’s possible that the container holding the flour used to make the cake

had been used to hold a different type of flour previously and they hadn’t

bothered to empty it entirely of what was left, so that although the

overall flour sample doesn’t match and the quantities in which the other

flour appears are very dilute and almost unnoticeable, they’re still there.

And the chromatograph misses nothing.’

Amaia started to leaf through the pages with the graphs; the coloured

columns mingled to form random patterns.

‘Which one is it?’ she asked urgently.

Dr Takchenko came to her side, took the report and looked carefully

through the pages.

‘It’s that one, S11.’

Amaia looked at her in disbelief. She slumped down onto the bed,

looking at the perfectly drawn graph. Sample number 11. S for Salazar.

(Redondo 368)

The sample of txantxigorri consist of two kinds of flour, in which one

of them is dominant. Astonishingly, one of flour samples which dominating

the ingredients of txantxigorri found on victims’ bodies are samples from

40

Mantecadas Salazar, Amaia’s family bakery workshop, marked with a code

S11. For the second time, the case is related to Amaia’s family member. The

one who currently has strong relationship with Txantxigorri is Flora Salazar,

because she owns and manages the workshop. Thus, Amaia and the team

tries to narrow another suspect and find any other evidence of the

investigation.

b. Montes’s Deceit in Leaking the Investigation

Amaia feels shocked to see Montes and Flora having dinner in a

restaurant and display romantic affection. The condition gets worsen as

Víctor , Flora’s husband, also sees them and cries afterwards. Amaia tries

to cheer him up by embracing him for a while. When she hugs her brother

in-law, her mind gather and process the information about Montes and

Flora’s love affair and the DNA test result carried out by Dr Takchenko.

Amaia finally get the conclusion: Montes tries to leak the information of

investigation out of police station to someone else, who is Flora, the one

who is currently suspected as a perpetrator of serial killer.

To conclude, the climax in The Invisible Guardian novel happen as

Amaia finds two enlightened clues related to the case she is working on.

First, the sample of Txantxigorri found on crime scene is partially match

with the flour sample from her family bakery workshop. Second, she is

suspected her colleague, Montes, to leak the information of investigation

out to station to another person, who is Flora Salazar, Amaia’s eldest sister.

41

4. Falling Action

The team, slow but sure, get clearer results of investigation based on that

big clues explained in the climax.

a. The Results of Investigation are Clearer

Amaia and her investigative team work again after feeling pessimistic

about the case. They try to find out many results from the clues in the DNA

result on Txantxigorri cake.

Amaia needs another proof to make sure that Flora is implicated in the

crime. She sends the sample of Txantxigorri found on crime scene, flour

from several workshop, and flour from Mantecadas Salazar found in

Rosaura’s house to her friend, Josune, who work in forensic division in

Ertzantza, a police institution located in Basque Country, Spain. The result

is not unlikely with the previous one: the samples are partially match and

directed to the flour from Mantecadas Salazar. This strengthen the proof that

there is strong involvement of Flora in the serial killer case.

Amaia also finds out the track record of juvenile murder happened in

Elizondo within twenty five years, thanks to a retired policeman from

Policia Nacional. It turns out that the murder with the victim of young girls

with similar modus operandi has already happened in the town from long

time ago, but the killer is not get caught until now. It can be concluded that

the killer of three young girls and the murderer that happened few years ago

is the same person.

42

There are also other results that direct to the murderer. First, the

murderer use van car to transport the bodies to the forest. Second, the

laboratory test on animal hairs found that there is chemical liquid contained

in the hairs that mostly used by motorcyclists to restore their motorbike.

b. Amaia and the Team Discover the Killer

Amaia wants to make sure that Montes leaks the information out of

police station to Flora. She asks Inspector Iriarte to join her to spy Montes,

then they secretly inspect the activity of Montes at the station, from the way

he gets out of car, meets Deputy Inspector Zabalza, receive an envelope

consist of information of investigation and gets out of police station few

minutes later. Amaia and Iriarte then stalk out Montes from behind by

driving from police station to Hotel Baztan. There, Amaia and Iriarte watch

out the way Montes gives an envelope to Flora and show affection each

other. After that, Amaia holds out Flora as her eldest sister is about to reach

her car and say that acquiring evidence and information related to an

investigation is a crime. Flora does not accept of this situation and say

reproachful thing which leads the battle of argument between two Salazar

siblings. It turns out that Flora deceives Montes by approaching him in order

to get information related to the serial killer case, and Flora knows perfectly

that she and her inherited family bakery are indirectly implicated to the

serial killer. Amaia then appoints the suspect of serial killer, who is Flora.

Amaia asks for warrant for Flora’s van car, house, and Mantecadas

Salazar’s workshop.

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When Amaia gets in the workshop, she finds the published patisserie

recipe book written by Flora. The recipe book is entitled

TXANTXIGORRIS (MADE TO JOSEFA ‘TOLOSA’S’ RECIPE). Amaia

is curious about Josefa Tolosa in her book. She calls Aunt Engrasi to ask

about that and it turns out that Josefa Tolosa is a stage name of Josefa Uribe,

a master baker of txantxigorri and also Víctor ’s late mother. Aunt Engrasi

then tells how Víctor was treated badly by her elder mother when he was

child. This suddenly enlighten the investigation of serial killer, that the

murderer might be Víctor. The possibility of Víctor as a perpetrator is

stronger as Amaia finds out that Víctor has a hobby of restoring old

motorbikes and the animal hairs found on the crime scene is from his jacket.

These clues clarify Amaia to believe that Víctor is the real perpetrator of

serial killer that murdered young girls in Baztán forest.

In brief, Amaia and her investigative team get clearer results of serial

killer investigation. The results are another DNA result on Txantxigorri, the

track record of juvenile murder happened in Elizondo within twenty five

years, the information about van car and laboratory test of chemical liquid

in hairs, and the evidence of Montes’s deceit in leaking out information to

Flora Salazar. The results lead them to narrow down the killer and point out

the one who perpetrate the crime: Víctor Oyarzabal.

5. Resolution

The story gets resolution as Amaia and her investigative team finally solve

the most complicated serial killer that happen in Elizondo.

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a. Amaia and the Team Solve Serial Killer Case

The story finally reach resolution when Amaia catches Víctor in his

house that is located in the outskirts of Elizondo. When she gets in his house,

she is astonished to see that there is an altar which shows bunch of photos

of the victims and mourners, scraps of newspaper illustrating the news of

serial killer and the presence of Basajaun, obituaries of the victims, the

methods of killing the girls, and even news about serial killer happened

twenty-years ago. It turns out the Víctor collects scraps of news and photos

from two decades ago and gives emphasis that Víctor might also start to kill

young girls from that period.

On the other side, Flora comes to Víctor’s house and see him only to

clarify his implication in serial killer crime. Víctor tells Flora that he admit

to kill young girls because he is dissatisfied with the way teenagers behave

in this era.

‘I did leave it behind, Flora, for twenty years I stood firm, making the

biggest effort a man can make; I had to drink to control it, Flora. You

can’t imagine what it’s like fighting against something like that. But you

held me in lower esteem for my very sacrifice, you sent me away from

your side, you left me alone and you made me promise to stop drinking.

And I did it; I did it for you, Flora, as I have done all my life, as I’ve

done everything.’

‘But you’ve killed young girls, you murdered them,’ she said, amazed,

‘young girls.’

…

‘No, Flora, you didn’t see them making advances like whore… They

even agreed to get into the car, in spite of the fact they only knew me by

sight. They weren’t young girls, Flora, they were sluts. Or they would

have become slut shortly… As you’re always saying, Flora, someone

had to make the right decision; it was a question of responsibility,

somebody had to do it.’

‘You could have spoken to me about it, if what you wanted was to

preserve the valley there are other ways of doing it, but killing young

45

girls… Víctor, you’re ill, you must be crazy, otherwise this is

impossible.’ (414-415)

Víctor wants to keep Baztán valley to be pure and traditional. He dislikes

the way young teenage girls dress and behave towards adult men. He

assumes that their presence in this town will give bad influence to the purity

of this region. Therefore, Víctor stops them by killing the girls one by one

in separate time, with torn clothes, arranged hands and hairs, shaved pubic

hair and txantxigorri. What he does is representing the purity of the town,

in which he wants all teenagers to be child again, and not to be sluts who

dress terribly and flirting with adult men. Also, Víctor is admitted to kill the

girls few years ago, before he married Flora, and he did hiatus of ‘preserving

the town’ by drinking alcohol. Flora is mad of what Víctor says, so that she

shoots him with a rifle twice. Víctor falls down onto the floor and dying. As

soon as Flora shoots Víctor, Amaia is coming. She cannot believe of what

her eldest sister doing towards her husband. Few moments later, Víctor is

passed away.

Víctor has a personal motivation to kill young girls in Elizondo. He

wants to preserve the purity of old tradition in this small town. When

somebody, in particular young teenagers, stain the purity of the town by

showing inappropriate behavior (dress and do make up like a mature, get

out of the house in the middle of night, and do sexual promiscuity), he

becomes anxious and afraid that another havoc will soon happen in this

place. For Víctor, killing young teenage girls will contribute to preserve the

purity of the traditional values the town like Basajaun who is believed by

46

the locals to protect the harmonization of the forest. Basajaun becomes the

metaphor of the murderer of serial killer in this novel because of similar

function of protecting the area.

The investigation of homicide team concludes that Víctor is strongly the

murderer of the crime. However, the team can only gather the confession of

Víctor’s implication from Flora, not from Víctor himself. The case is finally

solved; however, they cannot take Víctor to the court justice because he is

passed away. The death of Víctor finishes both the conflicts in Amaia’s

professional life and personal life. In professional life, the team finally know

the perpetrator and the case is solved. In personal life, one of Amaia’s family

member is proven implicated in the serial killer crime she is working on.

Víctor’s death also saves Amaia’s career reputation as a police officer and

a lead of investigator, because he doesn’t get caught, jailed and punished

lawfully, and the case stops there.

In short, the plot in The Invisible Guardian is suitable with the

characteristics of Police Procedurals subgenre. The story has rich and

detailed explanation of police investigation from the beginning to the end.

The story happens when serial killer is committed in a forest in Elizondo,

with the victims of two young girls aged 13 and 18. The case is carried out

by homicide team of Policía Foral and is led by a policewoman named

Inspector Amaia Salazar. Amaia, as a policewoman and a local of Elizondo,

travels back from Pamplona to Elizondo for investigating the case alongside

seeing her family member. During the course of investigation, the team

47

finds several difficulties. They have to solve multiple crime, in which the

cases are another serial murder with another victim, and a copy-cat murder.

The story also reveals internal conflict between Inspector Amaia Salazar

and Inspector Fermin Montes who do not work cooperatively in

investigation, also external conflict of problematic bureaucracy between

Policia Foral and Guardia Civil. The story reaches crisis moment when

Amaia and the investigative team cannot find any clues of investigation.

Slow but sure, Amaia and the team gets several clues that lead them to the

murderer in the climax and they can narrow down the criminal in falling

action. Amaia and the team finally solve the serial killer case, in which the

perpetrator is Victor Oyarzabal, Amaia’s brother in law. However, the team

do not catch the killer because Victor is passed away.

The story reveals several differences from many stories in Police

Procedurals subgenre. There is description of Basque mythology inside the

story and the implication of the mythological creature as a criminal of serial

killer, which quite unlikely in Police Procedurals subgenre. Also, there is a

surprise in which several family members of Inspector Amaia Salazar are

implicated in the serial killer case. The story also reveals external conflict

of two police forces in Spain, where in common Police Procedurals

subgenre the external conflict always include the politicians in the

investigation.

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3. Settings

There are lots of town mentioned in The Invisible Guardian novel. However,

the novel is mostly set in the small town named Elizondo. Elizondo is a small town

located fifty kilometer north from Pamplona, Navarra autonomous region, Spain.

The town is situated in mountainous area of Pyrenees with 200 meter above sea

level, and it is located in Baztán Valley. The town is the capital in Baztán valley,

where most of service establishment become central and concentrated (“Elizondo”).

Since Elizondo is located in northern Spain and also the series of Pyrenees

mountains, the Basque culture is extremely strong in this town.

The geographical description of Elizondo in The Invisible Guardian novel is

specific. Elizondo is surrounded by hillside, forest, mist, and river. Also, the

torrential rain always happen in the town so that the sun barely comes out in the

day and darkness seem longer in the night. One of the areas in Elizondo is Baztán

forest, where young girls are found dead.

The enormous Baztán forest, which before its transformation by man consisted

of beech woods up in the mountains, oak woodland on the low ground and

chestnut, ash and hazel trees in between, now seemed to be almost entirely

covered in beech trees, which reigned despotically over all the rest. Meadows

and scrubland comprising furze or gorse, heather and ferns made up the carpet

in which generation after generation of baztaneses walked, a truly magical place

comparable only to the forest at Irati but now stained by the horror of murder.

…

But the investigation had to continue, and Amaia returned to the thick

undergrowth of the Baztan forest. Winter’s death throes were more noticeable

in the forest than anywhere else. The rain that had been falling all night was

taking a break now, leaving the air cold and heavy, weighed down by humidity

that penetrated both her clothes and her bones, so that she shivered, in spite of

the heavy blue anorak James had made her wear. Darkened by the excess water,

the tree trunks shone like the skin of an ancient reptile in the tentative February

sun. The trees that hadn’t lost their leaves gleamed with a green worn by the

winter, the gentle breeze revealing silvery reflections on the underside of their

leaves. The presence of the river could be detected further down in the valley,

49

flowing through the woods and acting as a mute witness to the horror with

which the killer had adorned its banks. (Redondo 78 – 79)

The quotation above illustrate the murky weather and condition in Baztán

forest. Winter in Elizondo and the torrential rain contribute to cold air and heavy

humidity in the forest. Furthermore, the forest that contains of beech trees seems to

be gleamed from the color of trunks and leaves during the winter because the trees

do not get enough sun light. Heavy rain that pour down the forest can cause beamed

trees. The bleak of forest is added by the horrible serial murder that kills young girl,

which creates fright and anxiety towards the locals. They are afraid to go to the

forest because of this terror. The quotation above creates dark tone for the readers

because Dolores Redondo views Baztán forest as a dreadful place in this town.

Elizondo is not merely a town covered by forest and river. It also become the

central of many activities in Baztán valley; from shopping markets, government

office, Ikastola (school that taught Basque as the main language), museums,

restaurants, and many more. There are more buildings and streets in Elizondo than

other neighbor towns around Baztán valley. Despite of its advanced development

in Elizondo within few years, Amaia still feel despise about her own hometown.

This was her hometown, the place in which she had lived for most of her life. It

was a part of her, like a genetic trace, it was where she returned to in her dreams,

when she wasn’t dreaming about the dead bodies, assailants, killers and suicides

which mingled obscenely in her nightmares. But when her sleep was calm, she

went back to those streets and squares, to those stones, to the places she had

always wanted to leave. A place she didn’t know if she loved or not. A place

that no longer existed, because what she was starting to miss now was the

Elizondo of her childhood. However, now that she had returned almost sure

there would be signs of definite change, she found things hadn’t changed that

much. Yes, perhaps there were more cars in the streets, more streetlights, flower

beds and little gardens which painted the face of the town like fresh make-up.

But not so much that it prevented her from seeing that its essence hadn’t

changed, that everything was still the same underneath. (Redondo 92)

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As a local people of Elizondo or known by the term Elizondarras, Amaia knows

exactly that her hometown is developed in terms of the numbers of buildings and

facilities. However, she loathes the place where she was born and raised because

the locals still have traditional and conservative perspective in looking at things.

The conservative society becomes ‘its essence’ of life in Elizondo and also describe

part of Basque culture in the novel, in which it never changes from past period until

now. The condition of Elizondo creates bleak tone for the readers because there is

something veiled from Elizondo, particularly for the society.

The social issues displays in The Invisible Guardian happens as the

Elizondarras still believe in superstitious, in spite of advanced technology and

rational perspective in recent era. The superstitious faith has become the way of life

in Basque culture since hundreds years ago. They believe numerous mythical

creatures such as lamias (the witches), basajaun (the look-alike giant and forest

protector), belagile (the evil witches), and many more. The superstitious belief in

Elizondo is backed by the historical background of this town.

Night in the Baztán Valley was dark and sinister. The walls of the houses

continued to mark the outer edges of safety just as they had done in yesteryear,

while beyond them everything was uncertain. It was hardly surprising that

barely one hundred years ago ninety per cent of the population in the Baztan

Valley had believed in witches, the presence of evil roaming abroad at night

and the use of magic charms to keep them at bay. Life in the valley had been

hard for her ancestors; men and women as brave as they were stubborn,

determined to establish themselves in that damp, green land in the face of all

logic, despite the fact that it had shown them its most hostile and inhospitable

face, swooping down on them, rotting their crops, making their children ill and

decimating the few families who stood their ground.

Landslides, whooping cough and tuberculosis, flash-floods and deluges, crops

that rotted where they were planted, without even making it above ground…

But the elizondarras had stood firm next to their church, fighting back in that

bed of the River Baztán which had given them everything and then taken

51

everything away as it pleased, as if warning them that this was not a place for

men, that this land in the middle of a valley belonged to the spirit of the

mountains, the daemons of the springs, to the lamias and the basajaun.

(Redondo 341)

The Elizondarras had experienced many catastrophes since hundreds years ago,

from flash flood that damage livestock and farms to tuberculosis and whooping

cough that kills many people. This hardship situation happened more than one

century ago that influence the locals to have faith in those magical creature. They

believe that the land they live are belonged to the spirits, demons, lamias and

basajaun. Therefore, the locals should respect on the creatures and should preserve

the purity of the town properly from any damage and harm. Although the locals

adhere to the Christianity, the pagan elements is hybrid with the religious teachings.

This quotation shows the dark tone in which the presence of magical belief and also

the hardship situation faced by the locals for centuries creates dangerous and

gloomy atmosphere for the readers.

To conclude, the setting in The Invisible Guardian can fit with the setting of

Police Procedurals, in which the setting of place is situated either in small town or

big city. The novel set in Elizondo, a rural town located in Navarra Province, Spain.

Elizondo is located in the Pyrenees Mountain and become the capital of Baztán

valley, thus this place is central for service establishment. This town is surrounded

by forest, river, hillside and mist and has wet weather where the town experiences

torrential rain every day. Furthermore, this town has heavy humidity and cold air

that produce thick fog surrounding the area. The setting in this novel contains social

issue, in which the locals of Elizondo preserve the belief of superstition for century,

in particular superstitious and magical belief. The gloomy weather of Elizondo, the

52

mystic of superstition belief adhered by locals, alongside the horror of serial murder

contribute to the bleak, gloomy, and dreadful tone in the novel.

4. Point of View

In The Invisible Guardian, the author uses the third person point of view, in

which use third person pronoun and name of characters. The narration of whole

story mostly focuses on the perspective of the protagonist, which is Inspector Amaia

Salazar. It is because Amaia is the focus interest for the novel. However, there are

several chapters or lines that use perspective of other characters. The narration is

also omniscient, in which the narrator knows perfectly the action in this novel and

also the mind of characters regarding of the action.

Then, the third person point of view in The Invisible Guardian is functioned to

stress detailed description of investigation conducted by the team of Policía Foral

to solve serial killer case.

Normally when she arrived at an autopsy the technicians had already removed

the clothing, taken samples of nails and hair and had often washed the body.

Amaia had asked San Martín to wait before doing any of this because she

suspected that the way in which the clothes had been torn might provide some

new information. Tying a single-use surgical gown behind her back, she went

over to the table.

‘Now then, ladies and gentlemen,’ said San Martín, ‘let’s begin.’

The technicians started to take samples of fibres, powder and seeds that were

attached to the different fabrics; then they removed the plastic bag they had used

to preserve the girl’s hand, on which two nails were so broken they were

hanging off, nails on which traces of skin and blood were evident. (Redondo

235 - 236)

The paragraph below shows the description of method of investigation, which

is forensic autopsy. This method is necessary to get any information related to the

victim’s body; what cause the death, how does the killer act violently to the victim,

and other things that ease the investigation to find the perpetrator. The paragraph

53

can also tell the steps of conducting autopsy, which represented with ‘take sample

of fibres, powder and seeds’, and ‘removed plastic bag.’ Also, the narration reveals

several characters (Amaia, San Martin, The technicians) and third person pronoun

(she and they).

The third point of view will also give detail explanation of criminal doing his

or her jobs. It can be seen in the way the culprit of serial killer arranges the plan and

chooses the victim in the paragraph below.

… Amaia remembered her time at the FBI criminal profiling course and,

amongst other things she had learnt there, that the psycho-sexual paraphernalia

that lots of serial killers arrange around the corpse indicates their wish to

personalize them in order to create a link between themselves and their victims

that would not otherwise exist. There was logic in his actions and he showed no

obvious signs of a mental disorder. The crimes were perfectly planned and

premeditated, to the point where the killer was able to reproduce the same crime

over and over again with different victims. He wasn’t spontaneous, he didn’t

make sloppy mistakes like choosing a victim at random or being opportunistic.

Killing them was only one step of the many he had to carry out to complete his

tableau, his master plan, his psycho-sexual fantasy, which he was compelled to

repeat over and over again without his thirst ever diminishing, without his

expectation being satisfied. He needed to personalize his victims to make them

part of his world, to link himself to them and to make them belong to him

beyond mere sexual possession. (Redondo 198 – 199)

The quotation below illustrate how the criminal plans to do his work through

the perspective of Amaia as an investigator. Since Amaia has excellent deep

analysis about the investigation, she knows perfectly how the culprit arranges the

serial killer crime and chooses the victims thanks to her training in FBI Academy.

Furthermore, the quotation below reveals the omniscient of narration because it tells

the analysis of the crime from Amaia’s mind, represented by the word ‘remember’.

The quotation shows two characters which are Amaia and the killer, and also

represented by pronoun “she” and “he”.

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It is concluded that the story in The Invisible Guardian use third person point

of view, in which the story use third person name of characters and pronoun. The

story in this novel mostly use the perspective of Inspector Amaia Salazar, in which

the reader will follow the action of investigating crime and the mind related to the

crime from Amaia’s viewpoint. The narration in this novel is omniscient because

the narrator knows all the thing about the character’s action and mind perfectly. The

omniscient narration is important to give broader description to the readers about

details of methods of investigation conducted by police. Also, the omniscient is

important to illuminate bottomless feeling and thoughts in characters related to the

investigation alongside relationship within colleagues in Policía Foral and family

members.

From the analysis shown in this chapter, it can be concluded that The Invisible

Guardian novel is categorized as Police Procedurals subgenre through four intrinsic

elements of novel, which are characters, plot, setting, and point of view.

The characters are members of police officers in Policía Foral who investigate

the case of serial murder in Elizondo, and one of above average character who

become focus in the story is Inspector Amaia Salazar. Amaia can fit several

personality traits as a police officer in this subgenre, such as has brilliant insight

and skills, rational and logical thinking to investigate cases, and feel skeptical and

cynical about the society she lives in. The only differentiation lies in the traumatic

personality in which she had encountered horrible past events when she was kid.

The plot in The Invisible Guardian is progressive, begins with the discovery of

serial killer case that happen in Elizondo. The homicide team from Policía Foral

55

carry out the case, led by Inspector Amaia Salazar who originates from Elizondo.

She has to travel back to Elizondo not only to investigate the case but also meet her

family member who still live there. The series of complication occurs as Amaia and

her investigative team solve serial killer case. The complications are the team must

unravel numbers of cases at the same time within limit time, the mystery of the

presence Basajaun as a perpetrator of serial killer, the internal conflict between

Amaia and her colleague, Inspector Fermín Montes, and also the implication of

Freddy as Amaia’s family member in the serial killer. The story reaches crisis

moment when Amaia and team cannot find any traces or clues of perpetrator and

they are stressful. The story reaches the peak or climax as Amaia finds second DNA

test on txantxigorri that says that the flour contained in the cake are partially from

the flour sample of Mantecadas Salazar, Amaia’s family bakery workshop. After

investigating further on the substance of strings, finding the records of young

women murder in Elizondo within 25 years, and interrogating Ainhoa’s friend, the

police reaches conclusion that the killer is Víctor Oyarzábal, who is another

Amaia’s brother in-law. When Amaia tries to catch Víctor, it turns out that Víctor

is shooted by Flora because of things that he has done to the girls and few moments

later Victor dies.

Setting in The Invisible Guardian happens in Elizondo, a small town that is

located in northern Navarra province of Spain. Elizondo is surrounded natural

aspects such as forest, hillside and river and also become the central of service

establishment in Baztán valley. The town experience torrential rain so that it has

thick humidity, cold weather, and gloomy sky. The setting in this novel contains

56

social issues, in which the locals of Elizondo preserve the belief of superstition for

century, in particular superstitious and magical belief. The gloomy weather of

Elizondo, the mystic of superstition belief adhered by locals, alongside the horror

of serial murder contribute to the bleak, gloomy, and dreadful tone in the novel.

The narration in The Invisible Guardian use third person point of view which

focus on the perspective of Inspector Amaia Salazar in most chapters, and also use

omniscient narration. This narration is important to give broader description to the

readers about details of methods of investigation conducted by police. Also, the

omniscient is important to illuminate bottomless feeling and thoughts in characters

related to the investigation alongside relationship within colleagues in Policía Foral

and family members.

Despite of that, there are several distinction in The Invisible Guardian novel

comparing to the characteristics of Police Procedurals subgenre. For the character,

Inspector Amaia Salazar is happily married with her husband, which quite unlikely

in other Police Procedurals subgenre. However, she suffers Post Stress Traumatic

Disorder (PTSD) which block her from the investigation. From the plot, the story

gives detailed description about Basque mythology, one of them is Basajaun. It is

claimed by locals as a perpetrator while its existence is still questionable. Besides,

the story reveals strong problem about family since some of Inspector Amaia

Salazar’s family members are implicated in serial killer case. This also illustrates

the problem within two Spanish police force, Policía Foral and Guardia Civil,

which add up external conflict in the novel. The arguments of the differences

between the novel and common characteristics of Police Procedurals subgenre are

57

based on the writer’s experience and observation in reading and watching some

works of the subgenre. However, the writer has not found the academic research

that talks about the differences.

58

CHAPTER IV

CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

A. Conclusion

The Invisible Guardian is a translated novel created by Dolores Redondo, where

originates in Spain. The novel is categorized by several sources as a thriller and

crime. The writer, then, breaks it and believes that there are several elements that

prove that the novel is categorized as Police Procedurals. Therefore, the writer

wants to prove that The Invisible Guardian novel is categorized as Police

Procedurals subgenre by looking at the intrinsic elements of novel such as character,

plot, setting and point and view alongside the characteristics of Police Procedurals

subgenre.

From the analysis on The Invisible Guardian novel, it turns out that this novel

can fit the characteristics of Police Procedurals subgenre. The main character,

Inspector Amaia Salazar, is a policewoman who post Inspector in Policía Foral, a

regional law enforcement agency in Navarra province, Spain. Inspector Amaia

Salazar is an outstanding intelligent policewoman who maintain her logical

thinking while the case is led to the mythological aspects yet she has traumatic

experiences of gloomy childhood. The plot in this novel is progressive, which tells

about the serial killer that happens in Elizondo and the way Amaia and the

investigative team solve the case. The plot consist of the initial conflict which

introduce the serial killer of young girls that occurs in Baztán forest. The crime then

is investigated by Amaia and her investigative team. During the course of

investigation, there are many series of complications, from the team must crack

59

several cases at the same time, the internal conflict within police officers, to the

implication of family member of Amaia in the investigation. The case of serial killer

is finally solved, and the perpetrator is Víctor Oyarzábal, who is another Amaia’s

brother in-law. The setting is situated in Elizondo, a small town located in Navarra

province, Spain. The setting has detailed description of geographical condition

where the town is surrounded by nature aspects and central of service establishment,

alongside the social issue that the locals believe in superstitious faith such as

mythology, tarot, and rituals. The gloomy condition of Elizondo, the mystic of

superstition belief adhered by locals, and the horror of serial murder contribute to

the bleak, gloomy, and dreadful tone in the novel. The narration in The Invisible

Guardian use third person point of view which focus on the perspective of Inspector

Amaia Salazar in most chapters, and also use omniscient narration. This narration

function to give detailed description of the police jobs alongside illustrate deep

thoughts and feeling about the investigation.

The novel reveals several distinction from the characteristics of Police

Procedurals, in which main characters has traumatic experience that soon disturb

the course of investigation. Also, there is a combination between methodical police

investigation with mysterious Basque mythology inside the story. This also reveals

the story when police officer’s family members become the suspect of a crime that

she is working on.

B. Suggestion

The writers suggest to the readers alongside the researchers to discuss and

scrutinize The Invisible Guardian novel from other perspectives, in specific

60

psychoanalysis, since the main character has a traumatic experience in her past

event that soon disturb the course of investigation. The writer also hopes to others

to give more contribution of genre analysis of novel, in particular crime fiction

which has lots of subgenres.

61

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APPENDIX

THE INVISIBLE GUARDIAN

WRITTEN BY DOLORES REDONDO

PUBLISHED IN 2015 BY HARPERCOLLINS, UNITED KINGDOMS

421 PAGES